Our Save the Dolls Mission in Detail

Not to go too far back, but my mother married and was divorced at a young age and didn't re-marry again until I was about 11 years old. At that time, I was introduced to a completely new set of grandparents, a grandpa who loved gardening and a grandmother who collected dolls. I would look through her cabinets and see all kinds of dolls, almost no two the same. Her collection was so unusual in terms of style and category, that it always puzzled me until I asked about it. I was told about a time that my grandmother worked for the thrift store industry, and would save the dolls that the thrift store didn't want. I never saw her repairing any, my grandma didn't have a workshop, but nevertheless she had saved quite a few in display cabinets all over her house. As an 11 year old, her collection didn't really connect with me at all. As a style, I tend to gravitate more towards fashion dolls and glamour, but my grandmother's collection was more like something you saw in a history museum. Later in life, she passed away and I was asked if I wanted any dolls from her collection. I looked over her collection and selected one or two, but still the majority of the dolls held no connection for me. There was something though - the act of the amount of dolls she saved and that no one wanted that stuck with me. Where do dolls go when no one wants them anymore? It was a burning question that I wouldn't answer for years.

I collected only a few dolls as a child, and then there was a long period where dolls weren't in my life at all. Seems odd now that everything I do is centered around dolls, but it wasn't until long after I had my daughters that I picked up collecting again. Picking up how things work, is a natural talent of mine, so I fell right into taking dolls apart and putting them back together. As I grew, I got to work on more and more brands and found that there a few variations, but that most dolls went together the same way and common repair techniques could be learned to fix them all. And then, just like that the doll hospital was born.

It wasn't until several years in, that I was at a doll meeting talking about a doll I had found and restored, and someone had made a joke something like "Saving one doll at a time". The phrase stuck with me and got me thinking. For a while now, my company had been set on creating and manufacturing products to help doll collectors repair and restore dolls that had no support supplies. We picked a different doll brand each year to "save dolls". But that phrase "Saving one doll at a time" felt like something bigger, and I began to think back on the idea of saving the dolls that no one wanted any more. My husband and I were talking about it one night and he said, "Why don't you operate a donation center where people could turn in dolls that they don't want any more." The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it. Operating a donation center gave a place for dolls to go when they weren't wanted, but also gave them a chance for a second life. I started to realize the good I could do by linking a donation center and a doll hospital together and giving collectors a place where they could adopt dolls from a trustworthy source. The rest was history, the Save the Dolls mission was added to our company and we began saving those dolls one at a time.

Save the Dolls has several objectives - 1) to keep dolls out of the garbage when they become unwanted or broken, 2) to strengthen re-use recycle concepts within the doll industry and promote sustainability 3) to re-home beloved childhood dolls to keep them circulating, and 4) to support small businesses and artists in the doll community.

1) Objective #1: Keeping Dolls out of the Garbage when they become unwanted or Broken

How does a doll become unwanted? There are many reasons. A doll collector may pass away and their inheriting family members may not collect. A doll collector may tire of a doll and want something new. A doll collector may outgrow collecting dolls or wish to do something else with their time. The doll may become damaged or broken and costs too much to repair for the owner to make it worthwhile. A doll collector may no longer have a bond with the doll or become disinterested in it.

For many, when any of these things happen, the first thing an owner will try to do is sell the doll in it's current condition. Selling allows doll collectors to purchase something new or just cash in. If a collector is having trouble selling or if the doll isn't in a condition where it can sell, donation or trash becomes the next available option. Thrift stores are in the business of reselling used items, but so much dumping goes on and they aren't equipped to actually repair or refurbish anything. They also are receiving too much in terms of donations and waste that they are running out of places to put it all. Sadly, much of it is shipped off to landfills and third world countries anyway instead of reducing garbage and we aren't reducing as much waste as we would like.

