The good news keeps coming in!  Cathy, our volunteer staff writer - the lovely lady who wrote the MB article published by Mothering magazine in Jan/Feb 2008, has gotten wonderful news today :)  An agent has decided to represent her and her book about birth methods!  It's one huge step closer to being reality!

I can't wait to have an autographed copy sitting on my coffee table!  Oooooh!  This is so exciting!

To learn more about Cathy and her book, visit her website.

And tell her to get busy with her blog!

August 23rd started out on a promising note.  It was the day MB was slated to participate in the Green Aware Fair in Loma Rica CA.  It's about 3 hours from home according to Google.  So I set my alarm accordingly, got up and ready, popped an audio book into the car CD player and was on my way.

All went well for about 2 and a half hours.  Then my directions no longer had much to do with the streets I  came across while driving.  Hmmm.  After trying every which way I could think of and watching my buffer hour evaporate, I called home to ask Mark to look on the event website for a contact phone number.  He found one and I called and discovered that I'd driven right past it 20 minutes earlier, but that I wasn't far and setting up late wouldn't be a problem.  Whew!

It was the smallest event that MB has ever participated in.  I'd missed it earlier because it was in the organizer's backyard.  Their yard could easily have held 3 - maybe 4 - of my house ...

So this was the first show of what the organizer hopes to make into an annual event.  She plans to focus on education and schedule lots of seminars and demonstrations and classes.  Green vendors are welcome, too.  And MB

So I got there late and got all set up and headed across the yard to use the portable facilities.  Didn't get but halfway across the yard when a wasp stung the top of my foot, right next to the toe strap on my sandals.  Ouch!  Not the most fun thing ever!

The event was very slow, but that was not necessarily a bad thing.  Instead, it meant that I could take a look at what the vendors had to offer, and to chat with one that I'd had on my list of companies to contact about possibly sponsoring or partnering with MB.  The company rep at the event seemed receptive

And that was my day

Over the last several days I've sent out roughly 20 inquiry letters to companies and organizations that fit my 'dream criteria' for sponsorship or partnership with Mom's Breastaurant.  I figured that I'd hear back from ... 3.  After all, don't most of us hit delete when we get a random email from an unknown email address?

I have had 5 responses.  One said 'no thanks.'  One was clearly not reading what had been sent because it asked me to send my product and any documentation to an address in the northeast so they could decide whether or not to put it in their catalog.  I wrote back to correct them and explain again what MB is and does and why I was contacting them.

The other 3 all asked for more information on how they might get involved to help.

One of those three responded darn near immediately when I followed up with a letter suggesting ways they could donate to support MB - become an 'event sponsor' or 'host' the changing area or provide materials for use in the booth ... I cannot tell you how excited I am over this.  I am doing cartwheels!  Not a bad response for 20 or so inquiries, huh?

But it doesn't exactly end there.  After I got started sending out letters and reporting back to friends the successes I was encountering, MB's Treasurer, Chanda, also started sending out letters.  And she has also had a few write back encouraging responses.  Things are looking UP!

And I'm still doing cartwheels!

An event close to home!  Like, really.  Really really.  The venue for Celebrate Milpitas is all of maybe 1.5 miles from my front door.  Hooray for doing an event that doesn't require hours of driving to get there and a hotel room for a night or three!  Hooray for being able to leave the kids home with daddy where they can play with all their own toys, get messy with crafting stuff, take baths, and make dinner for mommy when it's time for her to come home!  Woo hoo!

Mom's Breastaurant has finally turned that corner where we no longer have to pay events to participate.  We don't pay for the privilege of setting up to provide service to their attendees.  We contact them to introduce the organization and the service it provides, and ask that if they'd like to have us there they find a 10 x 10 space (with access to electricity for fans!) for us to set up.  We provide everything else.  The booth.  The furniture.  The fans.  Diapers and diapering supplies.  Snacks and drinks for moms.  Crayons and coloring books for the older siblings.  Staff to manage the booth.  *Everything* else.  And forward-thinking event organizers are realizing that there is a gap in their services when it comes to providing facilities for infants and toddlers - and realizing further that if they make space available for our service, the parents of those infants and toddlers will be staying at the event longer (and probably spending more money while they're there).  So they respond to our introduction and inquiry with welcome and invite us to come.

