Our Children Are Very Fortunate…
Our children are very fortunate to be growing up in a loving environment filled with many joyful memories. However, we realize there are many children out there who do not have such an opportunity, as we’ve seen firsthand through our various travels, both domestic and abroad to Vietnam and Thailand (before the little ones of course). One thing we really want to be able to do more of is to take our children traveling, so that they too can experience life outside of our community and country. We want them not to take their circumstances for granted, and be inspired to help those that are in less fortunate situations. Our son Caden often asks why dad is working on “the water tower”, and we tell him so that we can make a bunch more for everyone else to enjoy as much as we do. His eyes light up and he starts rattling off everyone he knows that we could give one too. Since we obviously cannot give them away to everyone (we’ll have to work on Caden’s business savvy), we want Splash2o to be able to also make a difference in the lives of those who will never have the opportunity to experience it, never mind to even have the luxury of playing with water in the first place.
We knew having children would change our lives, but honestly, we never knew how much. It’s so hard to explain to expecting parents how much that little bundle of joy will reshape their lives. I remember my first thought was how much fun I was going to have shopping for those little clothes and shoes. I’m sure those were the exact same thoughts that were going through David’s head. As I shopped for Caden’s first shoes, I came across a company called Toms. They have a program called One for One where for every shoe purchased they donate a shoe for someone in need. I couldn’t help but feel that need to support such a great cause. And I knew from the start of Splash2o, that I wanted to give back the way Toms did. We are excited and driven to help make a difference in the world.
That’s why we will, for every Splash2oTM product sold, donate a portion of proceeds to local and national charities such as 4KIDS and Operation Smile, whose main mission is improving children’s quality of life. We already donate to both of these organizations as a family, and will continue doing so as a business. Operation Smile holds a special place in our heart as this was one of the first organizations to which we donated as a family. It was one night around Christmas when we were sitting together watching TV and a program for Operation Smile came on. Caden was impacted so deeply by what he saw. He asked us a million questions and we tried our best to explain to him that not all kids are born the same. He asked us how we could make it better for them, so we asked him if, in lieu of a Christmas present that year, he would like to send a donation to help one of the children get a smile that they have been wanting their whole life. Without hesitation, he answered YES! You can imagine the pride and joy we felt as parents at that moment.
As we make our way down the twisty path of bringing you Splash2o, we will keep our eyes out for other organizations that have kids’ interests at heart. We believe children are the future. We hope you will join us in creating a better future!