Did You Know #1

Here's our first Did You Know...

Hudson’s Paw Print

I learned yesterday that the design on the shirt for Move Your Paws was made by Toronto Zoo's polar bear Hudson!

Brothers, Hudson (above) and Humphrey were born at the Toronto Zoo. They lived in Winnepeg for several years and have moved back to the Toronto Zoo.

I'm Moving My Paws For The Polar Bear Cause

It's been almost five years since I last posted anything here!  My focus has obviously not been on this blog.  But, for a short time at least, I will be updating here on my latest project.

I've been working on something kind of big, definitely important, and I'm hoping you'll help me. I'll make it worth your while, I promise!

I have decided to participate in the Toronto Zoo's Move Your Paws for the Polar Bear Cause.  It's a month long distance challenge (Feb 27-Mar 27) encouraging people to move and cover as many kilometres as they can, during that time period, while supporting the polar bears at the zoo.

Did you know that in the wild a polar bear can travel around 2000 km in just one month?  The Toronto Zoo has five polar bears (Hudson, Humphrey, Aurora, Nikita and Juno) and they have set a goal for the event participants to collectively complete 10,000 km in one month.  That's 2000 km for each bear (for those of you doing the math).

The event starts on Feb 27 and runs until Mar 27.  I have decided to challenge myself to a goal of walking or running 5 km every day for the 28 days.  That's 140 km, a small fraction of what a polar bear can do but I think it's a reasonable goal for me.

Photos I took at the Toronto Zoo

I have set myself a, hopefully conservative, fundraising goal of $140.  $1 for every kilometre I complete.  

Here's where you come in.  I am creating polar bear specific items for my Etsy shop and for every purchase of those items (and existing items in my shop) I will donate a portion of the sale to my fundraising goal.  I will also donate 100% of my earnings from polar bear sales from my Society6 shop.  

To thank you for your purchase and support you will receive an entry for a give-away that will take place on March 28.  I am currently putting the pieces of the prize together so I don't have details yet but believe me it will be a good one! There may also be some gift with purchases and smaller giveaways, I'm still working out all the details.

If you don't want to purchase anything but would still like to support me, I would be over the moon with gratitude if you make a donation directly to my fundraising page.  You will also receive an entry for the giveaway (as long as the donation is not anonymous or you send me a message right away letting me know about your donation).  Depending on the amount I will award extra entries.

To follow my progress you are welcome to visit this blog (please excuse the dust, no one's been here in awhile) where I plan to publish updates often.  You'll notice the little tickers on the right are set up to track my goals in a fun and visual sort of way.  I have also created a Facebook group that you can join and there you will be able to see the new special items before they get listed in Etsy, as well as learning some fun facts about polar bears.  I will be sharing fun facts in my Instagram stories as well.

Ok, that was a lot of information.  Here are the most important bits: sales/purchases/donations from today onwards until March 27th will receive entries into my giveaway.  Purchases made on February 27th (International Polar Bear Day) will receive double the entries.  My walking/running will start on February 27 and will continue until March 27.

I will be updating my blog; www.bkinspired.blogspot.com and Facebook group; www.facebook.com/groups/bkinspired regularly of my fundraising progress (starting now) and my kilometre progress (starting Feb 27).  The challenge will end on March 27th.

If you're lucky, I may even share a photo of myself a few times.  No promises though.  Be prepared to see a lot of polar bear items and learn some interesting polar bear facts over the next two months.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  I thank you very, very much for your support and if you are unable to support financially; shares, comments and likes through Facebook and Instagram are all welcome and very much appreciated.

That's all for now.  Stay warm!

Maya

Here are links:

Etsy: www.bkinspired.etsy.com

Society6: www.society6.com/mayabki

Blog: www.bkinspired.blogspot.com

Facebook group:  www.facebook.com/groups/bkinspired

Instagram:  www.instagram.mayabki

Fundraising page: https://bit.ly/36cuEz9