Feel Good Jewelry: Giving Back to our Virgin Islands and Oceans

What inspires you? ib is inspired by you, family, friends, the community and knowing our jewelry is part of our customers life stories. Life is full of peaks and valleys, twists and turns. One constant that remains is sharing small acts of kindness and giving enrich people's lives and the world. ib designs has been a part of the St. Croix community for 25 years. We are deeply touched by and give gratitude to our non-profit communities and their tireless work they provide to affect big change in our small community. It is with this admiration that we feel inspired to contribute to their efforts.

"We rise by lifting others" by Robert Ingersoll

When you wear ib jewelry, we hope you wear it because it makes you happy and feel good. We wanted to highlight three of our feel good collections that give back to the St. Croix Community that you can enjoy knowing you are making a small difference. The Fan Coral, Elkhorn Coral and Breadfruit are all collections where a portion of our sales go towards benefiting specific St. Croix non-profits.

The Fan Coral Collection

 

The Fan Coral Collection was originally created to support Reef Jam. Reef Jam was a non-profit, grass roots musical fundraiser created to advocate for local marine education and conservation. A few years ago the fundraiser was put on pause and our efforts we able to shift directly to the St. Croix Environmental Association or S.E.A. The mission is one and the same. Your Fan Coral Collection purchase supports local marine education, conservation and stewardship.

One of the programs your purchase supports is S.E.A's public snorkel clinic. The clinics are free to the community and held April through October on the third Saturday of the month. The goal is to educate the community on reef life and conservation. The objective is to increase appreciation for our marine habitat through recreation. For further information visit St. Croix Environmental Association here.

The Elkhorn Coral Collection

Elkhorn Coral was once the predominate coral of our local reef system and is also one of the most important reef building species through out the Caribbean. The coral provides safety and habitat for reef animals. Due to overfishing, global climate change, harmful practices and pollution, Elkhorn populations have declined over 90%. As a result, Elkhorn Coral is now a threatened species on the Endangered Species Act.

Our Elkhorn Coral Collection supports coral restoration is the U.S. Virgin Islands. Part of your purchase goes to The Nature Conservancy which is actively working on recovery of Elkhorn and Staghorn Corals in the U.S. Virgin Islands. To restore degraded reefs, The Conservancy is rescuing coral in an underwater nursery, growing and multiplying them. For more information on The V.I. Nature Conservancy visit here.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria which hit the Virgin Islands in September of 2017, thwarted much of the hard work already done with restoring the reefs. This has not stopped the effort; as The Nature Conservancy and The St. Croix Environmental Association are still hard at work striving to make the world a better place. Wear your Fan Coral or Elkhorn piece knowing you are a part of that effort.

The Breadfruit Collection

The Breadfruit Collection was inspired over a two year period with passionate conversations about how breadfruit can lift humanity and offer new opportunities. Breadfruit is a superfood. The global community is just at the precipice of tapping into the potential of the heath, social, economic and environmental benefits through breadfruit agroforestry and mitigating global warming.

As a conscious community, ib designs teamed with Mutiny Island Vodka and is working with The Trees That Feed Foundation to plant breadfruit trees, to feed people, create jobs, and build a stronger and better environment in the Virgin Islands. Locally the team has worked to distribute breadfruit trees to harvest it's fruit. Donations have helped The Ridge to Reef Farm purchase a dehydrator to help the farmers facilitate making breadfruit flour. The team will also be working in collaboration with Virgin Islands Good Food Coalition on integrating education projects in local schools and improve healthy food security.

It takes a community. We rise by helping and seeing that other people rise with us. Linking arms with your neighbors and sharing resources fosters a better and kinder community. May you wear your ib piece with an open heart and know that you are adding value to the St. Croix community!

Making the world a better place one bracelet at a time.