Oh, no! Not another shameless solicitation for votes!!

Yep, I'm afraid so. I'm jumping on the bandwagon. For the very first time (and hopefully the last), I'm taking this opportunity to shamelessly beg you all for your votes!

There is a contest that just started on Facebook. It's sponsored by Dockers. Yep, the company that makes slacks for men. Thing is, both men AND women are eligible to enter this one. And it's quite an opportunity: To the tune of $100,000 to help fund the start-up described by the winning candidate in their entry submission. Yes, that's right: I said $100,000 in funding!

Those who know me, and have known me for awhile, know that I am disabled by autoimmune diseases. Not just one; several. You might also know that while I worked full time for many years beforehand, the diagnosis of my conditions took some time; and I missed some work while I suffered from symptoms in between doctor exams and tests. So when it finally became clear that what I have is both permanent and progressive, I had missed just enough work that I no longer qualified to collect Disability.

Another thing you may or may not know about me is that I've always, always loved to make things (since I was about 6 years old!). Working with my hands, creating things, has been my life-long passion. And while my 50-year-old arthritic hands no longer work as well as they used to, I'm thrilled that I can still be involved in the field I so love by selling the supplies to others who love to create with their hands, too.

Hannah's PinKeep was started just a few months ago, out of pocket. I don't have a bank loan... not even a credit card to fund my little business. It was started on a shoe-string budget, and it's being grown, slowly but surely, by strictly re-investing ALL of the income. I haven't taken a dime in pay yet; not since I first opened the store in early September. And, I wish every single day that I could afford to both dramatically (and quickly) increase the available inventory, and cut myself a paycheck every month or so. I knew going in that I would have to work hard for no pay for awhile, and I understand and accept that; it's not like I have any other options anyway! On the other hand, a little extra household income to help us catch up on those expenses will be nice, too, once I can afford it.

Now this contest comes along, sponsored by Dockers. And Dockers has offered a prize of $100,000 to help fund the dream of the winner! Can you imagine just what I could do with Hannah's PinKeep with $100,000 to invest? WOW! For one thing (and here comes a confession), I could actually lease a small space for the store; which would work much better than the current arrangement of working out of our two sons' old upstairs bedrooms! Yep, that's Hannah's as it stands right now: Hannah's PinKeep is located in two upstairs bedrooms in my home. And this old gal, with rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and a balance disorder called Meniere's disease, just doesn't handle those stairs very well these days. But climb them I must; several times a day.

In addition to leasing a space, I could invest in fixtures, vastly expand the inventory (and carry much more of ALL the supplies you all love!), and maybe even hire an employee or two (here in a community where the unemployment rate has been well-above the national average for quite awhile now) to help me ship those orders and run the store front. At this point, our town doesn't even have a store like Hannah's! And I know for certain that we do have plenty of needlework lovers who wish we had such a store here....

So getting back to my self-indulgent begging: Now comes the part where I specifically ask you all to please, please, please consider stopping in at the following Facebook page and voting for me! And, you can vote once a day, every day (oh, goody!) from now until March 15th.

Here's the link:

http://apps.facebook.com/dockerswearthepants/entries/871

Gathering enough votes for my submission could win me $100,000 in funding to make my dream come true.

I don't ordinarily ask for much. I truly don't. But I'm asking for this.

No one could possibly begin to understand just what this could mean for me.

Or maybe you could.

THANK YOU,
Jodi