My name is Aiden Baruch, and I am reaching out to you as the Director of Operations at Beads of Courage. I am honored to partner with each of your teams and look forward to working closely with you to ensure your program ordering is seamless, reliable, and well-supported moving forward.
First, THANK YOU for your commitment to giving beads as meaningful symbols of support and human caring at the bedside. Together, we help children and teens coping with serious illness record, tell, and own their stories of courage.
Operational Updates & Inventory Progress
Behind the scenes, our team has been working diligently to stabilize our bead inventory, improve fulfillment, and strengthen our operational foundation. We understand how important it is for children to receive their beads without delay, and we are making great progress toward replenishing our full bead inventory.
To support our transition into the next phase of the Beads of Courage Cooperative Group, we have outlined these operational updates and guidelines.
Introducing Prepaid Bead Bucks
We are transitioning to a new ordering process using Bead Bucks.
Rather than receiving an invoice after placing an order, your program will maintain a prepaid Bead Bucks balance. When you place orders for beads and program supplies in our new flagship store, your order total will simply deduct from your active Bead Bucks balance. This new process will simplify ordering, accelerate fulfillment, and ensure better inventory management across all member hospitals.
Verify your program contacts and shipping addresses.
Assign or confirm your official Member Hospital Number.
Roll over any existing unspent Bead Bucks credit balance from our previous system into your new account (bead bucks don't expire).
What Happens Next?
Form Submission: Once you submit the form, our operations queue receives your updated details.
Balance & Account Verification: Joleen Appelbaum from our Finance team will review your account history, calculate any rollover credit balance from our old system, and confirm any recommended initial funding if needed. She will reach out to you to finalize your Bead Bucks account.
Store Activation: After Bead Bucks are set up with finance, I will activate your new store account, apply your starting Bead Bucks balance, and email you direct login instructions so you can begin ordering.
Thank you for your leadership, patience, and continued partnership in caring.