Summertime Bus Updates! {Tampa Bay Midwife}
Our Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for our Barefoot Bus has 24 more days and we are still not quite halfway to our goal. Though we are still very much in need of funds to get our Barefoot Bus supplied and ready to hit the road serving families in need this Fall, it hasn't stopped us from being hard at work at what we can.
We have been completely floored by what has come out of our (long awaited, painfully kept secret) announcement about the project. From people showing their support and excitement to the offers of help with the maintenance or day-to-day functioning of the bus. We have been so touched by generous donations, both monetary and of people's time. Some really amazing things have come out of the woodwork so far!
You may have seen the lovely write up in the Tampa Bay Times about our plans for the bus. A few corrections are that we plan on being out in the community TWO DAYS per week, not just per month, and also that Charlie Rae has been attending births since 2008--it would have been a super crazy ride if she had attended over 225 births in just 2.5 years! We were astonished to learn that our story has been one of the most shared via social media from the Tampa Bay Times web page. Over 2000 shares!
Last week our local NBC News Channel 8 came out to talk to us about the bus. The story will run sometime this week in two separate segments! You'll get a lovely tour of the bus and probably get a good laugh seeing Charlie say funny things like Y'ALL and DUH on television! We also were lucky to have a very special previous client share her story for the piece. We can't wait to see how it turns out and hope it will be great press to help us spread the word and get closer to our fundraising goal.
Another exciting development coming this week is that we have been contacted by a possible HUGE and IMPORTANT corporate sponsor of the bus. Charlie will be meeting with the big dogs this week to discuss what a relationship with them might look like, and what it might mean for the ultimate vision of the Barefoot Bus.
We have also learned recently that there is a maternity mobile in Miami that is run by Healthy Start. This is very exciting news as it now gives us someone who has been there and done that, so we can pick their brains to find what has worked for them and what hasn't. This is a huge leap in the right direction for us!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who has been a supporter and friend of the Barefoot Team and the Barefoot Bus. None of this would have been possible without you--and that is as true as true gets! We are grateful and our hearts are so full!
Let's keep up the momentum and continue to get people on the Barefoot Bus, y'all!
