Runway Baby Book In A Blanket: A BOGO, Green, Charity Christmas Story

In a world so filled with negative news that detracts from the season, it’s nice to be associated with and to see entrepreneurs with a vision that’s truly sustainable, giving, and viable. Just such an initiative came to us via the most unusual route, Runway Baby* is not exactly your everyday startup. Luxurious fashion, giving outreach, ultimately super green, this is one of the good ones if you’re a communicator and/or believer.

Ana Cristiana, a single mom from Romania who’s lived in Miami for some years, is a friend of my partner’s who had a most unusual business proposition to tell about. By way of explanation, buy one get one (BOGO) projects are not new news by any stretch, but chic luxury fashion pinned to Indiegogo or other outreach crowdsourcing, this was intriguing to us. Beyond intriguing though, the lady behind Book In A Blanket is the compelling force ALL digital evangelists speak of.

The thing-in-itself (das Ding an sich)

For those of you not familiar with philosopher Immanuel Kant, the thing-in-itself refers to his theories on the intelligible world. In particular, Kant believed that human beings could only be expected to know “phenomena”, or how things “appear.” However, cold, clinical, and calloused Kant may have actually been though, he correctly concluded that our humanity is ruled by our senses. Regardless of how “exacting” or concrete anything may seem to us, our own senses alter everything. The reason I mention this here is because so much about charity and even “environmental” concern, especially public relations, is simply fluff. What we always seek is “that thing in and within itself” – a truth of reality whether in business or giving.

Ana Cristiana

Now that I have managed to over complicate what is already profound, let’s look at a lady who wants to build an orphanage, for instance. Ana Cristiana was moved at a young age, living in Romania, by so many young people without necessity, let alone bright hopes for a future. You see, Eastern Europe even despite the majesty of some places and history, fell under an iron grip of poverty and mediocrity that was not just Communism. Communism in perfect form being something wholly different, what states behind the so-called Iron Curtain underwent was Bolshevism taxed to death by a Cold War with the west. That’s another story altogether, but Ana’s story in her Book In A Blanket initiative is a resultant synergy of good that came out of despair.

Imagine what happens when a fashionista ends up in South Florida amid an upper class of, for lack of a better term (Desperate Housewives) – a gripping and familiar imagery, no? A part of this imagery needs to be the beautiful face and imminent style of the lady, superimposed over the top of a taxi cab in Bucharest being approached by a Mom with a crippled little girl, begging for money. Yes, even in the world’s oldest capitals, underneath the spires of the city once known as “the little Paris,” innocent children still need. Of course you’ve seen the same in New York City, I know. You needed to know from whence Ana’s passion for getting and giving comes from. You see, I’m convinced you to help her to….

To Help You

Tis the season to be jolly, and giving, and to give and get presents. As Americans, I know, there’s just about no end to which we will not go to help the helpless – or to satisfy our shopholic needs too. :) I know you chuckled, if you read this far. Well, how about this for a business proposition, or a giving one? Ana Critiana’s Book In A Blanket business/outreach does all the following:

1. Santa gets help handing out luxurious Christmas gifts to kids, security blankets containing book learning
2. Parents get to give their little ones collectable fashion made of 100% certified organic Pakucho cotton – the most Earth/Kids friendly
3. Needy children get to feel the same silky soft cotton, and the love attached
4. Kids and parents get the added gift of giving an unexpected bit of love and security
5. Some factory workers in Peru get more work to do in a safe, certified environment
6. Ana Cristiana builds on her dream to start an orphanage, by successfully launching a BOGO business
7. Finally, from the cotton used, production local and methods, and to the educational aspects of Planet Hope (the book below) Book In A Blanket is a win-win for citizens of the Earth.

Innner pages of Planet Hope the book that is in the blanket

There you have a bulleted list of what our philosopher friend might have called “theoretical reason.”  In other words Kant would tell you to process these ideas using your “pure reasoning” to determine whether or not to support Ana’s outreach. Kant, or any “enlightened” theorist would also advise you to apply your own experiences in determining. As one of the most revered and influential thinkers in our history, Kant the empirical scientist would readily suggest to believe in hope, morality and giving, or believe in nothing whatsoever.

For the intellectual among you, I know discerning this discourse may be a fitful bit of  fanciful diversion. For the humanitarian out there I say, “feel for yourself whether Book In A Blanket is worthy. For the Mom and Dad reading all this way to the end, give your little one a loving gift to treasure, and yes a collectable and glamorous blanket of the world’s finest cotton too.