Our second family’s (Ebony) story is lower in this email.
The ELF Story
For those of you who are new to Project Elf, I want to give you some insight into ALL the different people and things that have to assemble to make this production happen. This year my estimate is that around 95 people worked on this project in some way.
This was our 7th year of the “crazy full house makeover” and the 12th year I have hosted this project. We still see many of the families that we served over the years because we all sort of fall in love with them and want to check in and see how life is going. I am proud of every one of these parents for raising great kids, and they all do.
The concept of this amazing GIFT is about aligning resources differently. Taking what one person is not using and gifting to another who needs it. Project Elf is based on gifting in a way that is purposeful, coordinated, and staged to perfection. And it is always perfect!
Our combined GIFT to these families is about $7,000-$10,000 in value to each family in recycled, handmade, and new items and about $4000 of volunteered time, not to mention storage units, gas money, delivery trucks, gift cards and a meal at the mall and wrist bands to ride all day (thank you Crave!). Had we paid the volunteers for their services for JUST delivery day we would have had a labor cost of about $1,600.
The vast majority of those who donate to this project are individuals who are moved by the project and have enlisted their friends and families to participate. That included gathering friends from church, and a work group, making cake plates, sewing quilts, driving to Hudson for a high chair, driving across the state to pick up a sewing machine, making a meal to leave for the family, bringing lunch to our hungry volunteers, painting a picture for these people to hang on their walls, gathering wallets and filling them with gift cards for the families, gathering quarters for laundry machines, sending in bus cards, having a family gather and gift kitchen items, giving a free hair cut, buying bed pillows for every child, sending cleaning products and laundry soap, or concentrating on one special area like make-up or accessories.
We also have support from small business owners that contribute, like Officenters who donated all the stockings and filled them to the brim with goodies and sent some very cool furniture. Three new beds came from Easy Rest, PC Doodle manages the computer needs and gifted a home PC and some jamming speakers, Crave restaurant gave the generous multi-course meals for the families and the MOA wristbands for every child, and to the various small businesses that make various cash and in-kind donations.
Many people are shocked that these families often have five people in a single bedroom. There is a rental shortage in the twin cities for the third year and the average market rent for a 2 bedroom low profile rental is about $1,200 a month. The cost to wash and dry a load of laundry is $6.
The homes Elf services are homes that are nearly devoid of resources. So something as simple as buying spatulas and measuring cups has to wait until there is enough in the budget to sustain the family. For the families coming out of a shelter 75-95% of their income goes to keep a roof over their heads. In this case, the monthly income of one of our participants this year- her family of 5 has a monthly income of $931. Her subsidized rent is $700 of that monthly income. She has a roommate that pays the other $600 of the rent with a total monthly rental of $1,100 a month plus utilities.
You can see that in order to buy the items that we gift would require an immense amount of time to create enough additional resources to supply an entire houseful of basic needs. One benefit of arranging resources in this manner is that families get all of your items through ELF as a gift and they can start to build a foundation. Whereas when you gift items to a thrift store-based donation system these families would have to purchase those items from the store.
Funny story- on this delivery: One volunteer teen noticed things she had gifted a few months ago being used in the home of the people we were serving. It brought home the message of how MUCH she had to offer by just sending her cast-offs to another young girl who would LOVE her cute stuff. And she did have cute stuff and that girl LOVED her cute stuff. I love her cute stuff too.
The immense amount of STUFF we bring is often the first time they have ever had a home where “it all adds up”. We create a foundation of strength and offer to help them keep it if they have to move, by raising cash for a moving truck. In project Elf we fill cupboards with food, drawers with socks, closets with clothes and coats, fill bedrooms with beds, sheets, blankets, provide cooking utensils, art on the walls, a design to the house, dishes, cookware, flatware, storage containers, furniture, rugs, lamps, décor, toys, books, medicine cabinets, cleaning supplies, and every teeny thing we can think of. All you have to do is look around your house and see how much it takes to make a house complete.
We needed every one of the 95 people to add to this project!
So for those of you who are hooked on this project, we always need cash to buy items that did not come in and that were not on the list, Home depot gift cards for building materials, bus cards, and people who can act as gatherers. For those of you who are shopaholics, clearance bin sifters, garage sale divas, or thrifters, you can start right now gathering for a new home that we will serve next year. I call for items every November.
All of the donations that did not work out on this year’s design go to the 5 back-up families that are also waiting for our gifts. The need is great and you cannot gift too many socks, back packs, cleaning supplies, diapers, personal care items, or small toys. I also host a year round closet that serves these families while they are IN the shelter.
Thank you for all that you do and for the great things we accomplished together.
Mickey Mikeworth
Founder, Rich Chicks Project Elf
President, Mikeworth Consulting
Ebony’s story
This is the next morning. Ebony talks at the speed of light- so imagine words falling out of her mouth at a pace that makes you want to catch your breath. She is as excited and bright as a kid- she is a kid- she is 23.
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I am so excited I do not know where to start other than it is beautiful and LOVE everything! I have not stopped cooking or eating. ( big laugh)
It so much more than just a bed, we have a bigger outlook on life. I want to cry to relieve my happy feeling being so BIG. (Exhale) I am so happy I don’t know what I have to cry about- but this is sooo cool. I did this for my kids but I had no idea so much would be about ME! ( big laugh)
I do not know how one day can be so impactful. The fancy food at Crave (Crave West End, a partner in the Elf story) and the rides in the park were awesome and tried new stuff and loved it. . We had so much fun it was like being someone famous. I felt so “in” like I should have worn sunglasses and been signing autographs.
My kids are enthralled with their room. They did not stay in that room when it was the other way now they do not leave it. They have a place to play and it is so peaceful and bright. I love the flowers.
