New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Sisters design bracelets to benefit Uvalde families
Glastonbury jewelry designers and sisters Raeann Baribault-Schwartz and Christina BaribaultOrtiz wanted to help the children and families of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, after 19 students and two adults were killed in a shooting at the school on May 24. So they put their jewelry design skills to work to develop a bracelet that will donate 100 percent of its sales to the children and families of the Texas school.
The sisters have created a custom-designed bracelet featuring the school's colors of maroon and gold, along with powerful or inspirational phrases to give hope and strength to the wearer. The “Power to B” bracelets and link the cursive phrases with a colorful cord or chain.
"We believe positive affirmations and power words are what the world needs right now and especially surrounding this unfortunate tragedy," said the sisters in an email about creating the bracelets. "It's a way we knew we could help."
The money raised from the bracelets' sales will be used for the school's backto-school program, which includes counseling that students "will need to try to get back to ‘normal' life," Baribault-Ortiz said, though she pointed out life will likely "never be normal again."
The bracelet for Uvalde is part of their “Power to B” line, which came about when both sisters were struggling to conceive and experienced miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies and five rounds of IVF. Baribault-Ortiz is now the mother of two, while Baribault-Schwartz is a mom of three. As parents, the sisters said the emotion of the shooting hit close to home.
"In plain English, this is a parent's worst nightmare," they said. "The emotions we felt, the empathy we felt for the families and the children and everyone involved was immense and took our breath away. We cried and didn't even know what to do or what to say, but knew we needed to do something and not nothing to support all of those connected to this wildly sad and tragic event."
This is not the sisters first time designing jewelry for charities. They have supported The Hope for Fertility Foundation, which offers grants to couples across the nation who struggle with infertility; the Glastonbury Education Foundation, which funds public education projects to improve social and economic health and the UConn Foundation, a nonprofit supporting the educational, scientific, cultural, research and recreational objectives of UConn and UConn Health.
The sisters previously showcased their "Power to B" bracelet at an Oscar's pre-show party where celebrities like actors Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Terrence Terrell and Jason Ritter, along with singer Jordin Sparks, had the chance to pick out their power word.
The bracelet will be available for purchase for on the company's website while supplies last.