After the terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, people everywhere were trying to find a way to show their support to the community.
Scentsy, a grassroots organization that promotes a line of wickless scented candles, fragrance products, warmers and Scentsy Buddies, a cuddly companion for children of all ages, sent out a call to its independent consultants in Canada and the U.S. to become involved.
Taking up the challenge was local Cranbrook consultant Corie Brown who stopped into EKFH's office to share her journey and to also bring a surprise.
Corie explained: "In light of the horrible tragedy in Connecticut, Scentsy consultants came together to try to do something neat for the surviving students upon their arrival back at school after the holidays. Our goal was to have a Scentsy Buddy sitting on the desk of every student upon returning to school. With that in mind many Scentsy consultants started their own fundraiser to buy one, get one and then donate the buddies to two children at Sandy Hook Elementary."
The response was overwhelming with over 2,800 Scentsy Buddies being shipped to Sandy Hook.
The enthusiasm didn't stop there so when the school desks were full, the remaining Buddies were delivered to other kids living in the community.
However, work didn't stop there for Corie as she still received ongoing support from her clients.
So even though the major drive from Scentsy completed at the end of December the desire to continue to help kids brought her to another decision.
She asked her head office and got instant approval to donate the remaining Scentsy Buddies to the East Kootenay Regional Hospital with all the financial proceeds from those gifts continuing to be sent to Sandy Hook. A win-win situation for both health care and a community in need.
The Scentsy Buddies are being delivered by East Kootenay Foundation for Health for the EKRH Emergency Unit to be given out to a child in need.