by Allie Marie Smith
I’m so excited to introduce my dear friends Brittany and Ian’s new venture to you girls: Parker Clay. Back in 2008 Parker Clay founders, Ian and Brittany Bentley, were moved by number of orphans living in the world. Some statistics place the numbers at 163 million orphans worldwide. While those statistics are alarming, Ian and Brittany looked at these numbers and said, “What if that was Parker or Clayton” their two biological children. From that moment, the journey to Ethiopia started and in 2011 the Bentley’s brought home their newest addition, Selah who was 5 months old at the time. While in Ethiopia the Bentley’s spent time with a number of organizations looking for ways to address some of the root causes to poverty and the disruption of family. It was soon after this that the Bentley’s packed up their lives and moved to Ethiopia to help with development work centered around job creation and capacity development with vulnerable women.
About the products
While living and working in Ethiopia, they founded Parker Clay, a beautiful line of Ethiopian made leather goods. Each product is individually numbered to make each purchase unique and at the end of each series we will be sending funds back to Ethiopia to go towards addressing a specific need. This means you will be 1 of 300 to help provide urgent medial care, job training, or start-up capital to a person in Ethiopia. This way every time you see your edition number you can be reminded that you’re part of a global community committed to helping lift a specific person out of a cycle of desperation and poverty.
Their first partnership is with Woman at Risk here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and they will be funding women to go through the rehabilitation program as well as contributing to a prevention program of high school and college students. They will also be contributing to the employment of 100’s around Ethiopia, mostly women, because of the products they are producing. From farmers, to factory workers, these products will make a lasting impact on the economy of Ethiopia and while creating world class products.
