Add announcement of SoaS USBs for sale (#655)

Co-authored-by: Devin Ulibarri <devin@devinulibarri.com>

_posts/2025-01-21-SoaS-USB-announcement.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "Get and gift Sugar by purchasing Sugar on a Stick USBs"
+author: "Sugar Labs Outreach Team and Marketing Team"
+date: 2025-01-21
+categories: community
+---
+
+A few times in recent months, we received questions from folks about
+how to buy Sugar. Until now, the only response we had was that we
+didn't offer them for sale, but that you could [create your own by
+following our instructions][1]. If you wanted to [run Sugar on a
+Stick][2], you had to flash a USB drive yourself before using it.
+
+Of course, flashing a USB can be a great educational experience, and
+this will remain an option. However, what we heard from people asking
+this question was that they wanted a few things that they couldn't get
+from flashing a USB themselves. One is that they wanted the
+convenience—and added assurance–of purchasing a USB from a reputable
+vendor. Another is that some people were expecting something branded
+with the Sugar Labs logo. For some, it may be the ability to gift a
+USB for a friend or teacher. And, for the majority who reached out to
+us, it seemed that they wanted a way to pay us for the software, and,
+in so doing, help sustain our work for years to come.
+
+[1]: https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick/Installation
+[2]: https://www.sugarlabs.org/booting-soas/
+
+Well, we're excited to share the news that you are *now able to
+purchase a Sugar Labs-branded USB with Sugar on a Stick
+pre-installed!*
+
+<figure><img src="{{ site.baseurl
+}}/assets/post-assets/sugarlabs_soas_usb-two.jpg?w=960&amp;fit=max"
+alt="Two USB drives on a laptop. The Sugar Labs logo is prominent, and
+the drives are shiny."  draggable="false"
+width="100%"><figcaption>Samples of two USBs with Sugar on a Stick
+pre-installed. All profits from purchases will go to Sugar Labs to
+help develop current and future learning
+projects.</figcaption></figure>
+
+We partnered up with USB Memory Direct for this particular
+offering. USB Memory Direct (UMD) has a history of supporting
+[free/libre/open source projects such as ours][3]. They will also be
+handling inventory and shipping & handling, which means that we at
+Sugar Labs can keep focusing on what we do best: create learning
+software for education! Plus, UMD will give all profits from sales to
+Sugar Labs, which we will use to further our mission in
+Constructionist education.
+
+[3]: https://www.sugarlabs.org/about-us/
+
+Now that we have both clothing merchandise and SoaS USBs for purchase,
+we created a new [product page][4]. The direct link to the Sugar on a
+Stick (SoaS) product page is
+<https://www.usbmemorydirect.com/store/novelty/sugarlabs/> and the
+direct link for clothing merchandise is
+<https://www.bonfire.com/store/sugar-labs-merch/>. Detailed product
+information and specifications are on the respective landing pages.
+
+[4]: https://www.sugarlabs.org/product/
+
+If you purchase a USB or clothing merchandise, please let us know
+about it. You can either [contact us][5] directly, or you can create a
+post on social media with the hashtag [#SugarLabs][6] for us to
+find. And, if you create a video of your experience on YouTube, let us
+know and we can add it to [our Sugar on a Stick playlist][7]. We love
+hearing from you!
+
+[5]: https://www.sugarlabs.org/contact-us/
+[6]: https://mastodon.social/tags/sugarlabs
+[7]: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyTz5XRZyi-xuPdS7kReqP5Nu5TAlTu4f