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Funky Friends Factory ‘Billion Bears’ Charity Drive

Billion Bears Charity Drive

...First I’ll start with a little history on how this came about… then an explanation of how it all works!

I get so many requests for donations from charitable causes. Every request makes me feel terrible because I cannot help everyone I would like to. Lots of people think I am a large company but it is just me working from home. I run the Funky Friends Factory as a sideline because I still work a day job tocover living expenses. People don’t seem to realise that I cannot donate loads of cash or products when I don’t even make a living myself from my business! Having said all that, I realised that there is a genuine need for something quick and simple (and cute!) to make for fund-raising charities so I decided to put on my thinking cap on to see what I could do to help.

Easy Teddy Pattern

When I set up my business, I was advised to have my Funky Friends Factory patterns protected by international copyright, which has been done to protect against my designs being mass-produced... so I needed to have an official means of using the Funky Friends Factory Member's FREE Teddy Pattern for charity so that the Funky Friends Factory Members can make and sell as many Teddies as we can physically make! With this in mind, I set up the Funky Friends Factory ‘Billion Bears’ Charity Drive as an official means of “giving something back” for all the joy I have got out of my Funky Friends Factory.

So... let's explain how the Funky Friends Factory ‘Billion Bears’ Charity Drive works:

(As always, there have to be some do’s and don’ts.)

What CAN be done with the Honey Easy Teddy Pattern:

Anyone who receives the Honey Teddy Pattern as my thank-you gift for signing up for my newsletter, or who has purchased the pattern, may use their pattern to make as many Honey Bears as they can for any official charity of their choice as long as:

They let me know how many bears they are contributing to our ‘Billion Bears’ Charity Drive. (Our aim is to get to one billion, no time limit on this!)
With time, I would like to set up a ‘Billion Bears’ Charity Gallery, so members, please send in photos of your Charity Bears via email or post.

What CANNOT be done with the Honey Easy Teddy Pattern:

The Honey Teddy Pattern cannot be reproduce, distributed or sold, even to raise funds for a legitimate charity.
The Honey Teddy Pattern cannot be mass-produced (manufactured).

Please refer to the COPYRIGHT INFORMATION below for details:

The FunkyFriendsFactory patterns, toys, concepts & logo are protected by international copyright protection:
It is acceptable to make these toys yourself for personal use and gifts or to sell in limited numbers IF the toy is labeled or tagged ‘Made from a www.funkyfriendsfactory.com pattern’. It is unacceptable to mass-produce the toys or to duplicate, photocopy or reproduce the patterns, in any form.
Copyright © 2001 Funky Friends Factory.
®© 070630 Copyright Protection Services International.

Just as an aside - If you would like to sell the toys made from any of the other Funky Friends Factory patterns for charity or to make some money yourself...

The above international copyright applies, which means that the toys cannot be mass-produced (manufactured). I feel that whatever you are able to physically make yourself, from start to finish, would not be considered mass-production! : ) All I would ask, on a personal level, is if you could sell them with a little tag saying that you have produced them with permission from a Funky Friends Factory pattern and, if you could put my website address www.funkyfriendsfactory.com on it as well, I think it would be a win-win situation for both of us! As a 'one-woman-show' it would really help me if you could help spread the word about my pattern design website in this way! (Thank you, in advance!)

Back to the Billion Bears Charity Drive...

I feel this is a fantastic way for the Funky Friends Factory Members to have the opportunity to help out the charity/ charities of THEIR choice, and that are closest to their hearts. If someone chooses not to sign up for the newsletter, and purchases a Honey Easy Teddy Pattern, I get to donate the money from these sales to a charity of MY choosing. This way, we can ALL help a diverse range of very worthy causes, I can ‘give something back’ and still have a viable Soft Toy Pattern website!

I have set up the ‘Billion Bears Charity Drive’ with the best possible intentions, (it is NOT an official registered charity and does not accept donations.) Hopefully it will be used to help contribute lots of cuddly Teddy Bears to a lot of worthy causes. Lets get those ‘Billion Bears’ pictures rolling in! If you'd like to make some bears to contribute to our quest to reach "a Billion Bears" please contact me via our Contact page.

I wish you well with your charitable endeavours…

Pauline

Your Beary Heartfelt contributions:

Our first contribution:

Dear Pauline,

Thank you for your reply. What a lovely idea. I would be delighted to be included in this program. I had planned to make a few of these bears, to give to the Kim Walters Choices Program to sell on their fundraising stall, or to use as raffles or prizes at their fundraisers. At this stage I cannot tell how many bears I would like to make but will when I get organized!

Regards Lorraine, AUSTRALIA
Bears for Ronald McDonald House in Texas

I also wanted to add that your Billion Bear Charity is a great idea! I am a machine embroidery digitizer (a one-woman operation from home) and I also get inundated with "requests" which is hard. That you found a great way to give of YOUR talents, while allowing the home-sewer a bit of leeway with their talents to create and donate the Honey Bear is very generous of you!

