About Us
Hi friends!
I want to tell you about my Birdie Tweets! We started a business making birdseed wreaths and ornaments. I’m learning some new skills and having fun selling them. I want to share and ask if you would like to support our business! It is so fun to watch different kinds of birds and help feed them. We plan to donate a portion of the proceeds to organizations who have helped me, like the Hanson Center Therapeutic Horse Riding program (part of Ray Graham Assn. for People with Disabilities), Easter Seals, Children’s Craniofacial Assn. and Special Olympics Illinois. Thanks and we hope you love your Birdie Tweets – and tell your friends about them! -Love, Caroline, age 19
About Birdie Tweets
Thank you for your interest and support!
We created Birdie Tweets for a few reasons. Initially, we were looking for a way to stay connected to the Hanson Center where Caroline takes therapeutic horse riding lessons while the program was paused over the last year. We started making Birdie Tweets as a fundraiser to buy a whole-barn fan, and we quickly saw that we could make a business out of our ideas.
Caroline's journey from being adopted from China at age two by her mom, Anne, to now being 16 years old has been filled with challenges, accomplishments, love and joy. She was born with cleft lip/palate and has had 10 surgeries so far with an 11th coming up in the next year. Caroline is also diagnosed with autism, ADHD, epilepsy, a congenital heart defect and a pituitary tumor.
We want to provide Caroline with practical business skills she can use in school and at a job someday. Since turning 16, we have been talking about what level of independence to expect in her future. Employment is extremely challenging for people with disabilities. We also want to foster Caroline’s independence as she takes ownership of this new adventure and match with her interests - this is a fun, messy, sensory-focused activity! Caroline will help take and deliver orders, track sales and payments, and make Birdie Tweets!
Our longer term goal is to involve our friends in Birdie Tweets to give others a chance to build social and vocational skills as well as have fun! We will donate some proceeds to organizations we are involved in and which help kids like Caroline.
Also, through our Grammie Tweets project, we donate Birdie Tweets ornaments to senior care facilities to hang in their courtyards to delight the residents as they watch the birds. Caroline’s Grammie was in a facility for 5 months, and she told Caroline it would have given her such joy to have had Birdie Tweets there. We accept donations for our Grammie Tweets project as well as recommendations for facilities!