Last Saturday Ancient Path partnered with Trollbeads at SouthPark Mall in Strongsville, Ohio to raise funds and awareness for the children in our Chifundo program. Trollbeads has recently introduced a line of beads made in Malawi by Malawians – and on this day, Trollbeads at Southpark contributed 10% of all Malawian beads sold to Ancient Path. They also placed a Chifundo donation jar on their counter and encouraged people to help!
For this event, the Trollbead team provided all the advertising – from large mall signs to press releases distributed to various media outlets. In turn, the Ancient Path team set up a colorful display complete with a slide show, music, a large photo display board, various Malawi items and take-away information on Ancient Path. We also donated Ana a Chiyembekezo – a CD created as a children’s project in Malawi – with every bead purchased and Chifundo donation given.
For five hours, people shopped at Trollbeads and wandered by the Ancient Path table. Some stole a quick glance and quickly walked away. Some lingered, looking at the slide show. Others – especially the children and young people –Â wanted to hear stories and a few people asked how they could get involved.
There were some very memorable moments – like when a mall worker emptied his pockets into the Chifundo jar and a little girl asked her mom if she could give the dollar in her purse to feed the children. All in all, it was a special partnership and a fulfilling day for all concerned!
The Ancient Path team would like to extend our gratitude to Trollbeads at SouthPark for their generosity and tremendous support! We hope for more ways to partner together in the future!
