Here is a link to an article about Lucy Buck who is setting up the new orphange in Uganda. This is where all your donated socks and clothing is going.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1264380/As-producer-Big-Brother-dream-job--baby-abandoned-car-park-taught-Lucy-shallow-life-.html
Cosy Toes is on a mission to collect socks to send to Uganda through www.childifoundation.org for their new orphange being built from scratch. The foundation was started by Lucy Buck who saw the need for the orphange in 2005. There are millions of orphans in Uganda as babies are left abandoned on the streets everyday. The lucky ones are rescued and placed in orphanges. The orphanges that are there already are bulging at the seams and have too many children in them.
Here at Cosy Toes we are collecting socks from the public as our small part in making life a little bit nicer for these little babies. For a small cost next time you are out shopping please pick up a pair of socks - in any size from birth to 2 years and post them to us. We are asking preferably for new but if you have any near new socks or we will also accept bootees which will be fine too.
The address to send the socks is: Cosy Toes, 24 George Street, Rotherham, 7379, North Canterbury, (New Zealand).
Cosy Toes will match the first 30 pairs posted in and will be posting them on. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me: info@cosytoes.co.nz. Thanks so much, Tracey
Socks from North Canterbury are to keep the toes of Ugandan orphans warm thanks to a charity drive by a Rotherham business woman.
Tracey Robinson, owner of Cosy Toes, an online merino wool clothing retailer, has started a New Zealand campaign to collect socks for babies aged birth to two years old, to be sent to a transitional home for babies being set up by the Child I Foundation in Kampala.
The babies' home is the second phase of the Child I Foundation project and will provide short term, life saving care for abandoned babies before they are fostered out to Ugandan families.
Ms Robinson explained she met Child I Foundation's Lucy Buck on Facebook as a friend of friends and the work she was doing immediately resonated. Ms Buck was named a Vodafone World of Difference 2009 winner.
The local businesswoman hopes to match a similar drive being run in Australia.
The appeal for socks from New Zealand has gone out to about 1000 clients on Ms Robinson's database and she and her company would match the first 30 pairs of socks received.
Help with posting costs to Australia, from where the Child I Foundation will send the socks on to Uganda, would be welcomed, she said.
"Any socks, new and nearly new, will be gratefully received - even knitted babies bootees. We will do what we can and keep it going as an ongoing project," she said.
People wanting to donate socks can phone Ms Robinson on 03 315 6676.
Kiwi Socks a Charitable Step - The Press February 2010.
A North Canterbury woman hopes to start the year on the right foot by sending socks to Ugandan children.
Tracey Robinson, who runs a sock business called Cosy Toes, made a New Year's resolution to be more charitable.
Trawling the internet, she found an Australian group sending socks to orphaned Ugandan children.
The Rotherham mother of two is appealing for people to help with her "sock drive".
"Apparently it's hot during the day but cold at night, and babies don't regulate their temperature like adults," Robinson said.
"Uganda has so many abandoned children and they just arrive with nothing," she said.
"Socks are small, easy to send and anything is gratefully received."
Robinson, is seeking new socks and has already been sent items from Cantabrians, including beanies, and baby clothing. She sends the socks to a woman in Australia, who ships them to Uganda.
Robinson said she had "an eye for a good sock".
She plans to send a shipment each month "until people get sick of me asking for socks".
Inquiries to info@cosytoes.co.nz
The Northern Outlook, October 2009
A small business awards finalist in Rotherham wants to see New Zealand's wool clothing industry regain its former footing.
Tracey Robinson was named a finalist in the recent Most Outstanding Triumph over Adversity catergory of the David Awards 2009.
The mother of two set up her online business retailing merino wool clothing about five years ago after struggling to find woollen socks for her children.
"I grew up on a sheep farm and I know the difference between wool and the synthetic products. I couldn't believe I couldn't find woollen socks when New Zealand's heritage is wool," she said.
Research on the internet revealed few manufacturers were producing woollen clothing. Much of New Zealand's wool was being exported as a raw product or used in the high end fashion industry, she said
"As a whole, our wool industries and manufacturing businesses have faced challenges since the post war manufacturing boom and our manufacturers and growers are facing more challenges again this year from the recession."
