Thirty-One Gifts, through its philanthropic initiative, Thirty-One Gives, recently announced a bold partnership with Nationwide Children’s Hospital called “Girls Take Flight.” The partnership between the direct selling company and pediatric hospital is dedicated to helping girls reach their full potential through life-saving behavioral health research.
The “Girls Take Flight” initiative will help fund groundbreaking behavioral health research to impact girls everywhere. In addition, Thirty-One independent sales consultants will aid in this initiative to create awareness and reduce the stigma tied to mental illness.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Thirty-One Gifts share a strong mission alignment. Since 2012, Thirty-One Gifts has donated more than $85 million in cash and product to nonprofit organizations that share its mission to support women and girls and strengthen families. Nationwide Children’s is the largest* not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare system in the U.S., providing the highest quality of care to all children and their families, regardless of ability to pay. Recently, Nationwide Children’s announced plans to develop a $158 million Behavioral Health Pavilion, part of a $730 million campus-wide expansion. The pavilion is scheduled to open in 2020 and will comprise 48 inpatient beds.
“Mental illness is a crisis for girls, and the statistics are staggering,” said Thirty-One Founder, President and CEO Cindy Monroe. “This initiative marks the first time Thirty-One Gifts will be supporting ground-breaking medical research, and we couldn’t be more excited about it. We’re proud to support the hospital’s bold move to bring behavioral health services to the forefront of pediatric health care and truly believe both the medical research conducted and also the engagement of our independent sales field as a part of the Girls Take Flight initiative will have a positive impact on the lives of girls everywhere for years to come.”
The partnership includes a number of important factors:
- Thirty-One will donate funds in support of the hospital’s ground-breaking behavioral health research. These funds will be dedicated to specifically assisting girls facing mental and behavioral health illnesses through medical research to learn more about how to combat these illnesses.
- Thirty-One has created a thermal tote product dedicated to raising awareness for pediatric behavioral health illnesses and reducing the stigma associated with mental illness. The thermal tote will be printed with butterflies to symbolize the Girls Take Flight campaign and the Nationwide Children’s Hospital butterfly logo. Butterflies symbolize hope, resilience and emergence against all odds. The product also has a ribbon of supportive and encouraging messages inside the tote to deliver a boost of confidence each time it’s opened.
- Thirty-One’s North American independent sales leaders made personal contributions totaling more than $37,000 designated to support the Girls Take Flight initiative. In addition, Thirty-One will donate all funds from the September 2016 “Gives Round up!” program and will make a financial contribution as part of this year’s “Standing Strong for Her” initiative in October.
- Thirty-One will provide resources to its 70,000 North American independent sales consultants to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of mental illness and behavioral health matters facing girls
Nationwide Children’s Hospital is transforming behavioral health research through a comprehensive approach to care. The new Behavioral Health Pavilion will foster collaboration with Nationwide Children’s research teams as well as community partner agencies. Additionally, research training for medical professionals, a Crisis and Observation Center, along with outpatient programs, and the capacity for additional inpatient beds will be housed in the freestanding facility. This pavilion will be the catalyst for research, which will shape the way society addresses behavioral health, especially in young girls.
“We simply cannot thank the leadership and all the independent sales consultants at Thirty-One Gifts enough for this partnership and the collective efforts to make an impact on the hospital’s behavioral health initiative,” said Jim Digan, Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation President. “At Nationwide Children’s, we strongly believe in the butterfly effect of small gestures helping families that we may never meet. The generosity and advocacy of the independent sales consultants and customers will change lives for the better. We are humbled and honored to work with them on this vital mission.”
The Girls Take Flight initiative was just announced at Thirty-One’s 2016 Conference for its independent sales field. The conference was focused on “What Matters Most” and featured a keynote address from New York Times best-selling author Andy Andrews, who has been a champion for Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Thirty-One blended the message of Andrews’ book, “The Butterfly Effect,” with the new initiative, drawing on the theory that a small impact, such as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing, or raising awareness through this initiative can have a larger ripple effect.
About Thirty-One Gifts:
Thirty-One Gifts is one of the world’s largest direct-selling companies, offering purses and wallets, totes, home organization solutions and décor, jewelry and more. The company, however, is about much more than its products. Thirty-One is a family of individuals who share a passion for empowering women, and who are committed to celebrate, encourage and reward others for who they are. The name Thirty-One Gifts comes from Proverbs 31, of the Bible, which describes the attributes and the importance of a “virtuous woman.” With a mission to help women by giving them the opportunity to own their own business, Thirty-One provides the support necessary for women to possibly build a new career. Cindy Monroe started Thirty-One in her basement in 2003. From those humble beginnings they’ve grown to include tens of thousands of independent sales consultants across the U.S. and Canada.
About Nationwide Children’s Hospital:
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2016-17 list of “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is America’s largest* not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare system providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents, as well as adult patients with congenital disease. Nationwide Children’s has a medical staff of 1,100 and more than 10,000 employees providing state-of-the-art pediatric care during more than 1.2 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded freestanding pediatric research facilities. Nationwide Children’s remains true to the original mission since its founding in 1892 of providing care regardless of a family’s ability to pay. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.
*Based on 2014 Children’s Hospital Association data.