January 2, 2023


To our donors, volunteers, supporters, doll artists, and doll recipients,


We started MSTERIO.org at the beginning of 2011 with the goal of bringing the world of children together using a small doll we could all share in creating. To date, we have connected over 40,000 children around the globe!


Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed all aspects of our non-profit activities: donors focused elsewhere, social-distancing meant no volunteers to sew dolls together, events for supporters could not be held, and finally, sanitary conditions meant no trust in a doll that’s shared. That put us in the deep freezer for almost 3 years.


For the past few months, we have talked to a number of health experts about the prospects for restarting volunteer sessions and supporter events this year and beyond. While there are some “green shoots”, it’s likely to be several more years before we can resume what we have been doing. At that point, we’d be starting over from square one. After discussing this with our board, we agreed that we can’t stay in limbo any longer, and are working to close down the organization.


It is very sad to say goodbye, but we have been so fortunate for our years of success. We are grateful to everyone for believing in us, and thank you for your support.


MSTERIO.jp in Japan, the summer camp and other events, are unaffected and continue to operate as normal.

 

Yours truly,

 

Nozomi Terao

Founder and Director

MSTERIO, Inc.

https://msterio.org