A Doll Like Me

After 10 incredible years, A Doll Like Me continues to create custom dolls for kids who don't see themselves on store shelves. Over nearly a decade, so much has changed, but my dedication to this mission has remained the same.

I'm organizing this fundraiser because it's become clear that the demand has outgrown what I'm capable over doing on my own. With nearly 2,000 doll requests (yes - 2,000!), I'm turning to my supporters and this incredible community to help keep this mission alive, at as low cost as possible for the families who've made requests.

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Ten years ago, the first doll made her way into the arms of a little girl who lost her leg to cancer. I never could have imagined what would unfold in the decade that followed.

TEN YEARS!! It’s been ten incredible years, you guys! And it literally could not have happened without you.

Many of you are already familiar with A Doll Like Me’s mission – a mission to show children that inclusion and representation aren’t just important, but they can be life-changing.

Ten years is a long time, and A Doll Like Me is turning a corner. A lot has changed since the first doll.

However, there is one thing that has NOT changed and that is my commitment to this mission. All children deserve to see themselves in the face of a doll – that has been my belief since day one. What has changed on a massive scale is the global reach of A Doll Like Me and the sheer number of requests for dolls. There are nearly 2,000 (yes, 2,000!) doll requests at the present time.

I am starting this fundraiser because it's become clear that the demand has outgrown what I'm capable of doing on my own. I decided it would be appropriate to launch this on World Kindness Day. Why? Because there is no time like the present to change a child’s life and provide a tangible form of kindness.

I am, once again, turning to my supporters and this incredible community to help keep this mission alive.

A Doll Like Me has appeared in publications and media stories around the world – the US, Canada, Brazil, China, Japan, England, and Germany to name a few. In the ten years that this GoFundMe account has been active, the dolls were featured in Oprah’s “Five Things to Cheer About,” People magazine, Reader’s Digest, Love What Matters, Business Insider, My Modern Met, Costco magazine, and Upworthy. They were on the Today show, the BBC, CBS Evening News, 60 Second Docs, PBS, NPR, Steve Harvey, and WebMD. The story of A Doll Like Me won a daytime Emmy in Los Angeles! The stories of children and their dolls have been shared by actors and authors, bloggers and influencers. One doll even posed on the launch pad at NASA! The narrative of inclusion and representation is shifting, and you have been a part of that.

We talk about those words a lot…but “inclusion” and “representation” look very different through the eyes of a child than they do for us. At the very heart of A Doll Like Me is the idea that children - all children – both deserve and need to see themselves in the toys that they play with. Research shows that “seeing yourself” makes a tremendous difference in a child’s psychological development and emotional growth. Full stop. That is pretty amazing.

Play is the universal language of childhood, and dolls are quite possibly one of the most important tools in the language of play. Through play and imagination, dolls help children make sense of their world. They can help children cope with stressful situations and, most importantly, they can help a child feel confident in who they are. Knowing that, shouldn’t dolls look like the children who love them?!

Absolutely.

My dolls have traveled into war zones passing through the hands of multiple angel-volunteers to comfort scared children…they have gone into life saving surgical areas where helpless mothers and fathers are not able to accompany their babies…they go into classrooms with children who so desperately want their peers to see that “they aren’t the only ones who look this way”…they rest in arms of siblings and parents who have had to say goodbye to children whose lives ended way too soon…they attend celebrations and milestones because they are an extension of the child who loves them…they tag along to endless doctor visits and hospital stays where they are present for triumphant news and devastating news…they offer tangible security and gently lay alongside little guys who sleep in unfamiliar beds…and, perhaps most importantly, these dolls are validating, reassuring, and empowering in a world that often isn’t.

Because of you, over 1,000 children have experienced affirmation and support unlike any other. They have known the kindness of perfect strangers – people like you who also believe that our unique differences make us beautiful.

Because of you, A Doll Like Me has been able to provide custom, look-alike dolls to children free of charge. I get to tell the families that because of the kindness of strangers, this doll - a physical representation of their child - is a gift. I used to think that when Oprah would say “You get a car! And you get a car!” being an audience member must have been incredible. But now I know that being the giver is far more satisfying. Being able to deliver the news “You get a doll! And because of this generous global community, there are no strings attached,” is hard to explain and it is infinitely more exhilarating and rewarding. The pause between that and “Who did this for me?” is something I wish you could experience.

Together we have reached children in all 50 states, as well as children in 35+ countries around the world. Together we have advocated for inclusivity and representation for all children, and we are changing the narrative for these kids one doll at a time. Your generosity has made a difference and has changed the lives of children on all sides of the globe.

I am asking for your continued support – whether through donations, sharing the mission of A Doll Like Me, or actively participating in this paradigm shift. If you work for a company that would like to participate, A Doll Like Me is a verified nonprofit organization.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for a decade of dolls! Thank you for participating in this life-changing mission and for unselfishly showing these kids that the kindness in this world outweighs the negative. Thank you for helping me put dolls into the places they belong….with their kids. Without you, none of this would be possible.

-Amy Jandrisevits-

owner, A Doll Like Me

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