One of the things that give us great satisfaction over here at Boxcar Press is doing pro bono letterpress printing for causes that we believe in. Are there other letterpress shops doing the same sort of thing – donating their printing skills to help individuals/nonprofits/the world? If you’re a letterpress shop who does pro bono work, drop us an email or leave a comment to this post and we’d love to feature you on a future blog post.

This is our latest pro bono job for the Nest, a cool nonprofit who gives micro-credit loans to women artists in developing countries. They’re funded in part by products sold on their web site (some letterpress products there too!). We donated the printing of a Valentine’s day card for them to send out to potential donors and a donation card. The interior of the card reads, “The life I touch for good will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.” (Frederick Buechner).

The Nest sent over these sweet mugs for everyone in our print shop as a way of saying thanks. In addition to being the most cheerful red, these mugs have also proven a favorite of the Boxcar Toddler, who refuses to use sippy cups, but prefers a sophisticated travel mug instead.

(Also note, if you have a line of letterpress cards, try selling your work on the Nest! They have gotten great publicity – including a mention by Oprah!. It’s kind of like etsy, though you donate a % of your sale to Nest. The designer application is here.)