Student Creates Hope through Bracelets
By Kelly Jones, '05
Over the winter break, 23+ student Lennis Sample picked up a new hobby, jewelry-making. With the recent devastating effects from the Indian Ocean tsunami, Sample decided to use her talent to create her own tsunami fundraiser.
"The design just came to me," said Sample.
Sample began this fundraiser at home. When she returned to campus for the spring semester, she shared her idea at a tsunami relief meeting.
"What was awesome was when I came back (from break), after being away from one another, the Meredith community had the same idea that something needed to be done," said Sample.
Sample likes to think of the bracelet as the "unified heartbeat of campus."
The letters H-O-P-E dangle between beads of blue hues, clear and silver. Sample chose the colors consciously; blue for the color of the Indian Ocean, clear for the tears cried and silver to symbolize beauty and hope.
Sample said this was her way to pay homage to the lives lost and those affected. She hopes tsunami relief fundraisers start with Meredith's campus and hopefully trickles out to the world.
Little did she know, word spread and people were impressed by the bracelet. Many faculty have purchased the bracelets. Sample says that President Maureen Hartford ordered five.
Sample likes to think when people wear the bracelet, it will offer encouragement in their lives too.
The bracelets can be purchased for $20, with $10 from every $20 being donated to the Save the Children organization.
For more information or to purchase a bracelet, contact Lennis Sample at SampleL@meredith.edu. Click to download the Bracelet order form.