Whew.  I can't tell you how nice it is to have reached this stage.  If I'd had to continue paying for space at the events MB has attended (space which runs from $100 to $500 for a 10 x 10 spot, not including event insurance or the costs of getting to the event), then 2008 would likely have been the last year of MB's existence.

There are certainly still costs involved, but I'm breathing a sigh of relief knowing that MB will be continuing

And yet ... on the schedule of events there is still *one* event where MB pays to participate.

The 4th Avenue Street Fair in Tucson is a juried art show run by the Fourth Ave. Merchants Association.  MB is not an art or craft booth, so technically it cannot participate in the event proper.  So I've been finding space in one of the 'scab' lots that run along the street.  These are parking lots of the businesses on 4th Ave whose owners cash in on the event by renting space to vendors.  Vendors who either didn't make it past the jury, or who don't qualify to even apply.  You know.  The folks who sell sun glasses and rhinestone dog collars and the 'As Seen On TV' stuff.  And Mom's Breastaurant.

In previous years the spot that I've reserved for MB has been about halfway back the length of the parking lot on 4th Ave at 5th St.  Just close enough to 4th Ave that I can see the majority of shoppers walk by, totally ignoring the vendors in the lot.  (And honestly I don't blame them - I don't go to street fairs to buy clip-on wheels for sneakers, mass manufactured velvet paintings, and knock-off handbags.)  This year I contacted the folks running that parking lot and asked for the spot on the street.  I planned to go ahead and pay the fee - a larger fee than in past years because I was asking for a premium spot.  But I figured that it would be worth it to see if the added visibility brought more parents in to use the service.

I had news from the parking lot after generally saying that the spot I wanted was available that in fact it was not.  They offered me another spot that also was along the street, but that would not have access to electricity (for running space heaters or electric blankets if the weather is cool - this event *is* in December!), or a spot with electricity that was farther back away from the street.  It was a quandry.

I wrote to the guys running FAMA and re-introduced myself and MB.  I've talked with them before about getting into the show in the one parking lot that they lease and set up to host the booths that don't meet the art show requirements for being on the street.  Things like radio stations, a rock-climbing wall for older kids and maybe a face painter ... They have always been interested in having MB at the event, but have never had space.

That seems to be the case this time, too.  He makes no promises about finding anything (and anything he does find will not have electricity), but their main event guy says he's looking for space.

If he finds it, the space will be given to MB to provide service.

So I've decided to gamble.  I've written back to the folks that run the parking lot to thank them for trying to accommodate me, but to let them know that I would not be taking either the space that fronts the street without electric, or the space with electric that's a few spaces down.  I won't be paying for space.

And if FAMA doesn't find something for MB ... well, I'll head to Tucson anyway to visit with my family (always a perk of attending this particular event), and I'll go to the street fair to go shopping.  I mean, I've been at the event, spring and winter, for the last 2 years, but I've not been able to see anything that was there because I've been staffing the MB tent.  This time ... well, I'll either be staffing the MB tent under the auspices of FAMA or doing some holiday shopping

BTW - if you're a Tucson area mom reading this, you can help twist FAMA's arm a bit and let them know that they should make space if it isn't easily found.  Scroll a few entries down in the blog and find the links to letters you can send to event organizers encouraging them to bring MB to their events ...

More sunburn in spite of sunblock.  Sigh.

But the event was great.  The organizers were *thrilled* to have us there to boost their appeal to families.  The only downside to the event was that my booth location did not have electricity for the fans so I had to use the little ones that run on battery power.  Thankfully the day was not scorching hot and the breeze did pick up in the late afternoon.

