Reeve's Tees First Brand Rep Search

This past week we launched our first Brand Rep Search (of hopefully many to come).  The contest is to help us find a little cutie to wear our “Don’t Judge Me by my DS (Devilish Smile)” T-shirt for some of our upcoming marketing efforts. 

My, Oh My – what a difficult situation we created for ourselves when all these adorable pictures of little ones and their sweet and mischievous grins started blowing up our Facebook wall and Instagram tags!  We have been overwhelmed by cuteness and quickly realized that we have no algorithm by which to possibly deduce all these contestants and their lovability into a single winner.  Every child submitted so far has been too precious, too unique, and too perfect for this shirt!

In other words, we are facing a wonderful problem!  (Rest assured, we will find some way to pick a winner and announce it on March 2^nd, as promised!)  Oh my goodness, how we’d love to give away a shirt to each of these kiddos; however, if we did, Reeve’s Tees wouldn’t be around for too long (and we haven't quite reached a point where we can do Oprah-style giveaways)!

What it is really all about...

As we ponder this dilemma, we remember that the whole purpose of Reeve’s Tees has never been about picking winners, selling T-shirts, or even donating money to organizations.  It has been about helping others “Get Comfortable with Difference.”  We started Reeve’s Tees as a way to make Down Syndrome Awareness and Acceptance more accessible missions for those less familiar with the condition.  (You know, the people that we were BEFORE our son was born).

Anyone who is “different” has likely endured a rude comment from “THAT woman in the grocery store,” “THAT doctor,” “THAT neighbor,” or even “THAT family member.” Furthermore, they may feel left out, avoided, or ignored by others.  When this happens, our sincere belief is that most people are not trying to be mean or hurtful - they are just uncomfortable around difference.

In all of our messages and shirt designs, we acknowledge that difference DOES exist.  After all, it would be unreasonable, unfair, and unproductive to ask the world to simply “not notice” when someone Down syndrome.   Instead we want to tell them that it is okay to notice the difference, but we want them to move past the difference to SEE the person.   We want them to get comfortable enough with the extra chromosome that they can hang around and meet the other 46! 

Down syndrome may be the first thing that they notice, but we want them to ALSO notice a “Devilish Smile,” a can-do attitude, a love of music, a sense of humor, a dedicated work ethic, a silly side -  whatever it is that  makes each individual person unique.

So with all of that in mind, we just wanted to say how appreciative we are of our contestants (their families), our customers, and our followers.  We are overwhelmed and deeply touched by their help and support.

Despite the fact that we will be picking a single kiddo as the winner next week, we just want to say that every smiling child with Down syndrome is an essence a “Brand Rep” in helping to spread the message of “Get comfortable with difference!”

With more appreciation than words can express,

Shana
Reeve’s proud mama, and Founder of Reeve’s Tees