The Imani Project

We are sad to report that Chantal Garceau, the founder of Chantal's Little Shoes, is hanging up those shoes and discontinuing sales indefinitely.  Chantal has been a champion supporter for the Imani Project and AIDS orphans for five years.  Her compassion and effort has made a lasting impact on the lives of many in Kenya.  Thank you, Chantal!

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Five years ago this month, I sponsored my first Kenyan child through the Imani Project. Learning about the needs of the children and communities affected by HIV/AIDS in Kenya made me want to do more—and that was my inspiration to start my social enterprise chantal’s little shoes. Through the sale of my handmade baby shoes, with the help of generous and wonderful volunteers, I was able to use the profits of the company over the years to sponsor a total of ten children in the Masheheni village.

With additional money raised through sale of our Christmas ornaments, chantal’s little “ears” for helmets, and pet toys, we were able to buy 100 school uniforms for village children and fund the construction and usage training of the village’s first community composting toilet (http://imaniproject.org/composting%20toilets.htm), which improved water purity, sanitation, and local crop yield significantly in its first year.

Having moved back to my native Canada, maintaining the business of shoe making and selling is no longer feasible, so I will be suspending it indefinitely. I give deepest thanks to all those who supported my work: customers, volunteers, fans and friends. This has been a joyful and enriching experience in a thousand ways, and you can all know that you made my life happier as well as many lives in a small village in Africa.

I have been humbled by the great work that the Imani Project does for the victims of devastation and poverty in Kenya, and am proud to have been able to contribute to their efforts. The balance of my shoe and ornament inventory has been sold for their work. My book of patterns, Cozy Toes for Baby: Sweet Shoes to Crochet & Felt (Martingale, 2014), coauthored with Mary King, will continue to be available on Martingale Publishing’s site, http://www.shopmartingale.com/cozy-toes-for-baby.html and on http://www.amazon.com/Cozy-Toes-Baby-Sweet-Crochet/dp/1604684585 and all authors’ profits will go to the Imani Project.

If you would like to continue to support an exceptional cause that really makes a difference, please consider donating to the Imani Project, or sponsoring an orphan through them. The Imani Project (http://imaniproject.org/) is a partnership between Americans and Africans, dedicated to acting against HIV/AIDS and improving health conditions in rural Kenya. The goal of the Imani Project is to enable and empower Kenyan villagers to become educators, advocates, caregivers and HIV/AIDS activists in their own communities.

Thank you to all, and may you enjoy a blessed and joyous holiday season and new year!

Chantal Garceau