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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

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Fund Balance (9/18/21): $200.00

Published: January 22, 2021 — Friday
Updated: September 18, 2021 — Saturday

If you have been following the work of the Lead Safe Mama team for any amount of time, you know that this work is (and always has been) a collaborative effort with our readers. Readers (fans, followers, friends, etc.) help to fund the work reported here on the website, and, in turn, I continue to make this work (specifically the writings and independent XRF test results for consumer goods) freely available to the public. I am constantly urged to “put this work behind a paywall to help Lead Safe Mama, LLC be more profitable” — but I have not been able to see any (public) benefit to that model, as it would mean restricting some of the content (and make it only available to those who can afford to pay). This is simply not a compromise I am willing to make; it is too important that the information shared on this site be freely available to all!

Help for low-income families

Every now and then a low-income family needs help. While I donate my time as much as I can, there are often costs related to helping a family (travel, testing, etc.) that I am not in a position to donate. In order to be able to help families who cannot afford to have me come out for a home consultation (usually the help required is assisting them in solving the mysterious puzzle of how their child has been poisoned — after public agencies or others have been unable to identify the source[s] of exposure), I sometimes ask readers to contribute toward the cost of helping a specific low-income family (a family in crisis) that needs it.

While I have always tried to carve out a bit of an informal fund and budget to help these families, I have decided (for 2021) to formalize this by officially setting aside a portion of donated funds explicitly to constitute a “low-income emergency assistance fund”; having my bookkeeper separately track those funds for me, and reporting on those donated funds here on this post. The current fund balance is listed below and will be updated as funds come (and go) in support of this initiative. Each $1,500 in the fund covers (in full) the cost of a one-on-one home consultation with a family in most parts of the country. 

Fund Balance (9/18/21): $200.00

Thank you for being here and for helping me help other families protect their children from being exposed to Lead in their homes, schools, communities, and environments. If you would like to contribute to this fund, please understand that while your support is very much appreciated, contributions are NOT tax-deductible, as Lead Safe Mama, LLC is NOT affiliated with a nonprofit. All contributions are tracked and reported as business income in our taxes for Lead Safe Mama, LLC. Contributions can be made via any of the following methods:

• Check made out to Lead Safe Mama, LLC
• Venmo: @TamaraERubin
• PayPal: TamaraRubin@mac.com
• Zelle: 503-702-2708 (Lead Safe Mama, LLC)

If you choose to make a contribution in support of this initiative, please make sure to include a note with your gift stating that it is meant to be designated to help a family in need. Thank you again for your support and involvement in this movement!

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama