How can YOU help those in need?

From my very good friend MaisyH's Mcchatter Blog, thank you Maisy for allowing the Copy and Paste! I agree with this 100%!


When I logged into Etsy over my cereal bowl this morning, I found that one of my HOST buddies had linked another thread into our HOST chat thread. She said there were lots of sellers in need posting, so I went to check it out figuring ok, I don't really have much spare cash but I can at least bump it for them... (the thread is linked at the end of this post).

Well a couple of sniffs later, I found myself feeling thoroughly depressed by the number of folk in so much financial and personal difficulty; it's awful year round but somehow it seems worse at this time of year, especially if kids are involved... I only just had the thought yesterday: "OMGosh, Christmas is literally around the corner now!"

Then I got to thinking well, I can't buy everything from everyone, and I can bump the thread to try and help get these shops noticed but well, I'd like to try and do more... So here's the plan. It's just a little plan and I can't guarantee it will work but we don't know until we try - and you can get involved with no cost to yourselves other than a little time and effort for people who will really appreciate it.

GET BLOGGING:

•Most of you readers and Etsians have blogs, so start running a 'help' feature. Even if you just choose one shop, or one item from a few shops and blog it, you might help those guys towards some much needed sales.
•Start a little 'help' section in your sidebars: add a few Etsy minis for shops that really NEED the exposure!
•Tell your friends and readers about these guys and link the Etsy thread(s) for them to read and scroll through the different shops. We all have different tastes and wishlists: chances are your pals will find items they won't be able to resist!
ON ETSY:

•Stalk those treasuries! Not just the main treasury but the treasury west too! Forget just making pretty ones in perfect coordinated colours, or clever choices of unusual things from your favourites: just pick shops who are in need!! If you run out of shops from the forum thread(s) that inspired this, go to POUNCE and pick only stores that are waiting for their first sale!
•Tell your Street Teams! Get your team-mates on board - get them bumping threads; get them treasury stalking, get them blogging this too!
•Add even one shop referral to your shop announcements - just pick one seller that is in need so your own buyer traffic will see it.

PROJECT WONDERFUL:

•Have you got FREE ad spaces? Invite bids from sellers in need.
•If they don't have ads they can use, can you spend a few minutes turning their avatars into ads for them while they go open their PW accounts and bid?

CHARITY:

•Do you donate to childrens' charities for Christmas? Well our Etsians in need have kids... give to them!
•Do you donate to animal charities? These Etsians have beloved pets that need feeding and caring for too! And don't forget, you can choose AWBAR and EFA on Etsy for your donations or purchases!
•Do you donate to medical charities? These Etsians have serious illnesses - or their children or other family members do - and they are struggling with medical bills. Why not donate to them through purchases from their shops? Remember, there are Etsians who support charities by donating part of their shop sales proceeds... search them out on Etsy and shop, shop, SHOP!!!
We see so many discussion in the forums about how Etsy doesn't advertise itself and how it relies on US to promote it to help ourselves... Well let's pull together now and help promote each other! We are a pretty big team of creative people - I'm sure there will be others out there who will get to thinking what they can do to bring a little festive cheer to those in need. What is that expression about "six degrees of separation"? Well, let's apply it to Etsy for the holidays and see what we can achieve.

My next stop is to post a forum thread on Etsy where you can all post to let everyone know a) what are you doing to help? and b) if you were able to make a purchase from one of these sellers in difficulty, come show us what you bought, so we can all cheer for you and the seller :) And one more thing: when you post in the new thread, let everyone know if you are open to TRADES. People have few resources but they may happen to have just the thing you need, so be open minded about approaching your Christmas shopping this year and consider trades!

Here is the thread that inspired this post: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5886701

And here is my new thread where you can come let us know what you are doing to help: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5887805

Thank you all so much for reading all this and thank you even more for anything you do to help these guys out :)

PS - I am posting the same thing on my other blog: http://teaandjewels.blogspot.com/
and on the HOST blog: http://helpingothersstreetteam.blogspot.com/

PPS - It doesn't matter that they will read the same, it's the message that is important and it's another opportunity to reach more readers, who can spread the word. Feel free to copy and paste this post into your own blogs - just use it and adapt it for yourselves, I don't mind - just get the message out - now - PLEASE!!!

PPPS - (last one I promise!) Remember that ALL PROCEEDS FROM HOST STORE SALES ARE USED TO HELP ETSIANS IN NEED - so feel free to donate to our store, or top up our team funds by purchasing something because we will use the money for this same cause!