When former military spouse Gaby Juergens and owner of the popular military-inspired Homefront Girl brand has an idea, she sees it through -- especially when it helps support a charity on which many military families rely.
And that's why she needs your help.
In May of last year Homefront Girl helped released an adorable Homefront Girl teddy bear line with a portion of proceeds supporting Operation Homefront. But getting the word out about new products is tough, even for a company as well known in the military as Homefront Girl. And with more than six months of trying behind her, Juergens is hoping to spread the word about the bears so that they can meet their goal for Operation Homefront.
What Juergens didn't expect, however, was getting diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. As a result she hasn't been able to give the teddy bear line her complete attention -- and needs your help to give it a little extra push.
"We always try to pay it forward in every way we can," she said. "The problem with this is that I had no expectation that I'd come down with cancer right before the introduction. I'm trying to do anything I can on my end."
Juergens started Homefront Girl shortly after her husband's 20 year Army career ended in retirement. The couple moved to Wisconsin where he started a civilian job. But instead of the welcoming community of nomads she was used to finding in the military, she found herself settled in a small town with not much to do.
"I went from an Army wife career with no retirement plan to asking 'what do I do with the rest of my life?'" she said. "I just started to develop the collection ... it was just to keep me from eating all the cheese in Wisconsin."
A company suggested she turn her design ideas into a brand, and Homefront Girl was born. She now licenses her designs to various companies which then produce products under her brand. Her items are sold online at a variety of stores and even carried by AAFES. You can also find the Homefront Girl teddy bear items there.
"The market needs to know that there's a large market of military families out there and they like to see items that speak to their way of life," she said. "We do have taste, we do have money and we do like nice things."
