Project Cupcake Teatime

Is it ever good to be back in Colombo! My first two days here were equally divided between catching up on my sleep and fun, games and art workshops at the orphanage. This visit ties up a few very compartmentalized parts of my life. Some time ago, I started working with a terrific organization called Tealightful Treasures back in my home town of Rochester, NY. They are an incredibly successful home party business devoted to something I’ve subscribed to for years: the healing and calming influence of tea in our busy lives. Charlene and Eric Phillips have done much more than start an amazing home based direct sales business. I connected with them through a mutual friend only a few years into their venture and several months after my initial extended trip to Sri Lanka. Even then, with growing pains that would soon force them into a much larger office and warehouse space in Rochester, Charlene approached me about finding a way to help fundraise for the Wellewatte Boy’s Home. Even as a fledgling company, they had set their sights on doing good while doing well. We kicked around a few ideas and after a bit of drifting on my part in my personal and professional life, we revisited the idea.
Hot Tea and Hugs was born! Charlene would custom blend four new (Ceylon based) teas for her consultants to feature and they would be packaged with labels made from the amazing artwork done by the boys.
This project brings me to an additional compartment of my life, the Sri Lanka Card Project. (Right now, this will take you to a blog that’s not quite up to date but will soon be replaced with a full fledged website) You can find them on Facebook by searching:
Christmas Cards - Spend a bit more to help a lot more
On the Facebook site there are a number of current pictures of the last couple of days at the Boy’s Home. Emma Allen is the mad genius behind keeping the card project going. Those of you who read this blog from the beginning will remember when Emma first showed up in Sri Lanka. She and Lino Kao continue to work with the orphanage and have managed to raise a lot of money for the Boy’s Home and several other groups in need.
Emma and Lino ran an art workshop with the boys many months ago with the theme: What I want to be when I grow up. There were so many gorgeous pictures that it was difficult for Charlene to select only four. The drawings in turn inspired the tea blends she created and her husband Eric, a packaging expert, turned the artwork into labels for the tea. As Emma would say, “Brilliant!”
I’ve commissioned some holiday cards for Charlene and Eric and we’re all hard at work on them so I can present them upon my return. I don’t know if I remember how to include pictures on the blog, but I’ll give it the old college try.