I had my first ever encounter with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.  They were at the event to point attendees in the direction of the children's storytime booth and the literary salon where authors were doing readings and taking questions in the book fair area of the festival.  They were happy to take a stack of my business cards and also direct parents with small children in the direction of the Mom's Breastaurant booth (coincidentally located right next to the storytime booth and literary salon )  The Sisters rocked!  Their assistance in alerting parents to MB's booth and service is hugely appreciated.

I hope to be working this event again next year.  Wearing stronger sunblock.

Wow, what an event.  Three days from 10 AM to 9 PM.  Plus an hour drive each way.  Plus another trip down to Watsonville the day before the event to spend an hour and a half setting the booth up.

Long days.  With lots of sun.  And sunburn, in spite of multiple applications of SPF 30 each day.

Also had lots of folks coming by the booth. 

I handed out more than 2000 cards.  And at several points during the event I had stroller traffic jams in front of the booth.  On Friday I had 10 mothers come in to feed their babies.  Saturday it was 16.  On Sunday there were 22.  And in addition to the mothers who stopped in to feed their children there were diaper changes galore.  On average the ratio of moms who come in to feed to diaper changes  is about 1:5, so for those 48 moms who came in to feed their little ones we had somewhere between 220 and 250 diaper changes.  Yep.  Stroller jams!

I was located right next to the first aid booth and was able to chat a bit with the Med-Pro guys who continually marveled at how the MB booth was the most popular thing at the Festival   They talked me up to everybody - including the event organizer in one of his passes through the show.  And, after I admired their 'Misty Mate' portable mister, they donated one to MB.  They rocked. 

And the event organizer was pleased to have us there and asked if we could staff 2 booths if he got us the space for a second one next year!  Woo hoo!

I've just gotten off the phone with Melissa at Clif Bar & Company and she has agreed to donate product to Mom's Breastaurant!  This means that we'll be able to offer mothers who come in to feed their babies a snack along with the water we were already offering.  Parenting is hungry, thirsty work, and if mom is breastfeeding, she really needs to keep her energy levels up and stay hydrated.  Hooray for Clif Bar!  Thanks a billion!  :)

And we've also gotten a second donation of wonderful nursing pillows from Blessed Nest.  Their moon-shaped pillows are made of organic cotton canvas, filled with organic buckwheat hulls.    It is flexible, stable, and breathable, and comes with an easily removed cover made from organic French terry and fun cotton prints.  They've also donated a couple of their new 'Nest Egg' travel nursing pillows!  We have been bringing their pillows to the events we attend so that mothers can try them and we have gotten nothing but great reveiws!  Thanks Blessed Nest!

We've just drafted a couple sample letters that we'd LOVE to have you send to the organizers of your local events.  One of them introduces the service that MB provides, and encourage the event organizer to bring MB there to serve it's attendees.  The other is a thank you letter that you can send to the organizers after attending a booth in which MB has participated.  A little something that lets them know how much you appreciated having facilities for diaper changes and a calm environment to feed your small person.  And how you hope that they'll make sure to bring us back for the next event, of course :)  If organizers see that there is a public desire for MB's services, rather than just hearing it from me, they'll be more likely to have us and to bring us back.

You can download the 'invite MB to your event' letter here. And the 'thanks for having them, please bring them back' letter here. Please grab them, personalize them, and send them to your local event organizer staff!

Thanks! 

So you may have read the post a while back about a phenomenal week for MB, and recall that among all the wonderful things that happened that week, we had some interest from a couple folks regarding becoming Sponsors.

I am beyond thrilled to announce that Kelly's Closet has signed on to support Mom's Breastaurant as a Sponsor!

In addition to providing literature about her her online shops and cloth diapers, Kelly is supplying MB with Cloth Diaper Sampler Packs (containing one Fuzzi Bunz and one bumGenius) as a prize to give away at each event we're attending!  Thank you, Kelly!