If you read my 2 Years post, you know that I have an exciting new partnership happening in this 3rd year of business that I want to tell you a lot more about! In a nutshell, a portion of sales from all of my pieces made with recycled glass from Ghana will support the amazing work Touch A Life is doing to bring healing and empowerment to those who are suffering, exploited, and at-risk around the world. Read on to get the full scoop…

My connection to Touch A Life (TAL) is a fun one—my friend and college roommate Rachel Brown is actually their Development Director and has worked with them since 2009, shortly after we graduated from Pepperdine. I’ve always loved the work TAL does so when Rachel reached out with an idea to work together on something, I jumped at the idea! Having seen some of my recent designs featuring recycled glass from Ghana, she told me all about a place called TK Beads where she visits on her trips to Ghana for TAL.

TK Beads is a recycled bead factory located in Ghana’s capital city, Accra. Their beautiful beads are made by melting recycled glass from bottles and containers and pouring the liquid glass into clay molds. TK Beads offers dozens of different pre-designed styles of beads, and also offers custom bead production.

One of my favorite things about recycled glass (which Rachel pointed out during one of our phone calls) is the way it makes something so, so beautiful out of what is otherwise considered garbage. It’s not unlike what TAL is doing in Ghana—offering hope and healing to children who have survived horrific things and essentially been discarded through their exploitation.

Touch A Life develops creative ways to bring healing and empowerment to those who are suffering, exploited, and at-risk around the world. The Touch A Life Care Center in Kumasi, Ghana, is home to 80 children who have been rescued from forced labor and exploitation. This long-term rehabilitative care center facility is the only one of its kind in West Africa. Together with their Global Family, Touch A Life provides each rescued child with a holistic care plan, private education, and access to Touch A Life’s Art Healing program.

The newest Touch A Life program is Life Academy, which is providing a path toward independence for adult survivors of child trafficking. These students are working in a sewing collective to create beautiful, handmade products, as well as attending therapy sessions and literacy classes. The Life Academy staff provides mentoring and life skills training as each of the young adults prepares to begin living independently. To learn more about Touch A Life and how you can get involved, visit touchalifekids.org.

As you can see, the partnership was so obvious and I’m thrilled to now be donating to TAL every time you purchase a piece made with recycled glass! See pieces currently available as part of The Recycled Glass Collection here, and keep your eyes peeled for more designs to come!