Handbag Designer Raises More Than $13k for Preeclampsia Awareness

Santa Cruz, CA, August 03, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Jordana Paige, the handbag and knitwear design company, raised more than $13,000 to fund education, raise public awareness and improve treatment for preeclampsia.

The company held Purses for Preeclampsia — A Sale to Honor Cooper and Benefit the Preeclampsia Foundation on July 18. Due to the overwhelming interest and support, Jordana Paige continued the sale the following week.

Its imperfect bags were sold for about half the retail cost and all the proceeds, $13,150, were donated to the Preeclampsia Foundation, a non-profit organization serving the 300,000 women in the United States who suffer from preeclampsia each year.

Preeclampsia is a disorder characterized by high blood pressure that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affects both the mother and the unborn baby.

Globally, preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are a leading cause of maternal and infant illness and death, according to the Preeclampsia Foundation.

“My goal was to raise awareness of preeclampsia and money to benefit the Preeclampsia Foundation,” said Jordana McVey, the owner of the company. Her sister lost her son because of preeclampsia.

“My customers and others who wanted to help stepped up and purchased every last imperfect handbag in my inventory. I am sincerely grateful for everyone’s support of this cause.”

The company is no stranger to fund raising. It donates 10 percent of its sales of The Knitter’s Satchel in pink to the National Breast Cancer Foundation year round. In 2010, Jordana Paige raised more than $15,000 in a similar fundraising effort for Doctors Without Borders Haiti Relief after the country’s devastating earthquake.

Jordana Paige was founded in 2002, when Jordana was 18 years old. After frustrating searches everywhere to find a knitting bag that could not only keep her knitting organized but compliment her style, Jordana decided to design and sell The Knitter’s Purse.

The Knitter’s Purse was the first in a line of seven fashionable handbags designed with the knitter in mind. Jordana has incorporated customer feedback into her line every step of the way, resulting in bags that are both beautiful and functional. Today Jordana Paige bags are carried in about 500 stores in 12 countries.