Good ideas grow on trees

The power of many small actions: 4478zine’s ‘The notebook project’

Notebooks: more info http://4478zine.com/2010book_notebooks.html

Erik van der Weijde is a photographer and the owner of 4478zine.com, a company which designs and publishes (art) books and zines. For a ‘summer 2015’ campaign, he decided to “fucking do something” after hearing too many stories of children growing up in incredible difficult environments. His goal? Raising 1000 euro’s by selling a cute set of notebooks.

I discovered this project when a facebook friend of a facebook friend posted the following:

Notebooks: more info http://4478zine.com/2010book_notebooks.html

This heart wrenching story and those piercing eyes of these kids simply wouldn’t leave my thoughts for the rest of the night.

In another post, Erik further elaborates on his project:

“Having seen many stories, similar to the one above, made me want to just do fucking SOMETHING. There are great NGO’s that offer activities to kids, to let them play and be kids again, instead of having to hustle for their lives. All our tiny gestures to help initiatives like these can make a tremendous difference. My goal is to raise €1000 by selling sets of unique notebooks I have made, to get a few kids of the streets.”

Notebooks: more info http://4478zine.com/2010book_notebooks.html4478zine notebooks, supporting a brazilian NGO 4478zine notebooks, supporting a brazilian NGO4478zine notebooks, supporting a brazilian NGO

For an 8 euro donation, you will be sent these three notebooks. All of the profits are going entirely to Casa do Bem, an NGO in Natal, Brazil. In a safe environment, they offer the kids fun activities such as sports, making music and baking.

The ribbon holding the 4478zine notebooks together you might recognize as a Brazilian wish ribbon. Wear it on your left wrist until it falls off, and your wish will be granted.

So that’s supporting an NGO, receiving 3 well-designed limited editions notebooks and getting your wish come true for just 8 euros (and a few euros for shipping). 

I’m happy I placed my order last night because these are limited editions and almost half is sold out already. If you want to act, I’d urge you to act fast.

As supporting good causes go, it might not be the big impact that is really needed. But, as Erik puts it: “All our tiny gestures to help initiatives like these can make a tremendous difference”. So there you go.

To donate, visit the 4478zine website and hit the PayPal button. 

 

 

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  • This is an INCREDIBLE project. Knowing how you can help such a large-scale problem like this can feel intimidating, but I think Erik brings up a good point —it’s the tiny gestures that make a difference. I’ll definitely be checking out his project’s page! Thanks for sharing!