5 Ways to Give Back this Year

5 Ways to Give Back this Christmas
In the consumer driven world that we live in, it is quite easy to become wrapped up in the materialism of the holiday season. There are many ways to make a conscious effort to give back to those around us. Here are 5 ways you can choose to give back this Christmas:
1. Volunteer at a food pantry or PADs or at least take your children to your pantry cupboard or the grocery store to donate a box of goodies to the needy this Christmas season.
2. Try to purchase at least one of your Christmas, Hanukkah etc. gifts from five ACCESSORIES. You will not only be helping the global artisans we support, but our vendors right here in Chicago at Streetwise.
3. Donate to one of your favorite charities. If you don’t have one, there is Compassion International and Gospel for Asia who have programs that allow people like us to support a child for as little as $30/month to help him or her be fed get an education, and other necessities they require to live. There are also many organizations that are fighting cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes that you could give to. Then there are gift memberships to places like Green America.
4. Feeding America is an organization whose mission is to provide food for hungry Americans. During this recession, many Americans are hurting like they’ve never experienced before. What better way to give back than to help a “brother and sister” in need.
5. Go Christmas caroling and deliver a plate of cookies to your neighbors! You won’t only be giving of yourself and time, but you’ll have fun too!

Whatever you decide, we urge you to do at least one thing to give back this holiday season.

Children's Memorial Picks Up 'Off The Street' line

We are excited that the Children’s Memorial Hospital Store in Chicago has picked up a couple of our “Off The Street” products; specifically the picture frames and pop top bracelets. The patients and their families are sure to love them!

Women in Film Donation

Last week five ACCESSORIES had the privilege of donating three bag packages to the Women in Film Focus Awards for their honorees.

The Women in Film focus Awards “recognize and honor those women who have made significant contributions to the film, television, advertising or new media industries.” The Awards seeks to celebrate women “who have demonstrated a pioneering and enterprising spirit throughout their careers and who have strong ties to the Midwest.”

See their website.

Social Enterpreneurship

Social Enterpreneurship

“Social entrepreneurs have existed throughout history. St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order, would qualify as a social entrepreneur -- having built multiple organizations that advanced pattern changes in his ‘field.’ Similarly, Florence Nightingale created the first professional school for nurses and established standards for hygiene and hospital care that have shaped norms worldwide. What is different today is that social entrepreneurship is developing into a mainstream vocation, not only in the United States, Canada, and Europe, but increasingly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In fact, the rise of social entrepreneurship represents the leading edge of a remarkable development that has occurred across the world over the past three decades: the emergence of millions of new citizen organizations.”
-- David Bornstein as taken from http://www.betterworld.net/quotes/entrepreneur-quotes.htm

In light of this, our founder, Christine Hutchison, has spoken at numerous events around. These have been wonderful priviledges and a great opportunities for her to share her knowledge of social entrepreneurship.

Other Resources:

http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/

Donating to Women in Film, Chicago

Last week five ACCESSORIES had the privilege of donating three bag packages to the Women in Film Focus Awards for their honorees.

The Women in Film focus Awards “recognize and honor those women who have made significant contributions to the film, television, advertising or new media industries.” The Awards seeks to celebrate women “who have demonstrated a pioneering and enterprising spirit throughout their careers and who have strong ties to the Midwest.”

See their website at http://wifchicago.org/site/focus-awards/

Emanuel Congregation's Chanukah Market - Fair Trade and Locally Crafted Goods

It is our privilege to be a part of Emanuel Congregation’s Chanukah Market on Sunday, November 8^th from 10:15am to 2:00pm. Emanuel Congregation is located at 5959 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago.

The Chanukah Market is promoting fair trade, while at the same time encouraging buyers to purchase locally crafted goods. Items include fair trade coffee, local foods, jewelry, hand-crafted soaps, textiles and judaica. Many wonderful products that will help give back on a local and global level. We look forward to representing one socially conscious business at this Chicago event.

