UPDATE: The do Good Studio is now OPEN! You can check it out here or directly at http://www.LoveRunners.org

This morning I am being fueled by a new blend of fresh-roasted coffee and decorated in red thread and sparkly beads.  All in the name of research and development…

I have been back and forth on the best way and time to share All The Plans that have been uncontrollably overtaking my thoughts the last couple of weeks.  Today I couldn’t keep it to myself anymore.  I am hoping that you, my Run and Be Still family, will help be my Launch Team for this great big dream and Good idea. So, ready or not, here it is.

Love Runners and Do Good…

Here’s the thing. I have been working on these great, inspiring, succinct (this is my biggest struggle – I like words so much) mission statements that have lots of buzz words in them and wrap up my whole idea in a tidy little package but let me just lay it out like this for you today. The world sucks and my heart is breaking over the children who are caught in the crossfire of the myriad of ways that we’ve failed them. Kids sleeping on the streets, little ones digging through the trash for food, babies having babies, children forced into adulthood by the very fact that there is no adult there to take care of them. The kids on the fringes, outside our circle of our playdates and overnights and quiet neighborhood safety. But as my heart breaks over these things it is spilling out Mom Love.  It is getting all over my nice, comfortable, unmessy existence and really mucking things up. Enter the heart change and the move and all of the “adventures” we have lately found ourselves in.   Love in action has become the driving force in my day. I don’t want to continue living in apathy and indifference because we are not here to make an impression but instead to make a difference. I want to make a difference to these hurting, neglected, abused, sometimes prickly or troubled, often unnoticed kids. I just want them to know how much they are loved. 

Here is the Reader’s digest version of my dream.

It began with this picture…

And from this Love Runners was born. The idea is to become a community resource dedicated to meeting the needs of others both locally and internationally.

We have been moved by compassion, to touch the lives of the marginalized and broken, giving what we can, in an effort to share The Love that has been poured out in our own lives. Wherever love is needed we seek to deliver it in whatever form we can.

This past Christmas it took the form of shoe boxes full of toothbrushes and pencils (and socks and toys and balls and dolls) shipped overseas through Operation Christmas Child. On the heels of that, we were informed of a need for blankets at an orphanage in Guatemala. (Babies were sleeping in their coats to keep them warm them at night!) Off the boxes went filled with blankets and Love in action…

We know the need is great, not only internationally but here in our own backyards as well! My pockets are not as deep as my heart is big though so the problem became how to fund this noble, often changing, cause…

Enter Do Good, the ever-evolving product of a sisterly brainstorming session. In a nutshell, Do Good is a not-for-profit store…shopping for a cause.  The proceeds from all of Do Good’s sales are funneled back into Love Runners to fund whatever the current project/cause might be and in this way, one small act or purchase can be combined into something much greater.

We have Big Plans for Do Good (because the world is full of Big Hurt) but before we can grow to Big we have to start small and from here, with your help and God’s blessing this will explode beyond anything we can imagine.

Step 1: Plans for today...we are preparing to launch Do Good’s online studio soon. (You can check it out here and be sure to visit us, like us, and share us on Facebook or sign up to get our emails and be one of the first to know when we officially open our “doors” for business.) We are currently scouring the globe, near and far, for fair-trade, up-cycled and unique Goods that we hope will become your new favorite things, perfect for gifting, or keeping for yourself! Thus, the new blend of coffee, the red thread and the sparkly beads…We have been shopping, tasting, trying, wearing, creating for a cause.

I am so excited to begin introducing you to our product line, and some of the artisan’s stories that make the Goods even greater!

Step 2: Dreams for tomorrow… What if? This is a great big question…What if? We have so many ideas but it all comes back to this… We dream about seeing tons of Good Done and having innumerable Love Stories to share.

Today, I am just so excited to finally be able to share this idea with you! Please check out Do Good and share our big news so we can begin to get some momentum going, and tell me, do you have a favorite blend of coffee, piece of jewelry, local artisan?

Is there a cause that is near and dear to your heart that has a need? We are going to begin the vetting process, building our portfolio of Love Runner partners.

And finally, as my launch team, would you consider praying for this mighty endeavor, that God’s hand would continue to guide and direct as we move forward?

All my Love Launch Team – let’s do this!