Special thanks to all of you who participated in our summer fundraising auction, A Bid for the Future, a benefit for the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC). By the time the auction closed on September 2, you and other ATA supporters had purchased sixty-three beautiful handmade Andean textiles, contributed to 270 phone cards, and with your additional donations helped us raise a total of $26,362. That’s more than 131% of our original $20,000 fundraising goal!

Your purchases and donations are vital to the weaving communities around the Sacred Valley of Peru, now more than ever. In the last few weeks, we learned that the coronavirus epidemic has reached the mountain villages, and some communities are facing not only infection and loss of income but also food insecurity. To preserve and sustain Andean textile techniques, we now must preserve and sustain the people. Your contributions will help not only to keep the weavers weaving and earning though this crisis, but will keep their children learning remotely with the donated cell phone cards and help them buy seed for the spring planting so there will be food in the fall. 

“Your help is so important to us in this epidemic when the weavers are affected by low textile sales and worries for their families, animals, and crops,” explains Nilda Callañaupa, CTTC director.  “Your contributions help us to keep our communities weaving through these troubles, and your friendship gives us hope and energy to keep going.”

 In future posts, we will keep you updated on how your donations are being put to use, so stayed tuned. Several people have also told us how much fun the auction was and asked if we plan to do it again next year. We believe it would be a great idea. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts by contacting us. We’d love to hear from you.