Fundraiser for StreetWise Chicago

five ACCESSORIES put on a successful fundraiser for StreetWise in Chicago. We launched our new product line called 'Off The Street' featuring products sourced and produced by vendors of StreetWise, a Chicago based social enterprise designed to help elevate formerly been homeless or severly impoverished men and women out of povertly. By employing individuals and enabling to keep them off the street and using littered material off the street of Chicago, we are offering a unique eco-friendly accessory line consisting of bracelets, buttons, belts, pins and picture frames constructed and adorned with the items such as transit cards, bottle caps, ticket stubs and other urban refuse. As with all of fiveACCESSORIES sales, 15% of gross income will be donated back.

Shop The Fair Trader Chicago

five ACCESSORIES is in a New Retail Store – The Fair Traders in Hyde Park

This week marked another new beginning as we partner with The Fair Traders store in Hyde Park to sell our products at a new retail location. We are excited about the possibilities of offering our products to a new clientele. Thank you, ladies at Fair Traders, for your beautiful support and interest in providing your customers with products from five ACCESSORIES.
You may learn more about The Fair Traders, their business and exact location by visiting their website at http://thefairtraderchicago.com/

October is Fair Trade Month

Fair Trade Month – 31 Days and 31 Ways to Support Fair Trade

The month of October is Fair Trade Month and TransFair USA has created a website to celebrate. At the website you will find 31 ways to support fair trade, one for each day of the month. Sorry that we are late in announcing this, but it is never too late to start since there are still close to 20 days left in October.
For example for Saturday, October 10 this is what they had on their home page for fair trade ideas:

Ask for it! – If you don’t see a fair trade item in the store…ask!
Fair Trade Certified at a Store near You – if you don’t know if the store is fair certified…ask!

For more details about 31 Days and 31 Ways to make a difference in fair trade, please visit http://www.fairtrademonth.org/ for some amazing thoughts, ideas and sponsors. Ask and support fair trade!

Climate Action Giveaway

WE ADD UP

Recently, we were given the opportunity to participate and showcase our eco-friendly designer handbags in what is being called The World’s Biggest Green Sweepstakes (And Help Solve the Climate Crisis at the Same Time). Climate week began last week, September 23, and will end with international climate talks in Copenhagen in early December. Here’s the goal:

“The goal of the Climate Action Giveaway is to get 1 million people to learn about the climate crisis and also to participate in short, easy actions each week that collectively will add up to big change. Whether it be e-faxing their Senator or taking part in creative actions about COP15 in Copenhagen, the actions will be directed from non-profit organizations 1Sky and 350.org, who are each working to create a successful outcome during this unprecedented season of climate opportunity.

The Climate Action Giveaway is the world’s biggest green sweepstakes! All participants of this project are entered to win exciting prizes from their favorite brands (like five ACCESSORIES!). Drawing will take place on December 7th, the first day of the international climate talks in Copenhagen.”

five ACCESSORIES has donated the following items: 2 medium Sand Bamboo clutches and 2 Triangle Bracelets. So don’t put off joining the fun, go to www.weaddup.com and enter the chance to win some great prizes! There is no cost or obligation, just enter your name and email and you’ve entered the sweepstakes.

Supporting Bridge to Success

five ACCESSORIES , a Chicago socially conscious online store, is supporting Bridge to Success on Wednesday, September 30th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at The Metropolitan Club in Chicago, IL.

Bridge to Success, a social enterprise program of Heartland Human Care Services, provides coaching coupled with high-end interview and work place appropriate clothing for low-income, hard-to-employ men, women and youth to build self-confidence through appearance, interview preparation and a sense of "belonging" at the workplace. More info. can be found on their website at The Bridge to Success. The Bridge to Success .

Supporting PAVE in Chicago

PAVE is a national, nonprofit that uses education and action to shatter the silence of sexual violence. Through social awareness campaigns, educational outreach, and targeted legislative efforts we work to end sexual violence on all fronts.

PAVE is both prevention and response based. They educate on cultural norms that encourage or trivialize violence while also creating grassroots action against injustices to victims and survivors.

five ACCESSORIES is excited to support PAVE by donating a charity handbag as shown above to their annual Fear No Fashion Event on Sunday, September 27, 2009. For more information please visit PAVE Chicago.

