Stetson Student Sells Jewelry for Ugandan Women

Emmy Tolsdorf’s mother and grandmother do a lot of work with charity around women’s issues. 

Last week it was Emmy’s turn.

Tolsdorf, a seventh-grader at , sold jewelry for the organization Bead for Life, which helps Ugandan women launch their own small businesses.

“It’s something my grandmother is into and passionate about,” Toldsdorf said.  “She asked if I would help, and I said, ‘sure, why not?’  It was something she was excited about so I got excited about it.”

Over the course of three days, Tolsdorf and her friend Jillian Stout sold necklaces and lip-balm to the students of Stetson during lunch raising over $500.

“They made a whopping $527,” said Emmy’s grandmother Boots Tolsdorf.  “My goal was like $100.  They far surpassed me.  I can’t wait to tell my Bead for Life partners.  They will be absolutely overwhelmed.”

Emmy Tolsdorf said that she was just happy to contribute to a good cause.

“A lot of these women live on just one dollar a day,” she said.  “This money can really help.  They use it for a lot of things like sending their kids to school or purchasing mosquito nets to prevent malaria.”

Emmy Tolsdorf said that her fellow students showed a lot of interest in the process of how the women make the jewelry, and that some students even sent back notes to the women.

“The women really like to receive notes from the people who buy their jewelry,” Tolsdorf said.  “Most of the notes just said things like ‘good luck’ or ‘I really like the bracelet.’”

Tolsdorf and her friends first came across Bead for Life when Emmy received one of the bracelets as a gift from her grandmother.

“My friend saw it and thought it was cool,” Tolsdorf said.  “So then I gave her one as a gift later.”

“I’m absolutely overwhelmed, awed and impressed as a grandmother,” said Tolsdrf’s grandmother Boots.  “It’s a phenomenal thing that they did.”

Founded in 2004, Bead for Life started after the founders encountered a woman selling paper bead jewelry during a trip to Uganda. 

The founders discovered that their was a market for the jewelry in the United States and began working with Ugandan women to sell the jewelry and improve their lives.

According to the organization’s Web site:

Our goal is for our members to be independent of BeadforLife within 18 months by being able to support themselves within the Ugandan economy.  To assist members in launching their own small businesses or in creating new revenue streams, we provide entrepreneurial training, facilitate savings accounts, and make business funds available.  In the rural areas our program focuses on agricultural development.

For more information on Bead for Life please visit their Web site by clicking on the link: here.