What could a teen girl do with $195.00? Well… she could buy a new iPod Touch or 200 songs on itunes. She could get some UGGS or a few pairs of Toms… or how about fifty trips to Taco Bell? However, that’s not what Kiona did when she began making money selling her WACKY Bandana Bandz bracelets last spring. We’ll never forget the day she came bursting into the Granny’s House office to tell us about her new, idea…
Kiona plopped into the big desk chair in the office at Granny’s House. As usual, she was proudly wearing her big afro puff like a crown, as she excitedly showed off the new bracelet she’d just learned to make using frayed strips of cotton bandanas. “They’re just wacky,” she said with a giggle. “I think I’ll call them that... ‘WACKY!’”
Thus began Kiona’s pocket-sized business venture: “WACKY Bandana Bandz.” With a fifty-dollar investment from her summer job savings, and advice from two smart, business-minded Granny’s House volunteers, her “WACKY” bracelets created a buzz at school, with friends lining up and emailing to find out where they could get one of those bright, braided bracelets embellished with the zany snarl of knots. When she had to come up with $150 in spending money for a mission trip to Jamaica this summer, she handily made more than double that amount in less than two weeks selling her whimsical wristbands.
For months, her little bracelet business kept spending money in her pockets as news of her “WACKY” idea spread like wildfire by word-of-mouth at school and church. But, early on, Kiona wanted to do more than just make money. She wanted to use her bracelets to make a difference - to be able to “give back.” That’s’ when “Kiona-the-Entrepreneur” morphed into “Kiona-the-Philanthropist,” challenging Mizzou sororities to compete to win money for their chosen charity. She agreed to donate seventy-five cents per bracelet to the philanthropy of the sorority that purchased the most bracelets.
“I was so excited when Kiona told me she wanted to do an MU sorority challenge, says Kimberly Johnson, a Granny’s House volunteer. “The fact that she thought to give part of the proceeds to the sorority’s philanthropy speaks to her heart for giving.”
Making appointments to “Dinner Speak” at half a dozen or so sorority houses, she began to fulfill her dream of raising money to benefit others. One of our chief goals at Granny’s House is for the children to see themselves as ‘Victors” instead of victims...” as those who step up to the plate to give rather than waiting in line for a handout. Kiona has embraced that vision and is fleshing it out!
And the winner of the “WACKY Badana Bandz Philanthropy Challenge” is Alpha Chi Omega Sorority. They purchased 118 of the 256 bracelets sold to Mizzou sororities. That translates into $195.50 donated to their charity, True North, a local shelter for victims of domestic abuse.
Alpha Chi Omega Sorority member, Kristen Donnell, became a real fan of WACKY Bandz! “It was really encouraging to see all the panhellenic women on campus working so hard to win Kiona’s challenge to benefit their own philanthropy,” she said. “It was also cool for me to watch Kiona start a business out of nothing, and grow it into something successful so quickly and that it allows her to give back in a big way.”
Congratulations to Alpha Chi Omega Sorority and to Kiona for her WACKY idea!