Realizing the problem, many companies are emerging to instead make things out of things that are unwanted and an upcycling movement has been created to reduce waste. We are joining that movement with our Save the Dolls mission. As families and collectors clean out their doll rooms, attics, basements and garages we are accepting dolls in all conditions into our Doll Donation Center in Yuba City, CA. As the dolls come in they are assessed as to their condition and their ability to be refurbished. Dolls that cannot be refurbished are dismantled for their parts as donor dolls to help repair dolls that can be saved. Clothing is washed, repaired, or transformed using the fabrics or dying the fabrics to create new life. Old hair is removed and replaced with new hair, broken eyes are replaced, dolls are put back together and cleaned, limbs are found and dolls are given new life. Dolls that are put back in good condition are able to circulate once again in the doll community and find a loving home.

2) Strengthing Re-Use Recycling Concepts within the doll community and promoting sustainability

One company can make a difference, but it can't solve the larger picture. Crafting with dolls and customizing dolls is a current popular trend with many "in style" doll brands amongst doll artists and collectors. We use our Doll Forum to document ideas and tips and many of our how to tutorials are born from documenting the repair process of many of our donated dolls as we work on them. We try to restore as many dolls to their original state as possible, but there are situations where the doll is in it's best state and still no one wants to adopt them. This has to do with the interest level of the doll community to collect a certain type of doll, not really in the doll's condition. How do we change that? This is actually our favorite because we love the transformation of something that is uninteresting and turning it into something interesting. Instead of the doll being one of many featured in a by gone era - we instead transform it into an art piece. We have a network of doll artists we work with. A doll's face shape or body type will inspire us to create something interesting from it and transform from boring to extra ordinary. This is turn inspires others to give a second look to unwanted dolls and make them into collectibles that are really cool. Each doll that goes from unwanted to a new home achieves the goal of reducing waste and doll recycling.

3) Re-homing beloved childhood dolls and keep them circulating

Transforming a ton of broken dolls and pieces into dolls that are sought after by a collector, takes an enormous amount of time and funding. Save the Dolls is designed to be self-funded in order to service the mission as a whole. This means that we depend on donations of dolls that are in good condition and don't require repair or only require minimum repair. Those dolls then can be sold to create funding for all the dolls that are broken and need major work and reconstruction. Many ask if we are a charitable organization and want to know more about whether we profit from selling donated dolls. We are not a charitable organization, but the goal of our Save the Doll mission is not to make profit from the selling donated dolls, it's to provide the funding we need for doll recycling and rehabilitation. As there are always more dolls in bad shape coming in than dolls in good shape, there is a constant need for funding and we don't profit from the mission.

4) Supporting small businesses and artists within the doll community

It is always important for us to support and strengthen the doll artists and businesses within the doll community. The doll community is a niche market that is very small in terms of providers. We lost a lot of suppliers after Covid, and many long time doll hospitals have gone out of business as they were run by older generations who are now too old to continue that work. Newer generations have gotten used to just buying another one when a doll breaks, so we really need to educate the community more about sustainability and recycling. Some of our generated funding goes to using other artists and businesses who specialize in different size and types of dolls that our main business doesn't service. We don't make products for every doll in every era on the market, so we seek within the doll network to assist us in donation repairs and transformations and pay them for their work using the proceeds we collect from good condition doll sales. This keeps work flowing within our doll community.

Transportation of your Doll Collection to our Donation Center

Our facility is located in Yuba City, CA and it is currently the only location where we are processing donated dolls. At this time, we are not able to aid in the cost of transportation of dolls to our facility as it takes away from the funds needed to fix all the incoming dolls. We understand that those that are located far from us might not be able to afford the cost to get their dolls to us, especially if there are a lot of boxes or the collection is large. We know we won't be able to save all the dolls, but we will save as many as we can and will recommend the nearest doll hospital to you. Not all doll hospitals take in donated dolls, but we will do our best to assist you in finding a place to re-home your dolls within our network.

Joining our Mission

1. Purchase an "Adopt Me" Doll. Adopt Me dolls are dolls that have been donated and refurbished and funding goes directly into saving and rehabilitating more dolls.

2. Donate a doll or collection. Donating dolls helps us save dolls and raise funds for our mission.

3. Join our network. Contact us to join our mission and we can discuss how you can join our cause. It could be to assist us in repair of dolls, transformative art, acting as a donation location, offering services, etc. We work with individuals, artists, doll hospitals, doll clothing makers, crafters, estate planners, liquidation companies, charities, doll clubs, and collectors.