DOLLS FOR ABUSED KIDS PROJECT

THE PROMISE DOLL COLLECTION
All net profits benefit the children

This beautiful and very limited collection of dolls was created by Heidi Plusczok to represent and benefit this project. Each little girl who arrives at the Merv Griffin Childhelp Village in Beaumont, CA, receives an American Girl doll specifically ordered to match her hair, eye and skin color. Each beautiful doll in this collection also comes with an adorable matching doll! I named this collection for a real little girl named "Promise" who was severely abused. These dolls are for her and all the other children like her, who deserve so much more. All net profits, after expenses, go to the children. This collection sold out almost immediately! For possible availability, please click here. Heidi gave me a special price on these dolls in order to benefit more children. On behalf of the children, many hugs and thanks to Heidi!

Imagine that you are a little girl, say 5 years old. You have been battered, molested or utterly neglected-or maybe all three. You have been told that you are a bad girl, that it is your fault and that you are no good. You believe every word. Then one day, a stranger comes to take you away. You cry, terrified, and promise to be good, if only they will let you stay. They ignore your desperate pleas and take you anyway. All your belongings are left behind, including your special blanket or your beloved bear. They take you to a foster home to live with people you don't know and have never seen before. Maybe it's a good, loving home and maybe not. Maybe you are abused again. Or maybe because you are so emotional, the family is unprepared to care for you properly. Just when you get used to being there, you are taken away again and placed in yet another home-and another. And another. After you have been in 12 different homes (this is the average), you are taken to the Village of Childhelp West, a residential treatment facility, in Beaumont, CA. By now you are about 9 years old. You have no real family and no home. You have no idea of what it's like to be a child. You are severely traumatized, physically, emotionally and mentally. You have been "thrown away" over and over again. In your mind, what your abuser/s told you long ago has been repeatedly confirmed-there is something seriously wrong with you. You don't deserve anything good and you don't expect anything. Try to imagine what your view of the world must be.

Now imagine that someone gives you an American Girl doll! It is the most beautiful doll you've ever seen-and it looks like you! You knew these dolls existed in another world far from your own. They are the dolls that special little girls get-girls who have real homes and real doting families-girls who are definitely not worthless. You never thought in a million years that YOU would ever have one! You look around and see that the other girls have American Girl dolls, too. Now you can play dolls with your new friends, like ordinary girls do. Now maybe, at least some of the time, you can just be a child. And just maybe you feel a little more special than you did before.

Many charities provide dolls and toys to underprivileged, needy and abused children. Their goal is to find the most economical toys so that available funds will stretch as far as possible. I commend and support these projects! But this is not my project. My goal is different.

I understand the psyche of an abused child, because I was one. My alcoholic mother battered me both physically and emotionally, every day. She angrily told me over and over that there was something wrong with me. I believed her. For most of my life, I believed that I was fundamentally and severely defective. When I was 18, I tried to commit suicide. I did this because I truly believed that I was worthless and that the world would be a better place without me in it. Luckily, I failed in my attempt to take my own life. Since then, I have heard of many other abused children who have tragically taken their own lives. Every senseless loss of an innocent child hurts me to my very core. I cannot take away the trauma these poor children have endured or repair their seriously damaged belief systems. But with your help, we can do something that is inconsistent with these beliefs, so that hopefully, they will reconsider them. Perhaps we can plant a seed of hope.

We can do much more than just give away dolls! We can take one little girl at a time and surprise her with something more special than she ever expected to get in her entire life. We can give her the promise that dreams can come true and that good things can happen in life-even for HER. We can show her that she is a special child, worthy of a wonderful gift. We can tell her that she DESERVES very good things!

In addition, we can provide this girl with a cherished companion that can offer comfort during difficult times. A very special doll friend can at least in part, return the childhood that was stolen from her. By giving a doll with the same coloring as herself (eyes, hair and skin), we can impart the message that she is a beautiful child-a child so beautiful that a company made a doll to look just like her! I hope that when someone gives her this doll, they comment on how beautiful it is and that the child will notice that the doll looks like she does and think that just maybe, she is a beautiful girl, too.

American Girl is the perfect doll to meet this challenge! It is good quality, has a soft, cuddly body and a friendly face. It is available in many models to match every girl. Unfortunately, Mattel will not offer any discount (I have tried numerous times), so the dolls are expensive. I hope to give this special gift to as many girls as possible. But I will not switch to a lower quality doll as this would defeat my purpose.

The boys get cuddly friends, too! They receive beautiful Gund bears, puppies and other stuffed animals. So far, I have not found anything equivalent to the American Girl dolls, for the boys. If you have suggestions for a very special, cuddly boy's toy, please let me know!

