Monday, October 18, 2010

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Most of this is copied/pasted straight from Faces of Loss, Faces of Hope, but I wanted to personally thank everyone in my little corner of the internet who has been so supportive of this project. You are all truly amazing people. It wasn't long ago (about 5 months ago to be exact) that I went online, stumbled upon Grieve Out Loud and a few "baby loss" blogs (including Julie's, Birn's, Angie's, Andrea's, Maggie's, Lara's, and Kristin's, to name just a few). Since then, I have been able to connect with so many wonderful mamas (waaaay too many to list here!), and I am so incredibly thankful that you've all stuck around and stood by Andrea and I as we've gone forward with Faces.

Not only does your support mean a lot to me as Kristin, the "Founder of Faces of Loss, Faces of Hope," it means the world to me personally, as Kristin, "Stevie's Mom." So thank you. I love you guys.

Update on our I AM THE FACE campaign:

First, let's talk about the faces. As of today, we have had a little over 1,900 face pictures uploaded to www.iamtheface.org. We set out to show the world two main things: 1) that while pregnancy/infant loss is not often talked about, it's very, very common, and 2) that miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant loss are not things that happen to "other people" off in the shadows somewhere, but things that can and do happen to anyone--your neighbor, your sister, your co-worker, and your friend. Real, beautiful, "normal" everyday faces. It's easy for people to ignore an issue. But put a face on it, and it's incredibly hard for people to turn a blind eye.


Next, the names. Just as striking as the faces, seeing all of our children's names (or nicknames), together in one place, is a powerful, powerful image. As we were adding names to the "Gone Too Soon" page, we kept thinking, each one of these names represents an actual baby, someone's world. They represent hours and hours spent on baby name sites. Each one was argued over, talked about, and decided on with so much love and excitement. Each one of these names has touched who knows how many people with their short but meaningful lives. Our children were more than ideas, or "products of conception." They were real babies with real names. They existed.


And then there are the donations. Our goal was to raise $2,000...and we raised over $5,000! We are completely blown away by the generosity of the over 550 people who made a financial donation to our cause. The majority of donations came from our friends and families--people that have not lost a baby themselves, but who wanted to show their support. Sometimes we feel like the 'outsiders' don't care, but this shows that a lot of them really do, maybe more than we think. We saw an uncle donate $100 in honor of his niece, grandparents making donations on behalf of their grandchildren, and friends pitching in what they could to support the person in their life who had lost a baby. Of course, many of you who submitted your face also donated as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support. We are so excited for all the great things we'll be able to do with this money.

While we might not have made as big of a splash as our friendly competition, breast cancer, we are thrilled with how many people were made aware of our message through this campaign. An amazing 5,620 people shared the link to www.iamtheface.org on facebook. If you assume each of those people has an average of 200 facebook friends, that's over a million people (!!!) at the very least seeing something about our campaign! On October 15th alone, we had over 5,000 visitors to the website. Our faces were seen and our voices were heard!


So again, thank you to everyone for making this little campaign so successful! It truly was a grassroots effort, and I appreciate every blog post, facebook status, and twitter update you did to help spread the word. And of course I need to send two VERY big, gigantic thank you's to my wonderful friend and partner-in-crime Andrea, who doesn't always get all the credit and acknowledgment she deserves, but puts in a ton of work behind the scenes and who is just brilliant. :) And her amazing sister, Sarah, who volunteers so much of her time doing all of our beautiful web/logo/forum stuff. So blessed to know you both.

And to my precious daughter, Stevie Joy: it's all because of you, baby girl. 

Alright, this is too long. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

Xoxo

Kristin

16 comments:

Erin said...

The campaign was so amazing - I can't believe how much money was donated, how many face pictures were uploaded, and how many people spread the word - so incredible! Congratulations - you must be so excited :)

Oh, and I got my FOLFOH long-sleeved t-shirt today - can't wait to sport it and spread the word that way, too...now I'm just waiting on the key chain and button!

Heather said...

This was such an amazing project! I'm just so glad to hear about its success in getting the word out there.

Lisette said...

This is wonderful!!!

Marissa Marie. said...

That's truly amazing!!

Jessica said...

AWESOME! <3

Brittany said...

I have been reading your beautiful blog for a few months now, and I just want you to know you have truly inspired me through Faces :) The work you're doing to help others, all in memory of your precious girl, is incredible. I'm so happy your wonderful site has been so successful, and I guess I want you to know you have one more supporter :)

The Starwarsmamma said...

You're awesome! We love you!

Stephanie said...

WHOOOO HOO! That is just amazing! You and Andrea should be totally proud of yourselves!

Jennifer said...

Congratulations for a job well done. The campaign is really an awesome way to let the world know that in every single baby loss, there are faces of the parents who are left behind. Thanks to you and the other moms who took the time to put this effort together. It's truly a heartfelt gift to us all.

Lori said...

It just amazes me that something so heartbreaking and full of sorrow fueled something so unbelievably incredible --something that will make such a difference to so many. Truly an example of how beauty can rise out of ashes....
xoxo

Jodi said...

Awesome...just awesome! XO

Andrea said...

Wonderful honey, just wonderful! You should be so incredibly proud of your efforts. Each time you share your story and help another is a beautiful tribute to your daughter.

Kudo's to you sweet friend!
xxx

AnotherDreamer said...

So glad the campaign went well :) So incredible!

Leanne said...

WOW! That is absolutely incredible! I am amazed at how this has grown like crazy over the last few months!

I just gave a friend a link to your blog and the Faces website since she just lost her baby boy last week. I hope that's okay!

Lara said...

I am so honored that you included a link to me and I got a shout out! Holy cow! You were one of the first ones *I* found so I know how important that connection is.

I'm so proud of you and all the FOL girls. You did a good thing. A very good thing.

The Maven said...

<3 Every time I log on to one of several CityMommy sites and see you banner, I know you are helping someone. Love to you all.

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