Lending a Helping Hand with Handmade4Hounds on Etsy!

As much as I am a creator of greyhound arts and crafts, I am also a consumer, so I spend a great deal of time surfing the interwebs searching for just the right greyhound item to add to our growing collection or for the pups to wear!  In my searches, a great number of which occur on Etsy, I kept stumbling upon this Handmade4Hounds logo in greyhound shops:

I finally came across the actual Handmade4Hounds Etsy shop, and I completely was blown away by the number of Etsy sellers who have joined together to make up the Handmade4Hounds Street Team.  But I also was confused- what is an Etsy Street Team?  Etsy "Help" to the rescue!

Essentially, there is a function in beta testing on Etsy where people of like interests can connect with each other- after more testing, they will roll out this formal Group function to the broader masses.  But where does the Street Team come in?  According to the Etsy site, in the early days of Etsy, sellers would form local "street teams" that would gather together and spread the word about their shops collectively (read: power in numbers!).  Etsy caught on that these grass-roots groups were joining sellers from across the globe, and the rest is history!  Perfect!  Having just donated a bunch of items to various greyhound groups for the months of September and October, I was psyched at this opportunity to 1) connect with my fellow artists, 2) find more artistic people with a passion for hounds, and 3) have a more consistent way of being able to help hounds through my art.

With the Handmade4Hounds Street Team, 100% of the listings in the Handmade4Hounds Etsy store are donated by these Etsy sellers who are passionate about helping the greyhound/sighthound cause. I find it particularly fantastic because each month, the group selects a different greyhound adoption or other sighthound rescue group to which they donate that month's proceeds (minus fees).  I emailed the team to find out how Greyhound Threads can become involved and promptly received a reply with instructions on how the whole thing works- I can't describe how excited I am to get started!!

This month, the group is donating to BAY AREA GREYHOUND ADOPTIONS.

Bay Area Greyhound Adoptions is a Florida based non profit group (501c) that is 100% volunteer based. They work to place retired racing greyhounds into forever homes. Since 2004 they have successfully placed over 600 dogs to date. All funds raised will go to support continued placement of dogs & offset unexpected Veterinarian bills.

Are you an Etsy seller with a passion for the hounds?  To join the Handmade4Hounds Street Team just send an email to handmade4hounds [!at] gmail.com.

You can also visit the website & blog for more information!