As my regular followers know, I’ve been donating 10% of my website’s annual funds to a charitable cause since 2016. This past year I was a little slow in announcing my donation, but I had a good reason, which I’m about to explain.

Now as you know, this website is a dot com, not a dot org, and I actually like it that way. I can donate my 10% to whatever fund or nonprofit I feel compelled to help out with. If the government doesn’t recognize my donation as a true charity, well, that doesn’t keep me from giving to the fund, person, or organization that I think needs the money the most.

I have a niece, Zoë Wood, who graduated from high school this past May, and who will be going off to college in the fall, and a nephew (her brother, Grant Wood) who is also in college. This particular niece, Zoë, is very dear to my heart because, like me, she has a deep passion for dolls and enjoys designing and sewing doll clothes.

In fact, she will be attending an art college in Denver, Colorado, so she can hone her skills with fashion design and improve her skills in art.

So I’m officially announcing that I will donate scholarship money to Zoë Wood and her brother, Grant, as my annual 10% donation from the funds raised by this website in 2021.

The reason I waited until now to make my “charitable donation” announcement for the income I earned in 2021 is because I wanted to wait until after Zoë’s graduation party and and Grant’s birthday (July 13th).

Happy birthday, Grant!

(Imagine noisemakers blowing and confetti falling…)

And happy graduation to my niece, Zoë! Best of luck to you at your art college!

I want to be very open with my followers about this! Full disclosure here! The United States Government doesn’t consider this a charitable donation in tax terms because these young people are my relatives, but everyone I know is excited about this gift of scholarship money for these two recipients.

One reason why I feel these young people are so deserving is because of the kind of work their parents do. My brother (Grant and Zoë’s dad) works as a maintenance man on the University of Idaho college campus at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and my sister-in-law is the manager of a homeless shelter program called Family Promise of North Idaho.

In other words, this is not a family that earns a ton of money, but they do GOOD work for their community! In fact, my brother also leads a Nurturing Fathers group in Coeur d’Alene and acts as a pastor for a local Church of Christ. I admire his integrity and his phenomenal sense of justice.

You may recall that I donated 10% of the proceeds from this website in 2020 to Family Promise of North Idaho, the homeless shelter organization that my sister-in-law (Grant and Zoë’s mom) works for. It’s a fantastic organization that does a lot of good for homeless mothers and children in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. So if you’re looking for a charity to give to, I definitely recommend Family Promise!

If you live in North Idaho, and you know a family in need, please let them know about Family Promise. It does more than just give them a place to stay; it also helps single moms with kids find a job and eventually get re-located to a home she can buy or rent at a fair price.

And while we’re on the topic of charity work, did you know that the United Nations’ International Day of Charity is only two months away? It happens on September 5th!

According to the United Nations web page on the International Day of Charity, the date of September 5th was “chosen in order to commemorate the anniversary of the passing away of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 ‘for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace.'”

I’ve received fan mail from some of you — my fans and followers — telling me about the charitable work you do with my patterns, and that always gives me a good feeling in my heart of hearts! If you use my patterns to make doll clothes to give to a child in your neighborhood, to donate to a charitable organization, or to sell for charitable funds, please feel free to leave a comment in the section at the bottom of today’s blog post. We all need to feel inspired by your good work!

A lot of people want to give to charities but feel like they just don’t have the funds to do so. However charities need helping hands as much as they need funds.

So on September 5th — or even any day in-between now and then — please consider doing one of the following little acts of kindness to help out in your community.

In 2021, I not only did each one of the acts mentioned in that graphic (above), but I’m proud to say that this website (through ads, affiliate marketing, and eBay sales) earned $4,021.28, ten percent of which is $402.12 altogether.

So I’ve donated $200.00 to Zoë Wood in scholarship money, and another $200.00 to Grant Wood in scholarship money. And that will be my charitable donation for my 2021 income. (I gave another $2.12 to the food bank fundraiser at my supermarket recently.)

If you’d like to see where my charitable donations went in past years, please click here.

I post this not to brag, but to inspire! I do hope some of you reach out a helping hand to someone in 2022 because of this blog post.

Blessings and good wishes to you all!