Four Yelm community members will spend their April Fool’s Day voluntarily getting new ink while blindfolded at Dancing Needles Tattoo.
But their reason for doing so is no joke.
Line Roy, Kayla Walker, Tad Stillwell and Kasey Cartledge have teamed up with the Yelm tattoo shop, owned by Hannah and Adrian Crain, for a spring fundraiser campaign to give back to four nonprofit organizations.
Each volunteer chose one nonprofit to raise money for. Roy chose South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity, Walker is raising money for Youth Athletics Recreation Development (YARD), Stillwell picked Raise for Rowyn, and Cartledge will support One Net Yelm.
The fundraiser allows anyone on Facebook to submit a design idea for a tattoo that each volunteer should unknowingly receive, with a size limit of 4 inches by 4 inches. After submissions conclude on Friday, March 14, Dancing Needles will begin the voting round the following day, where community members can vote the top three designs into the final selection round for each tattoo recipient. Each vote requires a $1 donation that will go to that participant’s elected charity. This round will run from March 15 through March 28.
The third round involves an auction for a committee panel. Dancing Needles will auction off three spots for each person’s tattoo selection committee for a total of 12 committee members. Panel members will choose the final design from the top three voted designs by the community that were submitted for their chosen participant. The committees will convene on April 1 at Dancing Needles to record their decision in the morning, and participants will arrive to receive their tattoos in the afternoon. The four volunteers will learn their fate only after the tattoo has been completed.
Dancing Needles aims to put on a fundraiser every quarter to give back to the Yelm community, and the idea for a blindfolded tattoo event has long been one the Crains wanted to pursue.
“There’s an old adage that birds of a feather flock together. What I’ve learned about Yelm is that there’s groups of people that put themselves in a position to help the community,” Adrian Crain said. “Our goal whenever we do these events is to bring folks together to learn about local resources, to raise funds for these organizations, and enjoy this beautiful thing we call tattoo.”
Roy, the City of Yelm’s communications and parks and recreation coordinator, spoke to Hannah Crain about this idea approximately a year ago and told her to call if it ever came to fruition. When Crain recently called, Roy said she only thought about it for 30 seconds before agreeing to participate.
“I will put my money where my mouth is when it comes to this community. I can’t sit on the sidelines and yell about how cool our community is and how cool our people are and then have somebody else do it,” she said.
Roy chose South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity as she will be a part of a Women Build Team that will be building a house in Tumwater in May.
Walker decided to support YARD as the business recently acquired nonprofit status and owners Dustin and Michelle Stephan are friends of hers.
“When Dancing Needles presented this to me, I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to finally announce to everybody that they’ve become a nonprofit. I love everything they do,” Walker said. “I’m a little nervous, but so far, all of the submissions have been really cute. I thought it was a really creative idea for a fundraiser. Yelm wouldn’t be what it is without people like Adrian and Hannah.”
Cartledge picked One Net Yelm as her charity of choice as the organization supports many nonprofits in Yelm.
“One Net encompasses many diverse charities. Some of this money that I raise will go to kids, some will go to the senior center, and it all stays within the community of Yelm,” she said. “Adrian said I looked like someone who wouldn’t be afraid of a blind tattoo, and I don’t back down from any challenges, so of course I would get a blind tattoo.”
To learn more about the fundraiser, visit Dancing Needles Tattoo on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dancingneedlestatttoo.
