I’ve met a lot of people with interesting and unique “backstory” lives. But none more interesting than the story of Ann and Sara Reed, founders of the Community Quilt Project and the Pootie Pads company that grew from the Community Quilt Project.
Today, Ann and Sara live together in a small Portland, Oregon cottage which could stand-in as the forest cottage in any fairy tale. Muted green shades an A-frame cottage nestled under pacific northwest evergreens which rise to the sky… and with them live a family of felines and thus was born the name of their home — Catnip Manor.
The Crash of 2008 hit Sara and Ann, like a lot of other American women of a certain age, with a resounding crash. The reverberations continue to this day. Adding in some health issues (one of which put Ann in the hospital and nearly took her life), and an economy which has turned cold and unfriendly to older women, even those with degrees and decades of experience.
So they did what Americans have always done. They looked around and found a way to at least keep their chins above water (they haven’t had the whole head out in a few years now, but at least they’ve been able to keep breathing) . They created a home-based production of quilts and eventually, quilt related items. Which is where Pootie Pads entered the picture. But let’s take a look at the years leading up to Pootie Pads…
Sara Reed and Othniel’s Community QuiltOn Sept 9, 2009, Sara and Ann decided to create the first Community Quilt for the blogger known as Othniel, who participated at Street Prophets, then a blog related to www.DailyKos.com. Othniel was gravely ill and in the hospital waiting for surgery when a diary was posted asking for messages for a quilt for him. He happened to see the diary late in the night and called his partner, austex54, to come to his bedside and read the messages with him. When he went to surgery the next morning, those messages of love and support were fresh in his mind — and he survived a dangerous illness for the moment.
Othniel was sick for a long time — but he never entered a hospital without his quilt. He even took it with him when he had tests like CT scans. Sadly, a virulent flu took him from us in 2012. His community quilt held a place of honor at his memorial service and is now a treasured memento for his longtime partner, caregiver, and love of his life, austex54.
Exmearden's quilt top...so many messages of love...Just after Othniel’s quilt was made, Sara noticed a diary on Daily Kos about a beloved member, exmearden (Kris Froland), who had just been diagnosed with a rare cancer of the heart. Her friends were distraught at the news and there was an outpouring of support for her online. Sara emailed a friend of exmearden’s and suggested a quilt bearing the loving words of the online community — but said some contributions would be necessary in order to make it.
There was no problem with this — and exmearden’s quilt was the first one to be supported by the community. Any extra, at exmearden’s request, was to be put toward a third quilt — for MsSpentyouth who was suffering from a brain tumor. And so the Community Quilt Project was born…
Later, at Netroots Nation in Las Vegas, 2010, Kris Froland (exmearden) spoke up at a panel on community and said her quilt had without a doubt extended her life. She credited the words on the quilt from her friends with keeping her in the world longer than she expected to be able to stay… Sara and the audience were floored.
Making community quilts kept the fires burning for Sara and Ann up to a point — and then it was suggested that maybe their sewing skills could be used to create something for another section of the online community — the people who loved their pets and who participated daily in the “Pootie” diaries, named after a cat called Pootie.
Ann developed a quilted pad filled with organic, Oregon Tilth certified organic catnip — the Pootie Pads. Later, not to leave the dogs out, a Pootie Pads for Pooches was developed containing organic lavender and thyme. And not to neglect petless people, pads and lap throws containing organic lavender (Pootie Pads for People) were added to the product line.
Left to Right: Ann Reed, Sara Reed, Richard Pierce (llbear, a Veteran) and Sarah Wilmot-Johnson (daughter of Angela Marx)Somewhere in all of this Sara and Ann found time to also inspire other quilters to create lap quilts, and bed quilts and scarves and mittens for VA Hospitals and their Servicemember patients and their families.
I attended their last delivery of an entire van full of quilts, scarves, mittens and Teddy Bears to the VA Hospital in Portland, Oregon. Sara wrote a story about that visit. This is just one more act showing the kindness and caring of these two wonderful women.
But the Reed sisters took another hit two summers ago, when Ann caught a nearly fatal infection while working at a pet store. The damage done left her unable to work regularly anymore.
So, this last fall they started thinking how they could replace Ann’s income from the pet store.
