Awesome Archie’s Christmas pop-up shop is now in full swing! (Bear with, I am going somewhere with this 😉 )
Today we launched our Christmas fundraising mission with our first Pop up shop of the season. We were lucky enough to be invited to sell at the Boscombe Salvation Army’s Christmas craft fair, and what a wonderful event it was.
The Awesome Archie team were allocated a beautiful side room where we were not only able to sell our donated (thank you all) and created goods, but also had the chance to chat to families who wanted to share their troubles or celebrations of their experience with autism. The space meant that we could have plenty of time to have some really meaningful conversations and I am so grateful for the opportunity that the organiser, Claire Randell gave us . THANKYOU Claire!
Click here to see the video of us getting ready!
The whole building was FULL of Christmas treats and donated goodies and all the tables were manned by people who simply wanted to give their time to help others.
This struck a really valuable chord with me. My marriage, my Career, my children, my home have all thrived because of other people’s kindness. As someone with ADHD (unmedicated) and anxiety (medicated) I used to struggle to admit that I can’t do this parenting thing alone. Somehow, I used to think (many moons ago) that me not accepting Archie’s differences would make life easier for me and admitting his “problems” would be too big for me to cope with. I assumed that people would look at me as a failing parent and make judgements on my ability to be a mum.
NOT ANY MORE… and that is because of the age old proverb – “It takes a village to raise a child” (see, told you I’d get there!)
This proverb simply means that an entire community of people must provide for and interact positively with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.
This was so evident for us today! Not only do I want to say a massive thank you to all three of my AWESOME trustees for coming and supporting (thanks Elaine Hurll, Karen Newsome and David Mercer) but also, a huge thanks goes to…
* My eldest son for looking after Archie at home so he wouldn’t be overwhelmed.
* Every person that donated something for us to sell.
* Every penny spent at our pop up shop and all of those Awesome people who said “keep the change!”
* The organisers of this event who gave up so much of their time for not a penny of profit.
* The people that cooked bacon butties and made coffees so we wouldn’t be hungry.
* The parents who looked after other peoples kids so they could have a 5 minute breather and to those who took the time to ask how I was doing (it means a lot).
* The minister who let my daughter have a pillow fight with him! (No joke, I have photo evidence!)
* The people who felt safe enough to share some really emotional stuff and have others offer advice, knowing that it wouldn’t go any further!
I could go on forever.
So THANKYOU for helping us raise our children. THANKYOU for donating or buying so that I can pass that gift forward and THANKYOU for listening to me bang on about how children’s differences need to be celebrated, not feared.
Our little shop raised £149.50!!! EVERY PENNY of which is going back into the work we do to support kids with autism.
Our “village” is truly the blessed!!!!