Fair Trade Federation

"The Fair Trade Federation (FTF) is the trade association that strengthens and promotes North American organizations fully committed to fair trade. The Federation is part of the global fair trade movement, building equitable and sustainable trading partnerships and creating opportunities to alleviate poverty."

For more information about The Fair Trade Federation visit their website.

Chicago Fair Trade

Chicago is working towards becoming a city known for its Fair Trade values and practices. Help Fair Trade Chicago achieve these goals: "Bring fair trade items to your workplace, school, hair salon, lawyer's office, or congregation, and help us become a Fair Trade City.

Fair Trade Resolution for Chicago's City Council states that "the City must recognize the comprehensive labor conditions that may be supported by its actions, including a living wage, sustainable production practices and a work environment free from toxins; and Fair Trade certification is an innovative, market-based system that encourages family sustaining wages and a healthy and safe work environment by identifying food, beverage and handicrafts products that generate economic benefit to the producers of these products often farmers and artisan groups in developing countries."

The next Fair Trade meeting is this fall on Monday, September 21st from 6:00PM- 08:00PMIt would be a great opportunity to become better educated in Fair Trade, how Chicago is working towards its goals and how you can help.

five ACCESSORIES, a Chicago Eco Friendly Boutique, is a member of Chicago Fair Trade.

Education in Cambodia

Cambodia is one of the poorest nations in the world. It has a population of 11.4 million people and a 62% illiteracy rate in the adult population.

16% of all the children ages 6-11 are not in school and in some of the more remote areas this can be as high as 50%.

In a 1999 CSES Survey an estimated 1.6 million (about 25%) of school age children not attending full-time gave household income/work in the rice fields as the number one reason for not being in school. Whereas, only 8% cited the lack of quality accessible education as their primary hindrance in not attending school.

Due to the low participation in higher education, five ACCESSORIES desires to assist these families in educating their children. That is why we give back through the sale of our charity handbags. As pictured, the large messenger bag made in Cambodia from five ACCESSORIES http://tinyurl.com/mpmded

Helping others through fashion

Glenn A. Hughes has been reaching to better his life since the early 1990's. He has been a StreetWise vendor for over ten years and is now participating as an atrist in the five ACCESSORIES' income generating program called 'Off The Street'. Glenn is making picture frames adorned with unslightly litter such as transit cards and sports ticket stubs collected off the streets of Chicago.

When asked what he wants to write on his personalized hangtag that accompanies each product he makes, Glenn decided to say the following:

'Never look down on anyone until you are reaching down to help them up. In order to know where you are going, you need to know and appreciate where you have been'.

Women of The World Fashion Show

Women of the World is hosting a:

Fashion Show

Fashion Face Forward"

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

11:30 am - 1:30 pm

Union League Club

65 W. Jackson Blvd.

For more info. please visit

http://www.womenwotw.org/wotw/Events.aspx

Their mission is to provide local & global opportunities to professional women through collaboration, education and networking. By sharing collective thought leadership, resources and passion, women. Their vision is to act locally, think globally, and effect change.

five ACCESSORIES is happy to be a sponsor and donate items from our 'Off The Street' new accessory line. http://www.fiveaccessories.com/

Charity Handbags Supporting Chicago Organizations

five ACCESSORIES was pleased to announce that it supported DePaul University's Fashion Show in May 2009 with a silent auction donation.

Come clean up Chicago in partnership with the Chicago Cubs

On Tuesday, June 16th Chicago area high school students are teaming up with The Chicago Cubs to clean 16th Street in North Lawndale, IL. Following the clean-up, Volunteers of America will host a block party and resource fair at North Lawndale College Prep.

The street cleaning starts at 10 am and the fair, featuring five ACCESSORIES http://www.fiveaccessories.com/

is from 12 to 2 pm. five ACCESSORIES will be featuring a local income generating program for StreetWise as shown in the picture above.

Everyone is invited to attend.

Homelessness results from a complex set of circumstances that require
people to choose between food, shelter, and other basic needs. Only a
concerted effort to ensure jobs that pay a living wage, adequate support
for those who cannot work, affordable housing, and access to health care
will bring an end to homelessness.

