All kinds of projects make their way onto Kickstarter, both big and small. Goodnight Pillowcases is one of the Kickstarter projects that didn't set a huge funding goal. It's goal is barely over the triple digit mark, sitting at an even one thousand dollars. At the time that I encountered this project, it had already met its funding goal, with a little change, to boot.
I'll tell you why - Because, it's important, that's why!
The pillowcases are fine. They're at least as good of an idea as countless other ideas that make their way onto Facebook on a daily basis. At a bare minimum, they're functional items. They're decorative. They make nice little gifts - and they're made with care.
But, all those things considered, that's only just scratching the surface. There's more here than may at first meet the eye. You see, sometimes - just sometimes - there are things that speak to us in a bigger way. There are things in this world that speak directly to the heart. Some things in life just plain matter, and when they do, they speak to you with a voice of pure persuasion.
That's not to say, however, that everything of this nature always speaks to all people in the exact same way, or with the same degree of persuasive strength. I can't speak to what touches you or anyone else. Rather, I can only speak to what touches me - and this project is one that I fell in love with, from the moment that I first brought the project page for this Kickstarter up on my web browser.
A grandma and her nine year old grandson take to the Internet, to seek funding to make pillowcases. They hail from a small place called Clendenin, West Virginia. I've never heard of it. I've never been there. But, somehow or other, from right smack dab out of the blue, I find myself interested in what a couple of people that I have never met are trying to do there.
The project video is a simple, straight-forward attempt to utilize the medium of video to muster support for this pillowcase project. In 21st Century America, can you still start an actual, honest-to-God business for just a thousand bucks?
Of course, you can! The true beauty of it is that it is a sixty year old grandmother and nine year old grandson combo that intend to do just, exactly that. That, to me, is a beautiful story.
It touches me. It grips my heart. It begins to squeeze.
So, I backed the project. But, it wasn't enough to just become a backer. No, this one moved me enough to write about it - something that a great multitude of Kickstarter projects will never do.
Tamara and Michael are average, ordinary people - but, they opted to do an extraordinary thing. They reached out, and they grabbed hold of a piece of the American Dream. Succeed or fail, they reached out - and several dozen other people have pledged to make their dream become a true reality.
Michael is nine years old. I have a son that same age. So, it's an age that I can relate to. The most important person in my life is nine years old, and so I choose to give this project a slight nudge forward. Like Michael, my son likes playing Minecraft. But, it isn't just Michael that caught my eye.
No, it was his grandmother, Tamara, that spoke in the video, first, and when she did, she had my immediate attention. Both she and he came across as genuine, and that is a quality in human beings that remains as priceless as ever.
It's something that, to me, deserves backing, if anything does.
And THAT, my dear Kickstarter friends, is why I'm Squatch Kicking this pillowcase project!
I encourage you to drop by their Kickstarter project page, and give them a good look-see. If you're both able and willing, then give their project a nudge of your own. I'm sure that they would appreciate it.
Project: Goodnight Pillowcases
Project Creators: Tamara and Michael
Kicktraq Link
Kickspy Link
Crowdlogs Link
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