It's been an exciting few months here at BWI of DC-MD-VA. We've added several new carriers over the last six months. We've won a few, had a few donated, and purchased a large number with YOUR membership and fundraising money.
What do we do with the carriers? Well, we now keep SIX sling libraries, one for every regular meeting location. Not every library has the exact same brand selection, but there IS a good variety of sizes and styles in each location. We've added 3 meetings and libraries in the past year (Ashburn, MD, and most recently Lorton). Our meetings are always open to the public and we are able to serve more families with these new meetings. Our library carriers are available for all caregivers to try at our meetings, completely free of charge! Parents and caregivers have the opportunity to try a variety of carriers with their infant, and get instruction for use and adjustments from a Volunteer Babywearing Educator during our meetings. We LOVE helping caregivers find the carrier that will allow them to care for their baby AND get themselves a glass of water!
However, sometimes you are at a meeting and think, "well, this is pretty good, but I wonder how I'll like it for running in to get her brother from preschool?" Members can try out that awesome carrier for the preschool run, because members can borrow one carrier at a time for a one month period for their entire membership. Membership is $30 for a year. So, you could theoretically try a new carrier every month. Or you could determine the first one you borrowed was perfect and decide to get your own, but during the rest of your year you might like to borrow a special sling to go to a wedding, or a water carrier for your vacation, or you might just occasionally like to try something different for a change of pace. Membership gives you that chance.
Finally, your membership allows us the opportunity to help more families. We use membership funds to purchase business cards so you can get the word out about us. We use funds for flyers and other administrative needs (like bags to carry the libraries), and most importantly, we use the funds to help us expand the libraries and fill new libraries as we add new meeting locations.
So, wanna see some of the new stuff? Have you gotten to try some at a meeting? Let us know what you think about our new carriers in the comments!
On to the goodies:
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| Donation from Boba of an SSC, Boba Air, and Boba Wrap |
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| From International Babywearing Week, an Earthy Bliss and a Moby Go |
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| Lillebaby donated this Lillebaby Complete |
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| We bought an Ellevil and a Beco Gemini on Craigslist |
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| Cherry Blossoms size 3, discounted from Birdie's Room |
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| Also part of our Birdie's Room discount pack |
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| Also from our Birdie's Room discount box |
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| We won this Oscha from the IBW video contest! |
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| We bought this Toddler size Action Baby Carrier |
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| Mel from Kindercarry gave us a great discount on these |
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| Baby Bjorn sent us a carrier for each of our libraries! |
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| Infantino donated these to our libraries! |
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| We traded a carrier that wasn't getting love for this Kokadi Wunderland. |
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| Action shot of one of the Little Frogs! |
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From our Little Frog Fundraiser, we added
Little Frogs for each library
We also had Jan at Sleeping Baby Productions
split a long wrap into 2 ring slings |
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We've bought a couple of Infantino Mei Tais.
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We won this from Wrap Your Baby!
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| We got this Mei Tai Baby off Craigslist |
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| Tula gave us a nice discount on these standard size carriers! |
We also just won a Maya Wrap from Maya Wrap! This will probably replace a Maya we have that is getting long in the tooth. I'll post a picture of that when it arrives.
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| This Kinderpack was a recent donation from a member aging out of wearing! |
We are so grateful to all of the vendors and manufacturers who have supported us with donations or discounts. We want to remind everyone that if you try a carrier at our meeting, and later buy one, please tell the manufacturer that you purchased because of learning about them from us. We rely on their support and it helps them to know that we appreciate their donations and discounts a great deal. Also, several vendors have started points programs that a certain number of purchases by members of a group can result in an eventual carrier for the group, so don't forget to mention us at checkout.
Happy Babywearing!
