GoFundMe Campaign Update — September 20, 2024

  

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Sept 20, 2024

Hi all!

My last update on this was nine months ago and SO MUCH has happened in that “short” time — it seems like an entire lifetime ago.

I apologize for not posting more updates here, but it is actually a bit intentional. I don’t publish here often because I assume everyone who has donated is on our email list and/or following Lead Safe Mama on social media — and I figure you probably don’t want to be bombarded with information over here if you are already following everything on another channel!

For anyone who is an exception to the above, I will briefly share a few things…

#1.) COLLABORATIONS/NEWS

Since I updated last, the work of Lead Safe Mama, LLC has been written up in Consumer Reports TWICE (!) and a third “collab” with Consumer Reports is potentially in the works (I am meeting with their team next Wednesday)! Please check out all our press and interviews from the past nine months, linked here: https://tamararubin.com/press/

#1.a.) AMERICAN IDOL

A Mama brag: My two oldest sons were on American Idol in February! If you did not see it, here’s the link: https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/the-rubin-brothers-bring-circus-spectacle-to-american-idol

#2.) LABORATORY FOOD TESTING

We dove head-first into food testing (using a laboratory for ppb readings on Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, and Arsenic) in March of this year — thanks to a generous collaborative partnership and donation of laboratory testing kits from SimpleLab.

In March, we tested six items, then in April/May we tested eight more items. Things have kind of just snowballed since then! This month (September 2024) we will be testing over 60 foods and supplements! Since March, SimpleLab has continued donating the testing equivalent of eight food products per month, and the Lead Safe Mama community is chipping-in to cover the costs of testing and reporting for the rest!

A few important website pages:

This is a landing page with links to all the food testing-related articles we have published so far: https://tamararubin.com/2024/05/links-to-all-of-the-articles-related-to-food-testing-done-by-lead-safe-mama-llc-in-one-place/ 

This is a landing page with links to all the safer foods we have discovered so far (foods that tested “non-detect” for the four toxicants we test for): https://tamararubin.com/2024/07/lead-safe-mamas-landing-page-for-lab-tested-safer-foods/

This is a spreadsheet (updated periodically) that contains all the food testing we’ve completed and all our pending testing: https://tamararubin.com/2024/06/food-testing-fundraising-campaigns-update-all-batches-of-lead-safe-mama-llc-food-testing-2024/

This article discusses how we are completing this testing, how we are funding it (the expense budget for each campaign), and how you can nominate a specific food product: https://tamararubin.com/2024/05/how-to-test-food-yourself-via-a-lab-submission-for-lead-cadmium-arsenic-and-mercury/

#3. ) GOFUNDME GOAL, DEBT, & STATUS REPORT 

We launched this GoFundMe campaign on February 19, 2017.

That’s a long time ago!

As a result of the legal attacks on this work over the past eight years, we have accrued a debt (related either directly or indirectly to the false attacks that attempted to shut down this advocacy work) of $270,000. There have actually been about $350,000 in related expenses total, and we have been able to pay off about $80,000 of that — in large part thanks to funds raised through this campaign. A total of $270,000 is our remaining debt at this time (September 2024).

The $33,045 that has been raised to date (across the past eight calendar years that this campaign has been active — so about $4,130 in support per year since its launch) has been incredibly helpful during very difficult and dark times. YOU can take credit. YOU are the reason the reach and impact of Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s work is thriving and growing.

At this time we are focused on trying to pay back the above debt through earned income (earned by this business) while also focusing our attention on growing and expanding the scope and impact of the childhood Lead-poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety advocacy work we do (expansion currently happening with velocity, in large part thanks to the food testing we have organized since March)!

As a result, I have decided to raise this GoFundMe campaign “goal” (as of Friday, September 20, 2024) to $100,000, as reaching that count would help us pay off a good part of the $270,000 in debt related to our Federal Civil Rights case, allowing us to move on from this chapter. I wanted to let you know about this change (and explain the reasoning) so you would not be surprised if you came across it on your own.
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At the rate things are going, it would take about 17 years to reach this goal 🙂 but I thought it would be good to put the new number out there (just in case someone could help with a larger gift because they have the means). In the meantime, we will continue working to increase our business earnings so we can hopefully pay off all this debt with earned income from Lead Safe Mama, LLC’s work (chipping away as we have been doing over the past couple of years)!

#4.) AMAZING NEWS, EVERYONE!

The most incredible news to share is that we are approaching 5,000,000 page views for the year on the website. This is therefore our BEST EVER year for reach and impact (we have interacted with/ shared information with at least 2,500,000 people so far this year, and likely more)!

#5.) SIMPLEST WAYS TO CONTINUE SUPPOTING THIS WORK 

The MOST FINANCIALLY IMPACTFUL thing you can do to support this work right now is help boost our earned income bottom line by starting any Amazon shopping you were already planning on doing with a click on a Lead Safe Mama, LLC affiliate link. You don’t need to buy what we link to for us to receive a percentage of what you spend (at no extra cost to you) — you only need to start any shopping you were already planning by first clicking on a Lead Safe Mama affiliate link. This makes a much bigger difference than people may realize!

To inspire your click, here are a bunch of affiliate links. These are the 11 food items we have tested so far that resulted in non-detect for toxicants (check the website to read the article about each item so you can see the low threshold of detection for each lab report).
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Sea Salt (Oregon, USA)
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/4dcbk5L
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Organic Einkorn Flour (Italy)
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3LIqxix
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Organic, Gluten-Free, Sprouted Rolled Oats (Canada)
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3WIQ1BN
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Organic, Non-GMO, Gluten-Free Chia Seeds (Mexico)
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3YvE7xC
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Organic Espresso Roast Ground Coffee (Multi-Country Origin, Non-USA)
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3yo1eiL
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Sparkling Grape-Flavored Tonic
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/4cjFYZu
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Pure Organic Layered Fruit Bars in Strawberry Banana Flavor
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3WQEekA
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Pure Organic Layered Fruit Bars in Raspberry Lemonade Flavor
Amazon link (sold in a box assortment, we haven’t found these sold separately): https://amzn.to/3XcFsIp
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GoGo Squeez Organic Fruit On The Go in AppleApple Flavor
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3XhWYLe
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Organic Soy Milk
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/4dwev8l
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Organic Hemp Seeds
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/4e05RP9

Thank you all for all of the support over the years.

I wouldn’t be here without you.

Tamara

Here’s a photo of my sons — just for fun.

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