Programs such as StreetWise (a paper that the homeless sell for money) and partners such as Off the Street (a five ACCESSORIES line made by the homeless that pays an hourly wage and gives back from each sale) give the homeless opportunities to do just
that!

Join us for a Launch Party to Announce the Partnership between StreetWise and five ACCESSORIES www.fiveaccessories.com on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 from 5:30 to 9:30 at Salon Serene located at 625 W Lake St. Chicago, IL. www.salonserene.com.

A fundraiser to support survivors of domestic abuse in Chicago

Each month we will be highlighting a local charity. This month five ACCESSORIES is partnerhing up with Apna Ghar www.apnaghar.org to promote their annual fundraiser.
This is an incredible event you will not want to miss as it brings in over 500 people from the Chicagoland area for an evening of exquisite cuisine, fine wine and lively music to support survivors of domestic abuse.

You are invited to attend:
Thursday, April 16, 2009
6:00 to 10:00 pm at the Great Hall, Union Station
210 S. Canal St., Chicago, IL
Please call 773-334-0173 and mention that you heard about the event through the charity handbags blog.

Apna Ghar (Our Home) provides culturally-appropriate, multilingual services, including emergency shelter, to survivors of domestic abuse with a primary focus on the South Asian and other immigrant communities. APNA GHAR service more than 400 survivors each year. For more information please visit www.apnaghar.org.

Helping others with five

Help others.... it just takes five

Wouldn't it be great if you could help generate income for someone in need just by purchasing a unique and trendy handbag?

At five ACCESSORIES, we are making that easy for you. Through the purchase of a handbag from our Honduras Collection, you are helping to support women and their families who participate in a Honduran fair trade cooperative.

Dilma is 28 years old and has 5 daughters. Her income from making recycled potato chip bags has been used to purchase medicine and provide health care - including hospitalization - to her children, who have often been sick. Dilma has also purchased a mattress and patched her leaking roof, all of which she hopes will improve her family's health. She now aspires to save enough money to send her children to school.

Charity Partnership with Local Domestic Women's Shelter

Giving Back to Chicago's Apna Ghar

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.Apna Ghar is a domestic violence shelter serving primarily Asian women, and was the first Asian shelter of its kind in the Mid-Western United States. The partnership with five ACCESSORIES allows them to move forward towards economic success and feel good about creating something that others deem fashionable.

New Leather Bags from Apna Ghar five ACCESSORIES is supporting Apna Ghar's SEW (Sewing Empowers Women) group to hand sew customized designs for Five Accessories. By utilizing leather remnants donated from The Furniture Store, a local furniture maker, that otherwise would have been discarded in the trash dumps, the Apna Ghar ladies are using the leather to create unique, hand-sewn business card holders, change purses, and small over the shoulder purses and handbags, with more ideas and design to come.

Many uses for coconut trees....

A Thai farmer from a rural province south of Bangkok has found yet another
use for the versatile coconut. Not only does its flesh provide food, its
trunk supply wood, and its juice make a delicious drink, but now Kitti
Maneesrikul is using its oil to fuel the family truck.

Here is another way to resue the coconuts...... check out five ACCESSORIES's new
cream coconut handbags. Five dollars from the sale of this bag
goes towards keeping at-risk-children in school in Bali, Indonesia.

Bamboo as a Renewable Resource

People in US spend three to four times as much time shopping as Europeans
do"
"The impact of the average U.S. citizen on the environment is
approximately 3 times that of the average Italian"
Adapt an Eco-friendly European lifestyle to save the environment and your
wallet! fiveACCESSORIES offers a variety of global eco-friendly bags that
won't hurt your wallet or your environment.

"Bamboo is a highly yield renewable resource and is one of the strongest
building materials. Bamboo's tensile strength is 28,000 pounds per square
inch versus 23,000 pounds per square inch for steel"
fiveACCESSORIES' Bali collection uses bamboo to make handbags such as the
Night and Half Moon, hence are sturdy and long-lasting, as well as
renewable