When we got home I covered the girl’s eyes and just let them walk into the room. They just saw magic. My nieces felt the magic. And then the girls saw the dolls in the vintage bassinette.. We were ALL in awe.
I have never imagined a room so put together and with so many treasures. I love it and want to explore every little thing in that room. The flower shop sign made me giggle it was all so pulled together. The vintage vibe was so cool, and made it more fun.
The ART blew me away- the kids love their room but I love having things be about ME sometimes.This place certainly has more of ME in it. ( big laugh)
The dishes are so cute and the table – we are going to have a fairy breakfast or something. I want to put cereal in those bowls and sit on my comfy couch( that is the same couch but now that it is covered it feels more cushy.) Or maybe a big bowl of ice cream and watch late night TV. Those bowls just make you want to hold them.
I was impressed by the unique ways you manage storage in our teeny place and how the whole place looks bigger. I feel like we have more space.
Everything was thoughtful; I do not know HOW all those elves made every little thing so perfect. The extra blankets stuffed inside big pillow covers to make floor pillows was brilliant. I would never have thought of that. I am going to keep that idea for the rest of my life because I have a lot of nieces and nephews and I need to keep a lot of blankets around and they always look messy.
We never understood how to organize a house or make a place for things. I love that everything has a special place. That is totally new for me. ( big laugh) I may have to have some lessons. I know those elves hated my “garbage bags of clothes stuffed in the closet method”. I am glad about the shelf to sort stuff. I just had no idea what to do with the stuff we had and now we have extra space. I am willing to learn.
There is so many goodies and so many delightful things – and I keep finding them! It is like getting more of the gift every day. The girls came out with clothes I have never seen, I mean lots of clothes I have never seen! It is a surprise in every way. I loved the hotel folded towels. I told the kids to use other towels and not ruin the pretty ones.
The mall was fun. I love the fact we will have pictures to remember the day. I was glad I had a phone that takes pictures. We ate like rock stars. I did not want to leave, but the kids wanted to ride the rides. I have never had such a long lunch in my life. We sat there for like 2 hours!
I could not have imagined this experience would turn out like this. I am blessed, silly, and just want to sit in here for a week and not let anyone in. Just bake and eat. Thanks you to everyone who made this happen. It is so blessed.
I can’t wait to meet some of these people in real life. Mickey tells me all the names of people, those dishes came from so and so, this person dropped of your pans, the art was painted by this lady. I feel like they are my friends too. ( big laugh) I like that.
Thank you for everything . I am tickled, enchanted, and excited. I took out every pan to enjoy it. This is more stuff that I LOVE than I can ever remember.
Tell us how this project went for you–all of it?
I came from a BIG family and when my mom died things just changed and it was never the same. Life without a mom when you are young is sad but when you are a mom is just extra-hard. We are all close and all, but you learn habits in your mind like you just always settle for what was not broken, smile when something was new, and just try to keep getting by. My dad had his hands full and we mostly live in the cities.
I chose to go the shelter because I wanted to actually BUILD my life and not rely on family to let us crash on their couch. They would have kept my mind in the same pattern and I needed skills and I needed to rely on myself. I am 23 and I have 2 kids that need me.
I wanted to REALLY make it on my own. It is definitely part of my story for when I am a successful person and so is all the weight I lost. I used to be a fat girl not any more! I am going to be running this spring.
Life in the shelter is awful and kicks you down further that you thought possible. The food is awful, you have so many ignorant rules and you feel you want to escape but you have nowhere to go. You cannot even know yourself because nothing is solid. There is no peace and no justice, you fear for your kids every second, some of those people are REALLY bad people and you feel them. I just had to keep going. I said every day I can’t wait to eat something that was made with love. That will stay with me forever.
In the shelter, Ms Toni the advocate, offered us a chance to go to Mickey’s classes and those two would make us laugh, help us plan a life, feed us real food, and it gave me more than hope, it gave me a chance to think about being myself for the first time. Not someone’s sister, mom, or coworker. A lesson on how to be ME and how to think differently, they challenged me and gave me some hard talking too. Having a personal support system changed my direction in life to a place that is more powerful. Through this education experience and knowing these women I felt noticed and looked after. They just kept hooking me up to the next thing and solving problems.
I would get ideas from Mickey that were so far out of my minds reach- here is an example:She texted me one morning at 6:30 am and says:“I think you should go to Paris- for real”
HA! I texted back – “LOL with what money?”
Instant reply back : “You leave that money part to me, I can figure that out. Just make a point to get your passport. You will love the food and it will inspire you.” Who thinks like that?
I am on welfare with two babies and I should go to Paris because I like the food? ( big laugh) She is crazy. But now I have Paris on my list and it feels possible. AND TA DA!
I got a job i really like in a French restaurant! They have been training me to do all sorts of stuff.
Mickey says to me when I got the job:“Try everything on the menu with an open mind. Don’t look at what is in it, just TRY IT and then make your decision.” I used to be scared to try new stuff, now I found out I like steak tartar and snails. ( big laugh) Snail are so good. ( she lights up) I get them at 1/2 price and no limit to how many I can order on my shift.
All that stuff prepared me for this new life I am making. At the Crave restaurant for Project Elf I tried all sorts of new foods and LOVED everything that came to our table. I had some food literacy and I did not feel out of place or stupid. I felt complete and proud of all the good work I have been doing. Working and getting ready for school. It feels so good to have a group of people that can help you get on your way.
I am still in transition and there are many rules and stupidity, but for the most part I am doing a great job. I know I am a role model for my nieces and nephews and my kids and I definitely take that seriously. But I also know I have my own mark to leave on this world.
I am thankful so many people are willing to reach out. I feel your love and it makes me keep going.
It is breathtaking if I think too long on it. Thanks for everyone’s support.
Your future success story,
Ebony
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