I plan on doing just that, and will also keep you posted as I do (My daughter was in the NICU at Texas Children's Hospital for 45 days, so I am going to donate the bears I make to the Ronald Mcdonald House we stayed at while she was in ICU.

I can't wait to get started on the patterns! :)
-Michelle
Bears for Shepparton Wlidlife Shelter

Hi, Pauline,

I will be happy to join in the billion bear charity drive. I run the Shepparton Wildlife Shelter in North east Victoria, and will let you know how many i make. I would be only making a few at a time and making more once they were sold.

Many Thanks

Katherine
FF - Teddies for Ronald McDonald House

I think the charity teddy would be a wonderful idea- I'd do it for the Ronald McDonald House. You see, when I was little I had a brother born with a congenital heart defect, and he only had a 20% chance of living to be 10 years old.

The Ronald McDonald House took care of my family while he was in the hospital, and made sure we were in good hands. I was only 6 years old at the time- they took me and my brother into an entire room absolutely brimming with books and toys- imagine my surprise! My time there was where I made my best memories with my brother, and whenever I can I donate to them to help other families in their time of need.

Thanks!
-FF
Kath - Teddies for Samaritans Shoe box gifts

Hi Pauline,

I love the idea you have come up with to make your contribution to charities (to a bigger impact than you could have individually). My plan is to use the honey bear pattern to make bears to add to shoe boxes of gifts for children in 3rd world countries - a project run by Samaritans Purse that my youth group supports. I will send you details (& hopefully photos) so you can add them to the tally for your billion bear challenge. Have a great day :) Kath

Bears for Riley's Children's Hospital.

Billion Bear Contribution Hey Pauline,

As promised, I have attached pictures of the two bears I have made for Riley Children’s hospital. It’s such a great feeling to be able to contribute to the “Billion Bears” charity!

Thanks a bunch, Taylor

Honey Teddies for the LDS Church Humanitarian Center

Thank you so much for the adorable Honey Bear pattern.
I am excited to make it. I work one day a week at the LDS Church Humanitarian Center and sew all kinds of clothes, blankets, bibs, toys, etc. which are distributed to humanitarian needs throughout the world. I will sew some Honey Bears for the Center and send you the results of my efforts. I also want to make one for a gift for my new great-nephew scheduled to be born any day now.
Thanks again and I hope I will be able to purchase some more of your adorable patterns.
Marrene
Bears for Christmas boxes for the Samaritans

Dear Pauline,

I would just like to say ‘Thank you’ for the Free Honey Bear pattern. A friend and I have been talking in the last few days (she mentioned it) about making Christmas boxes for the Samaritans and I can make some of these bears to put in these boxes if we go ahead with this. We would be asking people in our Church to help with the boxes and I can at least make some bears.

Thanking you so much, Honey is gorgeous.
Helen
Honey helping special needs children.

Hello!
I just finished my second pattern Honey the bear. The steps were so easy to follow and she was a lot of fun to make. I have taken her into to school and my children will be naming her.

I work with special needs children and she is our signal that we will be learning about and using colours. They get so excited when I pull her out to help us write our colour sentences. v
Here is a picture of her, she is made out of rainbow swirl velvet as one of my more social students loves that material.

Thanks for all the wonderful patterns and ideas!
Lisa
"honey bears" for The Wollongong Hospital volunteers fundraising stall and kids ward.

Thanks.
Getting started on the "honey bears" for The Wollongong Hospital volunteers fundraising stall and kids ward.
Will email you some photos when we have a fininshed. Thanks for the pattern.
Kate
Bears for Peter Mac Cancer Centre in Melbourne

Dear Pauline. What a wonderful idea. I have just joined your club and I am waiting on the patterns .If I had known how easy they are to download I would have done it that way first time! Next time I will. I will be making the Bears for Peter Mac Cancer Centre in Melbourne for their shop to raise funds. Regards Gay.
More teddies for the Samaritan's Purse shoeboxes

Hi Pauline, Your animals look absolutely beautiful and I have just become a member and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Honey bear I plan to make her/him for the Samaritan's Purse shoeboxes. I have been knitting dolls for years but a change to bears would be good too. I've bought bright green fleecy with coloured dots and they should look cute I think. I will send you a photo when they are done and the billion bears challenge is a great idea I hope you get to see that many having been made some day. Hoping to hear from you soon.
Thanks Chris
100 Honey bears for 3 Ronald McDonald House

Hi Pauline- I am using the honey bear pattern for a community project at my office. The company will buy all of the materials and my colleagues and i will do the cutting, stitching and stuffing. We will give the bears to the Ronald McDonald Houses at three major medical centers here. Our goal will be to make 100 bears!
Even more would be great! Pictures are promised.
Thanks, Kay
Bears for Childrentheartministeries.org

Hi Pauline~
We have a local organization that might want some bears: http://www.childrenatheartministries.org/Page.aspx?pid=426. I'll contact them to find out!
Happy Sewing and thanks for being a continuing inspiration...
:o)
Shelley