Our Purpose
It started one day when our high school teacher came into the classroom and told us she needed to have a talk with us. It was about the use of the "r word". Like you, we didn't know exactly what she meant by this, but she meant the use of the word 'retarded' in place of the word stupid. She explained to us that her little baby girl, Ella, has Down Syndrome. She explained how this word hurts those with this special condition and those that love people with this special condition. She explained how she didn't want her baby girl to grow up in a world where this word was just tossed around carelessly. This teacher brought to our school the "Spread the Word to End the Word" movement, sponsored by the Special Olympics, which helps bring awareness to the misuse of this word. After only one day of promoting this cause a school was changed by one little girl, not even 1 year old at the time.
Today, Ella Jane has not only changed the lives of those at our school, but all that hear of her or are blessed enough to know her. With the help of our school's Student Council, we were able to reach hundreds of others at the STUCO National Convention in Florida. They did this by use of a slideshow featuring Ella and her story and a small flower. Our teacher has a habit of sometimes wearing a flower in her hair. When we asked her, "what's with the flower?" she explained to us that the flower was for Ella. Our Teacher's mom, Ella's grandma, bought Ella a hat with a flower on it which was the inspiration for the hair flower. Our teacher was inspired by the flower and wanted to find a way to be like Ella and connect with her, so she bought a flower for herself. She now wears this flower when she wants to feel connected to Ella and so our purpose is to help children with Down Syndrome by selling flower hair pieces, handmade by ourselves, so that you too can feel connected to baby Ella. And when people ask you "what's with the flower in your hair?" you can tell them Ella's story.
