Helene's Butterfly Effect

How did The Butterfly Effect come to be the handmade arts and crafts celebration that it is today?

My name is Helene Avraham-Katz and I am the owner of this wonderful store. I was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. After finishing school, I went to live in Israel for 12 years, where I met my husband, Boaz, and where our three wonderful girls - Netta, Eden, and Yahav were born. My family and I then went to live in South Africa for six years, to be close to my parents, before coming to live here in Greensboro, in 2001. 

Whilst going through chemo for the second time, this idea grew from a caterpillar to a cocoon to an incredible butterfly and we are now spreading our wings and flying.

The Butterfly Effect got it's name because we see my mom, who passed away in 2006 from pancreatic cancer, as a yellow butterfly. My dad passed away in 2015 and this store was created in their memory.

In October 2016, I learned that I had a hereditary form of pancreatic cancer (I am BRCA2 positive) and for the past few years I have dealt with chemo twice, 28 days of radiation and chemo, and 3 major surgeries.

Right from the beginning, even after hearing all of the terrifying statistics from my doctors, my amazing family and I made the decision that we were not going to let this beat us and that I was not going to be a negative statistic. Together we dealt with the what we had to and remained strong and positive. 

Today, I am in remission with no sign of cancer!

I would not be here today if it were not for my unbelievable medical teams at both Wake Forest Baptist Health and UPenn Medical where I am participating in a test/study, my incredible husband and daughters, my 2 dogs, 3 grand dogs, my wonderful extended family and friends, and an amazing community of people - some of whom I have never met - who all together stepped up to help and support us in ways I never expected. I will always be eternally grateful to each and every one of you!

I ran my business "Created Just for You" from home since 2013 and I am proud to say that in spite of everything that I was going through over the past few years, with some help from my husband and youngest daughter, the business continued to grow and thrive. I loved working from home, but the business had taken over our house and it was time to find it a new home.

I also feel that there has to be a bigger reason that I am here. How did I get so blessed? How can I pay it forward? What can I do to help others?

And so The Butterfly Effect came into being!

The Butterfly Effect (including Created Just for You) is first and foremost a business, but it is more than that! Our motto is "Be the catalyst for change" and that is what we are doing. We donate regularly to different charities and we have a lot of future plans to give back in different ways.

We have almost 50 wonderful, talented local North Carolina artists and crafters displaying and selling their creations in our store and, hopefully, we are giving them the opportunity to grow along with us. 

We are looking forward to many special and happy years of watching this butterfly unfurl its wings and fly!