They’d already been creating and selling quilts and quilt related products. But they weren’t reaching enough people with advertising to expand into a more fiscally friendly level of income — mostly because they are only living on the edge, getting just enough work to keep that chin out of the water, but whenever another unexpected something needs fixing or replacing, it’s a something they just can’t afford.
The only way out of this is to get an infusion of capital, enough to buy material for six months worth of product, and perhaps employ a few part-time or piece-work assistants, and build up a significant stock so that they can embark on a real business. Maybe even Franchise out into other cities, so that other women in their same position can work their way out of despair and desperation.
So they’ve done some research.
They’ll need at least $24,905 (and $35K would be better) to do this. That’s enough to pay bills and buy enough materials to create products for 3 to 6 months, so that they can build up stock and get ready to start fulfilling orders. Kickstarter funding will be like getting a whole lot of pre-orders lined up!
So if you or anyone you know has a cat or a dog or an ill or ailing family member whose life could be improved with a Pootie Pad or Lap quilt or a Custom-worked quilt with messaging from loved ones and friends? Please share the story of Ann and Sara Reed and Pootie Pads with them.
Together, with the help of friends, in real life and online, if we can share this story with enough people, then Ann and Sara will have their first chance in nearly a decade at getting not just their heads above water… but out of the pool entirely, and onto dry land for the foreseeable future.
They don’t have their hand out for “free stuff”, but for a Hand Up, to get them on the path to a more secure and less-stressful life. So that they can continue the work they’ve been doing, creating works of Art and Love for those who are in dire need of both.
If there are any two people with a foundational American work ethic, and who have been hanging on by their fingernails for years, who deserve a bit of good luck and some random acts of kindness… it would be Sara and Ann Reed.
I urge you to pledge to their Kickstarter Project. Think of it as investing in Love. Because truthfully, that is what they create. Love to wrap round the shoulders of a ill mother or son. Love for your cat or kitten to rub themselves wild with, and then roll up and sleep in, deep in catnip fueled dreams. Love, to share with a friend at a low point in life. A warm, beautiful quilt with personal messages of hope and care can make a real difference in someone’s life, even if that someone’s life is now counted in months or weeks and not years. Kris Froland told Sara and a room full of people that very thing a few short years ago — that her Community Quilt and it’s messages of healing and love kept her alive longer than anyone had expected. Now isn’t THAT something worth investing in?
A number of Sara R’s stories lately have tweets about the Kickstarter embedded in them. Like this one
x.@TheEllenShow Please share our @PootiPads #Kickstarter– organic herb-filled quilts for pets & people #MadeInOregonhttps://t.co/NCh0I6Qzis
— Angela Marx (@AngieinWAState) October 3, 2016and this one
x@markos ONLY 4 Days left! #Kickstarter for Pootie Pads at 78.6% funded! Please help us finish this! https://t.co/ojNsvsRHcp
— Angela Marx (@AngieinWAState) October 3, 2016and this one
x@GeorgeTakei Please share the @PootiePads#Kickstarterhttps://t.co/yJXw3V1GYs The quilts are wonderful for furry friends (& humans too!)
— Mopshell (@Mopshell) October 3, 2016Please help us spread the word to some great animal friendly celebrities, many of whom have over a million followers. If just one of them shared one of these messages, the Kickstarter would likely finish funding that day! You’ll find a list of Twitter user links in Sara R’s last story right here to choose from to send a message to — or just look in the comments and RT any or all of the Tweets embedded there.
Thank you for reading, now let’s share this story out into the wider world and get this thing done, shall we? Why not start by sending out a share to a well-know animal lover who LOVES social media:
x.@MileyCyrus please consider sharing the @PootiePads#Kickstarter& help my friends Sara & Ann fully fund (at 78.6%) https://t.co/NCh0I6Qzis
— Angela Marx (@AngieinWAState) October 3, 2016Direct link to the Pootie Pads #Kickstarter
UPDATEAs of 8:34 pm PST the Pootie Pads Kickstarter is at …
$23,265.00 of their $24,905.00 funding goal!which is just $1650.00 short of their Fully Funded Goal with 3 whole days left to finish up!
A great big THANK YOU to everyone who shared this story during September and October and an extra special Thank You to every Daily Kos User and Staff who became Backers of the Pootie Pads Kickstarter.
I am confident that the final amount will be pledged before Friday morning … but until it is?
You’ll see my Tweets and Facebook posting going out if we are Friends out there in social media territory!