This project was conceived on the Sasha-L yahoo group back in 2000, during a discussion about "dolls as therapy". I had shared how years ago, a special doll had helped get me through the hardest times of my abusive childhood. My "Kathy" was so much more than just a doll! In a world where I couldn't trust, she was a beloved, trusted little companion. During the following weeks, I heard many heart wrenching stories from other abuse victims. Each one confirmed that they too, had found great comfort in a special doll. Ah! I wasn't the only one! This struck me as being very important information, though at the time, I didn't realize why.

A few years later, I kept hearing Oprah Winfrey say that we all have a purpose in life. I started wondering what my purpose was. I knew right away that I was meant to do something for abused children.

In 2005, a need arose for a Sasha repair person. People kept asking me to re-string their dolls, but I did not have time to do this. Late one night, I received an e-mail from a local collector begging me to teach her how to re-string her doll. She offered to pay me. I read the e-mail then went and sat in my hot tub. While relaxing and looking up at the stars, I suddenly had a wonderful idea! I would teach a Sasha re-stringing class and use the money to buy dolls for abused kids! In that moment, my project was officially launched. I knew immediately that this was what I was supposed to do! As things evolved, Susanna Lewis, long time Sasha expert and retired repair person, offered to teach the class with my assistance. It was held in Phoenix, AZ on June 19th, 2006, following the Sasha festival. This was the project's first fund raiser! After expenses, we raised $535.48. Through your generous cash donations, enough additional funds were raised to buy all 32 girls at The Village of Childhelp West an American Girl doll! They received them on Thursday, October 5, 2006. Each doll was special ordered to match the hair, eye and skin color of the girl. They also received a doll's wire hair brush. The girls who wore glasses, got glasses for their dolls. Childhelp volunteers made a necklace for each doll, with the girl's initials on them. And I wrote each girl a personal letter, telling her how we all worked together to give her this very special doll friend.

Since then, thanks to your generosity, we have continued to send an American Girl doll to each new girl who arrives at Childhelp. As of February 8, 2008, this project has provided approximately 100 American Girl dolls, many American Girl outfits, beads to make doll bracelets, Gund stuffed animals, and more! In addition, wonderful people from all over the world have sent gifts directly to the children, including hand made doll clothes, quilts, accessories, stuffed animals, Valentines, toys, dolls, etc.

Click here for a more detailed history of this project, including previous updates.

Childhelp has numerous facilities around the country. The Village of Childhelp West, in Beaumont, California houses 80 severely abused children, ranging in age from 6 to 14. These children have been placed in, and removed from, an average of 12 different homes before coming to Childhelp. Imagine never having a safe, secure home and living with 12 different families before the age of 14!

1. Cash donations are always needed! Please understand that I do not have non-profit status. A lawyer explained that I would need a brick and mortar building just for the charity, a board of directors; I'd have to send monthly reports to numerous government agencies, buy liability insurance, pay $1,000's of dollars in fees, etc, etc, etc. I am just an ordinary person without the resources to do all this. So unfortunately, your cash donations are not tax deductible. I will however, send you an e-mail confirmation of receipt.

2. Purchase an American Girl doll yourself and have it sent directly to Childhelp. If you wish to do this, please contact me first so we can match the doll to a girl! Childhelp will send you a receipt and in this case, you can claim it as a tax deduction.

3. Buy a Gund stuffed animal from my website at 40% off. Pay only $1 for shipping per animal with a maximum shipping charge of $5. I'll pay the rest. I will mail your gift to Childhelp along with your name and address. They will send you a receipt, so you can claim it as a tax deduction. Click here to select your gift from my Gund page!

4. Send dolls, toys, etc. directly to Childhelp. All donations must be BRAND NEW. Giving them something that someone else has discarded, reinforces these children's feelings of being less deserving than everyone else. For this reason, Childhelp does not accept anything used. Do not send breakable items or anything of a violent nature. Action heroes are ok. Hand made doll clothes to fit American Girl are always welcome and needed! Items sent directly to Childhelp are tax deductible.

5. Donate good quality dolls or related items to be sold on eBay. These don't have to be brand new but must be in good condition. About once a year, I run a batch of charity auctions. I have official authorization from Childhelp to run auctions on their behalf. 100% of the proceeds go to the children. I pay the eBay fees, credit card fees and any other expenses incurred. Please e-mail or call me for approval, before sending auction donations!

6. Bid on Childhelp charity auctions, referenced above. Auction purchases are tax deductible!

All the letters below were sent to me from the children at Childhelp. Their names have been removed to protect their privacy. I hope you enjoy them!

A final note to everyone who helps abused children anywhere in our world-teachers, health care providers, therapists, law enforcement, parents and ordinary people who believe in and advocate for children-please never stop. Pay attention and help when you see something amiss. Don't overlook a sad, hurting little face and convince yourself that it's probably ok. It probably isn't. We all need to do our part to stop the cycle of abuse. If you help just one child, you've done something extraordinary!

AMERICAN GIRL DOLLS FOR ABUSED KIDS PROJECT