For Houston

Today, September 1st, I'd sincerely like to be writing...

How was your summer? 
and
Welcome back to school and work! 
and (of course)
Look how you can interpret modern fall fashions with vintage!

...but my heart is too heavy with concern in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and the terrible damage it has done to Houston and the region. 

Photos of donations being delivered to the George R. Brown Convention Center, from Dress for Success Houston's Facebook page. 

As a response, I am directing all sales through September 6 from The PINK HEART Shop of my Etsy store (usually heading to Dress for Success Worldwide) to Dress for Success Houston. The organization is on the ground, doing crucial work, right now. They will also be there as people try to get their lives back in the aftermath of the hurricane.

I've stocked up the PINK HEART Shop, and am adding new every day.

It's a small contribution from my customers and me—but huge contributions are made up of small contributions, right?

We can get back to talk of school, work, and fall fashion in good time.

We made it For the Manatees!

That is, we more than made it! Thank you so much...denisebrain has the BEST customers!

Save the Manatee Club, I know you’ll do great work with this.

For the Manatees fundraiser update...even more good news!

And it just keeps getting better! Thanks to generous donors and customers, my For the Manatees fundraiser has a new goal of $1,250!

If you haven’t already, please consider making a donation (any size helps!) over on my YouCaring page or purchase that item from my shops that you’ve been considering. Through the end of the month, 25% of your purchase price goes to a great organization, Save the Manatee Club.

Update on For the Manatees fundraiser (good news!)

I am happy to report that with 10 days left in the month, you have helped me raise $929 for Save the Manatee Club! I have upped the goal from the original $650 all the way up to $1000 and I don’t see why that goal can’t be surpassed!

You really care about manatees, and it shows. 

Manatee Annie and her calf photo by Cora Berchem, Save the Manatee Club

The rest of December will be busy and I hope you have every reason to be away from your computers and phones and with those you love. So while still ‘plugged in’ how about taking a moment to donate a little to a great cause through a purchase of vintage fashions from my online stores (where 25% of your purchase price goes to the manatees) or making a direct donation on my YouCaring page set up for this purpose. If you don’t have the money but want to help, please just share this fundraiser.

And thank you!

Update on For the Manatees fundraiser

December is for the Manatees here at denisebrain, with 25% of sales going to Save the Manatee Club.

Manatee photo ©Cora Berchem via Save the Manatee Club

Right now we are at $350, with a goal of $650 by the end of the month. It is a perfect time to help out the lovable, gentle, intelligent (and sadly endangered) manatee. If you’d like to donate directly, check out my YouCaring page. There, 100% of your donation will go to the cause.

Please help me make a big splash for these gentle giants!

For the Manatees, my 2015 Holiday fundraiser

Painting by Anna Davies/Anna Davies Art

I love manatees.

The West Indian (Florida) Manatee was once plentiful around the coast of Florida, but now its survival as a species is in jeopardy. Humans are the gentle herbivores’ only enemy, with our fishing lines ensnaring them, our pollution poisoning them, our boats striking them and our living space encroaching upon theirs. Heather Sellick of the US Scuba Center wrote “the manatee is one of the most magnificent marine mammals...it is also the one that tugs at our heart strings and reminds us of the great damage humans have inflicted on the creatures with whom we share this planet.”

Manatees are awesomely large, perfectly gentle creatures. How could anything so wonderful be at risk of extinction?

Manatees are intelligent (“capable of understanding discrimination tasks, and show signs of complex associated learning and advanced long term memory.” [Gerstein, E. R. (1994). The manatee mind: Discrimination training for sensory perception testing of West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus). Marine Mammals 1: 10–21.] They demonstrate complex discrimination and task-learning similar to dolphins and pinnipeds in acoustic and visual studies. [Marine Mammal Medicine, 2001, Leslie Dierauf & Frances Gulland, CRC Press]. The manatee’s closest land relation is the elephant, not the cow, despite their being called sea cows in many parts of the world. They are thought to have evolved from four-legged land animals some 60 million years ago.

Think about it: Manatees have made it 60 million years on the Earth and now their survival is threatened.

I know that many of you share my concern and love for the manatee. That’s why, starting today and going to the end of the year, 25% of your purchase price on any items you select from my Etsy shop or my web store will go to the Save the Manatee Club. If you don’t see any vintage finery to suit you during these weeks, I encourage you to donate on my YouCaring page, where every cent you give will be channeled to SMC. My goal is to raise $650 [edit, now $1250!], and with your help I know this is possible.

For the Manatees,
Maggie/denisebrain

Photo ©Cora Berchem via Save the Manatee Club

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; 

indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. —Margaret Mead