Announcing our 2009 Thanksgiving Donation

November 28, 2009

We have a bit of a tradition at Bella Luccè: each Thanksgiving, we donate to a philanthropic effort in honor of the many blessings we’ve received during that year. In the past, that has meant donations to Doctors Without Borders, the ALS Association and Heifer International. It’s a donation I look forward to making each and every year, but this year is particularly special. Do you remember this face?

That’s one of the many students at the Sehahla School near Taftacht, Morocco that I met during a visit last September. I blogged about the unforgettable experience here, but I was so incredibly moved by the visit that and little face has haunted me since I returned home. My original plan was to sponsor this particular school during the 2010 calendar year as Bella Luccè’s official charity partner…I had hoped to provide some playground toys, backpacks, art supplies and books to the 156 children that attend the Sehahla School. But I knew that there were hundreds of schools just like this one, scattered across Morocco and I was desperate to help them on a larger scale. The gears began to turn…

After that September trip, I brought as much of Morocco as I could carry in my luggage home to share with friends and family: gorgeous Berber blankets, hammered silver earrings and embossed leather poufs. Amidst the ooh’s and aah’s, a flood of people slipped in “bring-me-back” requests for my next trip. That “shopping list” prompted me to do a bit of internet exploration to see if I could fill their requests immediately. Gobsmacked by the prices those Moroccan goodies were fetching online, an idea was born: rather than exporting Moroccan goods and marking them up to princely sums in the name of capitalistic opportunity, what if I could employ Hassan (my driver from the previous trip) to shop for the most exquisite Moroccan luxuries, pay the artisans well for their work, ship it stateside and sell it all at reasonable prices, returning the profits to the Moroccan people themselves?

I phoned Hassan, my plans tumbling out with wild enthusiasm. Hassan simply and humbly replied “Alhamdulillah” (thanks be to God). And so it began…for 2 months now, he’s been criss-crossing Morocco on a shopping spree of gigantic proportions, building relationships with vendors, finding the most amazing treasures and preparing them for shipment. For the past two months, I’ve been meeting with accountants and export authorities and printers and graphic designers and web designers and have spent some time rearranging our Bella Luccè warehouse to make room for our first shipment of Moroccan goodies. Next week, I am traveling to Morocco to finalize the paperwork and begin working with local government authorities to establish programs to help women and children throughout the country. The new venture has been christened From Morocco With Love and I’ll be guiding that initial shipment home to South Carolina, where we’ll begin cataloguing and photographing each amazing piece in preparation for our launch in early 2010.

This Thanksgiving, Bella Luccè has seeded From Morocco, With Love with $10,000 to get the ball rolling. That’s enough to clear our first shipment of goods and pay for the bare necessities we need to get this venture up and running. We’re incredibly fortunate to be able to have a warehouse already established, via Bella Luccè, which minimizes both our startup expenses and helps the ongoing budget tremendously. Our overhead is incredibly low and you would not believe how far your dollars will go in a developing country like Morocco. The purchase of one embroidered leather pouf can send two girls to school for a solid year. A brass door knocker can provide two pediatric dental exams. A silk tassel keychain will buy a school book. This is an extraordinary opportunity to make a positive impact on thousands of lives and I pray that we’ll be able to do just that in the coming years. Inchallah.

So while this season has been particularly busy for me, it’s also been incredibly rewarding. Bella Luccè will not make a dime from this venture and I’m not taking any sort of salary. I am so utterly convinced that there is a mass amount of goodness that can come from turning capitalism on its ear in such a fashion that I am just along for the ride…and oh, what a ride it will be. I could post pictures here of all the gorgeous sabra blankets, leather poufs, vintage Berber jewelry and antique Moroccan wedding carpets we’ve scored, but where’s the fun in that? I’d rather keep you guessing…but I invite you to join us for our launch on January 16, 2010 (provided there aren’t any snags once the shipment hits our shores). You won’t be sorry! Until our launch, I encourage you to follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. I will post a new teaser photo at Facebook each time we add 25 new fans, so join up soon and spread the word.

I pray that your Thanksgiving holiday has been full of family, friends, food and joy. And may 2010 be a year of peace and prosperity for us all!

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