Bound 4 Freedom is a not-for-profit business that creates and sells unique handmade products to support opportunities that promote social justice. We are committed to ensuring that our efforts and lifestyles do not contribute to the economic oppression of others, particularly women. OUr vision is to be an internationally, connected effort to provide economic fairness and dignity to workers who produce handmade goods. Bound 4 Freedom was formed by a group of young women in Anderson, Indiana during August 2005. Our focus is directed towards women who are experiencing a situation that is financially, physically, emotionally, or spiritually unsustainable. We are interested in empowering people by giving them the opportunity to help others and to realize their capabilities (artistic abilities, leadership skills, etc.). Through meeting twice a week with our volunteers to create these unique journals we are able to provide and encourage relational consistency and a sense of dignity to those who volunteer with us. We are expanding our studio hours to include branches outside of Anderson. These volunteer branches are models that we are using to learn how an international branch might operate. The international branches will provide opportunities to teach skills as well as market existing skills, provide jobs, and offer fair wages where people are economically vunerable. We are committed to fair trade values and will sell products in the United States to support those working in our branches. We continue to consider what other ways these branches can become self-sustaining. We are currently working with volunteers here in Indiana, donate Memory Books to TAPP, which is an organizaiton in Kampala, Uganda who work with women who have HIV/AIDS, and donate journals to persons in Word Made Flesh who are working with the poorest fo the poor. We are using our volunteer branches to figure out how a branch where we would offer jobs would look like. We are planning on going to Uganda this fall to open our first paid branch. We will psend three weeks there, meeting the women, teaching 10-15 of them how to make journals using local resources, and then will sell those journals in the U.S. Doing so will create jobs for these ladies who are unable to access money otherwise. Once this branch in Uganda in established, we are interested in also working with women who are in the commercial sex trade for lack of options. We want to be able to offer women who lack resources employment opportunities as well as relationships with other women. Goals • To live in and encourage an environment that provides for and sustains the whole person • To use only fair trade materials and services • To provide employment opportunities where few may exist • To learn, teach, and expand to other lines of handmade quality products • To connect and learn with other organizations • To establish a network of local, national, and international branches More information can be found at www.bound4freedom.org or email info@bound4freedom.org.