About Mona
What began 16 years ago as a volunteering effort at a private, non-profit animal sanctuary in Los Angeles, turned into a personal, heartfelt project that took me on an eight year creative endeavor to develop my Mona Bag.
I was first inspired to create a product that would contribute to lessening the amount of plastic bags entering our landfills, ecosystems, oceans and being ingested by wildlife. As I began creating the first Mona Bag it simply made sense that a percentage of proceeds from each bag go to help support the animal sanctuary known as The Wildlife Waystation which survives only on private donations, and receives no government funding.
I worked independently trying to find a manufacturer who could fulfill my vision of an attractive, practical, multi-use, wallet sized design that could store multiple bags and act as a grocery tote when fully opened. I wanted a product that could handily fit in a purse or backpack instead of being stored, out of reach, in your back seat or trunk until needed. It had to be easy to open, unfold, then fold back together for ease of use. The result is my Mona Bag which maximizes a shoppers' ability to carry their purchases without utilizing store bags every time they shop. This ultimately prevents more non-biodegradable plastic bags from entering nature and you'll save on fees to buy the store's plastic bags.
When fully opened, the Mona Bag acts as a hot/cold tote and has a convenient, zippered pocket for debit/credit cards, driver's license, keys or cell phone. If you need extra bags you will find three more in a separate pocket that is safely tucked behind the zippered pocket preventing them from falling out as you shop. One of my favorite assets of the Mona Bag is the leopard print which represents "Mia", one of our many stunning exotic animals who call the Wildlife Waystation "their forever home". I have future plans to incorporate a variety of "star" animal prints that match more of our sanctuary residents. (See Product Description for details).
Thank you for your interest in my Mona Bag and please consider buying one for yourself or a gift for your family members, friends or co-workers. It's a marvelous design and 20% of the proceeds from each bag sold will be your contribution to helping the environment and the animals.
Respectfully,
Mona
(Mindful Of Nature and Animals)
Mission Statement
One of my passions in life is doing my part to help the environment or, at the very least, not add additional waste wherever possible. I try to recycle materials from within my home and throughout my day, particularly plastics. As most of us have seen, tons of trash end up in our ecosystems and oceans causing slow, torturous deaths to an abundance of animals that ingest these improperly discarded items or get trapped in them. I wanted to develop a way to prevent more non-biodegradable bags from entering our natural resources and habitats. Hence......my Mona Bag.
My volunteer work at the Los Angeles based Wildlife Waystation Animal Sanctuary educated me about the many endangered animals needing our help. We are supposed to be the good stewards over our animal friends but many still suffer needlessly. As I was in the middle of creating the Mona Bag I realized that if I could create a product that I envisioned to help Mother Earth, it could also help the animals I've come to love at the Wildlife Waystation since they are privately funded through donations only. (wildlifewaystation.org) Many of their animals were left motherless, rescued from side-shows, medical research or movie industry retirees.
Each animal has a story that required their needing help. So, I believe I have met my personal goal of creating a wonderful product that helps to eliminate extra plastic bags from being trashed and I'm donating 20% of the proceeds from each bag sold to help the high costs of running the Wildlife Waystation. Many of the exotic animals housed there live in clean compounds and love their "enrichment" activities and treats like "blood popsicles!" There is a veterinary staff on hand to keep the animals healthy and happy and I have enjoyed each and every one of my last 16 years as a volunteer there. I now want to give back.
I hope you will purchase a Mona Bag today for someone special, or as a treat to yourself. It will go to help our planet and our most needy animals.
Thank You,
Mona