So we are in the midst of a global pandemic, and many business people are reeling from the implications. Here at MooJoo Designs, we both have 'day jobs' teaching, so we are in the fortunate position to have the resources that our business offers, without being wholly dependent on its income to get through the coming weeks.
Because of this, we have been looking for ways in which we can be helpful to the community. We don't have the right materials to make items for the NHS, although Mike has raided school for all the protective gear he could and donated it to be distributed to nurses in Radyr.
We have been aware that certain frivolities have been (justly) at the end of everyone's to do lists, so we have been helping out in our immediate community. The estate on which we live has been blessed (in my opinion, ha!) with Mother's Day love spoons, Easter cross stitch eggs (cross stitch items will be on www.moojoodesigns.com soon) and fairy doors for the community to decorate and add to the 'secret path' on our estate. We are currently working on a sign for the path on our estate and have been amazed to see how the community has been able to band together and order 100 bags of chippings together before spreading them along the path to ease the muddy areas. All items from us have been offered free of charge from outside our front door, although our neighbours have been insisting on giving some money, so have mostly been dropping fifty pences in an honesty box.
It has been a real pleasure getting to know our community a little more (even if it is from a healthy distance) and we are so pleased to give something back, as the community has been hugely supporting us through lockdown with our autistic son's selective eating. They have been donating Subzero ice-cream and Tesco brand meatballs to ensure he doesn't go hungry. This is a very important part of getting through it!
We have also had a customer request (she's an NHS worker) to create an item to thank the school workers that have been keeping her child safe and happy while she goes to work. We were, of course, happy to oblige and have made these keyrings as a token of her gratitude. So many people are having to pull together in such different ways. It is amazing to see what is being achieved. As I saw online: we are not all in the same boat, but we are all weathering the same storm.
We have been glad to be able to be helpful during the Coronavirus outbreak, and have been contributing where we can; grabbing prescriptions and bits of shopping for others as well as continuing our MooJoo work. We are incredibly grateful to our community and proud of them for the actions in recent weeks and we will never forget the things we have learned about them, ourselves and the wider world during these strangest of times.