Ms Robinson decided to do her bit to change that. With start up capital of only $500, she learnt how to set up a website and phoned every manufacturer she came across.
"Most said I wouldn't find what I was looking for. A lot of the machines had been scrapped or not updated. It has been something that has been lost."
After finding one manufacturer who said yes, the rest snowballed, she said.
Setting up her label, Cosy Toes, Ms Robinson ordered a range of basics in every colour. Starting with socks, she expanded to include merino wool clothing.
Today, her client base is international.
"The website is our life link to the world and no one would really know that all this is operated from a little rural town," Ms Robinson said. "Mothers, too, are using the internet more and more for online shopping and social networking."
A setback this year threatened her success when her major manufacturer could no longer produce small quantities economically as it battled with the recession. "I was back to square one," she said.
A lifeline from another manufacturer has seen the company continue and networking sites like Facebook and Twitter represent her next push.
Hurunui News October 2009
In a massive worldwide market, a small Rotherham based business has carved out a niche.
Cosy Toes was opened in 2005 by Tracey Robinson, selling high quality merino wool socks for babies and children. It also sells merino wool clothing for babies, through to ten years old.
Such is the small company's success, against all odds, that Cosy Toes was named a finalist in the recent David Awards, for small businesses who manage to conquer the Goliaths of their industry.
Cosy Toes was a finalist in the "most outstanding triumph over adversity" catergory, because of the size of the market.
Its goods are sold mainly online, and are shipped all over the world.
Rural Newspaper October 2009
Cosy Toes Set To Reap Warm Rewards
Online, North Canterbury business Cosy Toes has been named as a finalist in the David Awards 2009.
The David Awards recognise unsung heroes in home and small businesses throughout New Zealand, whose tenacity,
courage and ingenuity place them firmly at the forefront of entrepreneurship in this country.
Cosy Toes has been named a finalist in the Most Outstanding Triumph over Adversity catergory. Founder, Tracey
Robinson says, "Cosy Toes fits into the catergory perfectly with the impact the synthetic clothing industry has had on our home grown New Zealand fibres. As a whole our wool industries and manufacturing businesses have faced challenges since the post war manufacturing boom. And again our manufacturers and growers are facing more challenges again this year from the current recession."
Tracey's upbringing and love of wool has had a huge influence why the Cosy Toes business began almost five years ago. The idea materialised out of what she describes as her "frustration" at not being able to find wool socks for her two pre-school boys. Sourcing the wool socks was not easy at first but once they were found Tracey sourced more and more wool products to the range for children. There is now a huge range of merino wool clothing that complements the wool socks. "I guess sourcing products is the hard part of the business but also a fun part and exciting when I find them," Tracey says.
The success of Cosy Toes is mostly because of still having those customers not only in New Zealand but also around the world that appreciate the clean, warm and natural fibre that wool is. "The website is our life link to the world and no one would really know that is all operated from a little New Zealand rural town," says Tracey. "Mothers too are using the internet more and more for online shopping and social networking."
Catergory winners and a Supreme Award will be announced on the 7th of October 2009.
For more information visit www.cosytoes.co.nz
Winners announced here: http://www.thedavidawards.co.nz/event2009.html - Cosy Toes, Adversity Award
Congratulations to Breastmates for the Supreme Award
Tracey Robinson - founder Cosy Toes.
September 2009 - finalist in The David Awards business catergory for
Most Outstanding Triumph Over Adversity. Press release details are here:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0909/S00683.htm 
| Kidspot 7th October 2009 |
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When you browse the Kidspot directory of businesses you will notice that many of the offerings are from small businesses who with tenacity and ingenuity, offer mums' a huge variety of innovative and useful products. Cosy Toes is one such company and we are delighted to hear they have been named a finalist in a business award designed to recognise and reward the unsung heroes in home and small businesses. Good luck with the big announcement today Cosy Toes. |
From the Otago Daily Times, ABC's of Early Childhood supplement, August 2006.
From Rural News, June 27, 2006.
