Help Mindie To Stand On Her Own Two Feet!

Mindie Dittemore is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hello, my name is Mindie Dittemore. Some of you might know who I am because you follow my little homesteading page on Facebook. Or maybe you have seen pieces of my stained glass artwork. But who am I, really? Well, I am a fifty year old woman, who knows all about chickens, baking bread, gardening, and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, who has been through some stuff, but who refuses to give up! Asking for help has never been my style… Which makes this incredibly hard and humbling. I have pulled as hard as I can on my bootstraps, but the straps are starting to fall apart! I need help. There, I said it. I need help.

Why do I need your help?

Almost two years ago I injured my foot. At the time our family didn’t have health insurance because my spouse had been out of work for almost a year. I had re-entered the work force, but after being a stay at home mom for sixteen years, the income I did find, didn’t offer insurance. Then about a week after getting hurt, my marriage of twenty years ended suddenly when he decided to back out off the driveway and financially cut me off. But despite being in daily pain, I scrambled to hold together what was left of my world.

Not being able to stand because of the pain made finding employment difficult, so I did what any crazy woman would do. I looked around the house at my resources and I taught myself how to make stained glass from supplies that my ex had left. I practiced, learned everything I could, I entered a glass competition, and I placed! And that is when I decided to open my own business, Scrappy Girl Glassworks, because I am scrappy and I try to utilize as much “scrap” glass as possible in my work. I became a entrepreneur and created a way to support myself through the divorce.

During this time I was approved for Medicaid and finally got my foot/leg some medical attention. My goal all along was to get my injury healed, so I could get a “real” job, and stand on my own two feet. Apparently the universe had other ideas, because as I was handed from one doctor to the next, I was diagnosed with CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.) I remember one doctor saying “no cure” and my brain snapped. The 24/7 pain I had been in since August of 2022 was not going to get “fixed.” There would be no “real” job or steady income in my future.

Once again I had to re-adjust my mindset. I would not be getting a “real” job, instead I got a disability placard for my truck. And a doctor at a University. And nerve blocking medication. And a year long fight with the insurance trying to get an MRI done. Which is still not done. So I doubled down on my stained glass business, because I really do not have a support system or many friends... aka No one was coming to save me.

On top of opening my Etsy shop, and despite the constant pain, I began doing festivals, because my bills needed to be paid! I would not go down without a fight! And while the medication I’ve recently begun taking takes the edge off the pain, it makes it almost impossible at times to get two brain cells to work together to form a complete sentence. The doctor have been playing with the dosage to find a pain/brain balance, but for now I am on a rollercoaster of flair ups and mind numbing stupidity. Which you can imagine has impacted my ability to work in my workshop and my livelihood.

I have come to the realization at this point that I need help!

I am still here, maybe not standing on my own two feet, yet, because one of them doesn’t work too well! But I am more determined than ever to continue growing my stained glass business. For the first time in a long time, I can see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel on my quest to build a meaningful life for myself in this second chapter of life. I know what I need to do to move forward. I have ideas. Trust me, I’d bet on me! (If I had the money) But how do I grow a business when I can’t afford basic life needs?

I asking for your support because I am physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially exhausted. I walked away from my divorce with a mortgage, an auto loan and ZERO dollars. I am proud that up till now I have been able to keep my home out of foreclosure and my truck from repossession. In fact, I have just ONE auto payment left! I have pulled myself from the brink of disaster, but now I am treading water. I have applied for assistance on the state and federal level, but it is a lot of hurry up and wait.

How do they expect you to wait when your drowning? I've been waiting for almost two years now for medical and financial help. When I applied for SSI I was informed it would be 180 days before it would cross anyone’s desk to even start the review process (because they are backlogged), a process that can drag on for a very long time.

I’m trying to be patient but beyond paying my bills, I’m struggling to buy basic toiletries and put gas in my truck to get to doctors appointments. For a girl who lost around 150 lb by walking and doing 5K races, I can barely tug and pull the lawnmower around in my walking boot. I’d love to be able to pay a local kid five bucks to do it for me, so I didn’t get blight notices from my city. But to do any of that I need to grow my business... and I just don’t have the finances to do it. I am living Esty payment to Esty payment to cover my bills. So this is where YOU come in!

How your donations will help!

Personally, it will help me to buy toilet paper! We will call it office supplies. *wink* Maybe five bucks to hire the neighbor kid to mow my lawn. It will give me the ability to obtained needed items, such as therapy bands to do physical therapy exercises at home. A shower chair will probably be needed in the near future, as my stability is failing. Basically, your donations will be used to help in small ways to help make my living space more “user friendly to my disease.”

As for my business, you would enable me to put in place systems that will allow me to take my business to the next level… Instead of treading water, I’ll be able to breathe and grow.

Donations help with:

Vendor fees for festivals have to be paid in advance, months, sometimes a year in advance. Your donations will give me a working capital to pull from and allow me the ability to plan, in advance, and book sales opportunities (and be able to schedule my friends that help me pull it off!) Heck, maybe I could even replace my broken awning so set up and take down aren’t so physically demanding. Or maybe some better, lighter weight displays for in person shows! It usually takes me a week to physically recover from doing a show. But I do love seeing people smile when they see my art.

Glass is very expensive. That is why I try to use as much “scrap” glass as possible. This usually means buying old stock at estate sales, marketplace finds, or from other artists that are retiring. This keeps my costs down, thus allowing me to offer beautiful pieces at an affordable price. But I need working capital to be able to afford to hunt for scrap glass.

Supplies, both for the manufacturing of stained glass and shipping of the glass, can be sourced at better prices when buying in bulk. Unfortunately I can’t afford to buy a dozen rolls of solder at one time in order to take advantage of these types of discounts. Your donations will allow me to stop scrambling, have supplies on hand, and save on gas as I wouldn’t be running to get supplies every month!

Patterns are a great way for stained glass artists and hobbiest to enjoy the craft. Your donations would help me secure the equipment and software needed to turn my hand drawn patterns into downloadable PDFs that I could then offer up for sale in my Etsy shop, creating a residual revenue flow!

Jewelry is a great way to show off the beauty of stained glass. But it also requires jewelry making supplies, utilizing lead free solder, and different packaging. Your donations would allow me to take my prototypes I’ve made and turn them into an actual jewelry line available in my shop.

My studio is just an old dining room table and a folding table tucked in a room. I hodge podged it together with the bare minimum. Your donations would help me redesign my workspace so I can continue to work! Because of my CRPS, sitting or standing for long periods of time leaves me in tears. I would be able to replace my chair, which is just and old hard wood chair, to something that isn’t so painful to sit on. It would allow me to reconfigure my grinding area so this step could be done in a seated position.

My ultimate dream/goal is to one day have a public shop and studio where I could not only sell my pieces, but also glass making supplies, so other artists can obtain what they need, as well as a studio big enough to teach classes. As a former 4-H leader I love teaching by doing. Your donation today can help me transform a girl and some glass with a simple Etsy shop into a self sustaining business, so I can provide for myself, not just survive.

If you would like to take a peek at my art on Facebook

What is CRPS?

In a nutshell, Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a rare neurological condition that affects the central nervous system. It can cause a variety of symptoms that can vary from person to person. The main symptom is pain, which can feel like burning, throbbing, stabbing, stinging, electrical shock, etc.. The pain can be mild or severe and can change in intensity. The affected area is often very sensitive to touch, changes coloration and temperature.