This story begins with a New York hotel room key. Actress and singer/songwriter, Caitlin Crosby, started wearing the hotel key as a necklace while on tour & had the idea to start engraving old, used keys with inspirational words. Realizing that, in a way, we are all like these keys – unique, flawed, scarred & sometimes discarded by others – she wanted these keys to have their purpose renewed over & over again.
Caitlin always knew she wanted a charitable dimension to The Giving Keys & within a few months she found the missing link. On a rainy day walking on Hollywood Boulevard, Caitlin saw a couple named Rob & Cera sitting under an umbrella holding a sign that read Ugly, Broke, & Hungry. Caitlin invited them to dinner, where she serendipitously discovered that Cera made jewelry. This was a magical a-ha moment where Caitlin asked them to be her business partners. Rob & Cera joined the team & started making "giving keys" the very next day.
Step by step, Rob & Cera saved enough money for a hotel room, then an apartment & then a home to call their own! Today, they are living in San Diego where Rob works for the San Diego Zoo & Cera is also employed.
This was the start of the company's passion to help those who have been affected by homelessness.
The Giving Keys employ folks working their way out of homelessness, use recycled keys, imprint them with inspiring words.
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