Driveway markers and third world healthcare–odd but compatible bedfellows
On Christmas Eve we told the story of Containers to Clinics. It’s a non-profit group that converts disused shipping containers into full-fledged health clinics for needy populations. Its founder Elizabeth Sheehan has a deep professional background in international emergency medicine, and she was struck by the frequent proximity of abandoned shipping containers and underserved populations. Voila….her brainchild was born.
Elizabeth Sheehan, in the field
When she researched this story, our team member Sara recruited a friend of Daily Grommet to help. That friend ended up offering to match donations up to $10,000 for C2C. Lo and behold, the Daily Grommet community came through quickly and strongly, and Containers to Clinics now has over $20,0000 in fresh funding, in a matter of only five days. (It could take six months of planning for a fundraising event to raise this–so fun that we could use our site to do it with no drain on Containers to Clinics’ precious resources.) This is enough money to staff two clinics with five people for a year!
I get so excited about these events. A cynical businessperson might ask why. After all, there is no commercial benefit to Daily Grommet. You could argue it is a very expensive thing for us to do…to “give up” days of sales for a non-profit’s benefit. But we just don’t see it that way. We are human beings who want to amplify good in the world. Yes, our main mission is to do that through supporting interesting companies with inventive products. But we get to invent our world, and it does not need to be black and white. It seems totally normal to me to tell a story about some innovative snowplow-fighting driveway markers on Monday, and Containers to Clinics on Thursday.
My own experience is that Daily Grommet “regulars” are not a bit confused by these Grommet days. They like them. Obviously. They liked this one to the tune of $20,000! Yippee! What a wonderful close to 2009.
Jules Pieri 
One Response to “Driveway markers and third world healthcare–odd but compatible bedfellows”
Great success story! Fundraising is often the biggest challenge for medical care groups working in other countries, and Fundraising 101 is not a course offered in med school.