Crafty Baby Owner, Jill Chuckas, Named as Secretary of the Handmade Toy Alliance

Stamford, CT, April 14, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Crafty Baby ® owner, Jill Chuckas, was named as Secretary and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Handmade Toy Alliance (www.handmadetoyalliance.org) this past week. Formed in November of 2008 as a reaction to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), the Handmade Toy Alliance (HTA) represents small independent manufacturers and retailers of children's products. Recently, the HTA incorporated as a not for profit trade organization working to lend voice to toy stores, toy makers and children's product manufacturers from across the country, to assist in raising awareness of the issues that directly impact their members and to provide members access to their larger scale peers.

Since December of 2008, Chuckas has been an active member of the HTA, working to raise awareness of the unintended consequences that the CPSIA has on small companies such as her own. On April 1, 2009, Chuckas attended and spoke at a rally the HTA helped to organize on Capital Hill in Washington DC (www.amendthecpsia.com). Following the rally, Chuckas and her colleagues attended Legislative visits with Congressional members and their staff. She sat down with Rep. Jim Himes, and staffers from Sen. Lieberman’s, Sen. Dodd’s and Sen. Kerry’s offices to discuss the significant impact that the CPSIA has on industry throughout the country and ways that her group and the Congressional members can work together to create solutions. “The primary message we wanted to convey was that there needed to be a common sense way for small businesses that make safe products to afford to prove that their products are safe,” Chuckas shared. “The way the law is currently written, I will be out of business in August of this year due to the cost prohibitive third party testing regulations even though I create safe products that are compliant with the new federal standards for lead and phthalates. I was encouraged by the responses that my Congress people gave and am hopeful that we can reach a bi-partisan resolution quickly.”

Since the rally on Capital Hill and visits with her representatives in Congress, Chuckas is continuing to work with the HTA to find the common ground needed to amend the CPSIA. “This has been an incredible learning experience for me,” stated Chuckas. “It is a true testament to democracy when a common citizen can see something that is wrong with a law and act together with like minded, grass roots activists, to enact change. I am completely committed to working within the system to find a solution to the CPSIA so that I, and the member businesses of the HTA who provide safe, wonderful products to our country, can continue to do so.”

Crafty Baby ®, known for its hand crafted in the USA, fun and functional creations for children, has been in business since September of 1998. Based in Stamford, CT, Chuckas personally designs and crafts each of her products in her studio and sells to retail locations throughout the US, as well as at regional craft shows and on the internet (www.craftybaby.com). Chuckas holds a Masters in Social Work from New York University and worked as a school social worker for 10 years prior to devoting herself full time to Crafty Baby ® and her family.

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