I was pulling into the parking lot at work the other day, and I had this crazy idea…

What if there was only one homeless person?

Now I know that sounds ridiculous, but I just thought, “If there was only ONE person who needed  a home, wouldn’t most of us feel inclined to help?” Doesn’t that seem like a no-brainer? If you knew that you could help the one person who needed it, wouldn’t you do it? I think almost everyone would, I really do. Because it seems manageable. If one person needed a home, we would ask around to see if anyone knew of a place he could stay. If only one person needed a job, we would surely be able to suggest five people that she could talk to who had open positions. If only one person was hungry, we would take turns bringing him meals until he could manage better on his own.  If there was only ONE person struggling in our society or our community, I really believe we would feel a civic responsibility to help. Helping just one person sounds easy.

So why is that when we are tasked with helping groups of people, we fall short? If you break it down, it looks like this: if every one of us who could help someone else, even in a small way, did just that, then as a whole we could make an enormous impact. I’m not claiming to be the first person to ever spout this idea. I know this is nothing new. People have been screaming this for years. Non-profits have been asking the masses to donate their time and resources since practically the beginning of time. But to most people, when they look at “helping those in need” it sounds like a huge task- a daunting responsibility – (because that’s typically how it’s presented to us to point out the magnitude of these issues, i.e. homelessness, hunger, poverty, etc.). We lose perspective when we look at it on only a large scale, and we fail to realize that our assistance usually DOES go toward helping one individual…and on that scale it feels much more personal – and much more doable.

For example, Clothes That Work is hosting an event in March called The Fairy Godmother Project that will allow girls in need of prom dresses to go in and try on dresses, hoping to find the perfect dress to make them feel like a prom night princess. During the weeks prior to the March 17th event, CTW and several area partners are collecting prom dresses from women (like me) who have them hanging in the back of the closet from years ago…Someone suggested I use my store as a drop zone for people to bring in their dresses, and I jumped at the chance to get involved. It’s such an easy way to make a difference, and hopefully people will step up and join in the effort by digging through their closets and bringing in their own prom treasures to help make the day of a young lady in need. Your one dress will go to help one lucky girl – see the impact? Getting involved in something bigger than yourself doesn’t take much – I’m simply putting out a bin and spreading the word – and if it makes a difference to even one person, it’s worth it.

There are countless ways one person can make a difference, you just have to pay attention. We are all important pieces of our world, and we all need to do our share. And one person might not sound like a lot, but if you take one and add another “one”, and another “one”, you end up with something huge. See where I’m going with this?

Here are a few suggestions I received from my friends on Facebook today when I challenged them to think of their favorite “easy” way to give back:

• Donate Blood every eight weeks
• Become a “Big” with Big Brothers Big Sisters
• St. Vincent de Paul (folding laundry or stocking the food pantry)
• St. Jude Children’s Medical Research
• Volunteer with A Kid Again (or give $5/month)
• If you’re a business owner, donate your own services, location, or silent auction items to charities who could use them
• Get your kids involved in the Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Again, I have to ask…if it was just one person who needed help, wouldn’t you jump at the chance?

Just once this week, I challenge each of you to put down the laptop, the iPad, the smart phone….and make something with your hands. And don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how to do that. Remember in elementary school how we had art class at least once a week? We’d make paintings, chalk rubbings, little clay pots, crepe paper turkeys, paper mache globes…you name it, we made stuff with our hands. And it didn’t seem weird then, did it? Nope.

But somewhere along the lines, we grew up and started paying less attention to creating things. We became more focused on who our friends were, what our weekend plans looked like, how to get into college, where to apply for jobs, how to make more money….in short, we put down the glue stick, hung up our smocks, and joined the rat race. And along the way, most of us forgot how much we enjoyed making stuff out of clay, or sniffing the markers that were supposed to smell like fruit (what was the blue one supposed to be, anyway? It just smelled like pure sugar…) We re-shifted our focus onto the necessary and the immediate, and lost sight of doing simple things that help us get in touch with the kid inside- the stuff that helps us maintain balance and equilibrium in our lives.

Since you might be one of those people who has forgotten the joy of creating art, let me refresh your memory. There is something calming and therapeutic about getting busier with your hands and less busy with your brain.

Ryan and I went to the K-12 Gallery last Saturday for art class, and after an initial adjustment period (which is to be expected whenever you try something new), we both settled into our projects and gave our brains a break for a hot second. He was working on print making (transferring paint from a plastic sheet onto a piece of paper), while I learned the ropes of stained glass art. I cut my thumb within the first five minutes, which slowed me down for a few minutes, but once I got used to the cutting tools, clamps and copper wire and just let my creative side take over, I enjoyed it so much I didn’t want to leave at the end of the two hour class.

There was actually a palpable shift in my attitude after I stopped thinking and turned off the reflex that was making me feel inadequate and underqualified for stained glass window-making. At first I was anxious. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was afraid to make a mistake. But not giving myself a choice in the matter, I reached into the buckets of glass, settled on a color palette, and just started cutting angles in the glass.

After about a half hour, I actually felt myself relax. I started making conversation with the people at my table, I made myself at home in the gallery and just kept repeating the process, seeing real results as the pieces of blue and green glass started to fit the frame the way they were supposed to. And at the end of two hours, despite it being a work-in-progress, I felt satisfied. And I know in two weeks when my window is finished, no matter how it turns out, I’m going to hang it up and feel pride every time I look at it. It’s not about the end result, it’s about how you feel during the process. It’s about letting go of what’s eating at you, relaxing your brain, and just letting your creative side take over.

Whether it’s creating a unique invitation for a bride out of layers of metallic and textured card stock and ribbon, painting with my friend Nathan, or making a stained glass window at K-12, I find so much enjoyment and balance in using my hands to create something from nothing. While I’ve spent today blogging about the experience in the hopes that it’ll reach some of you (and inspire you!) there is nothing like creating art to get you back to basics, whether it’s in your work, your home, or your life. Try it…you might be surprised at the results.

Simply put, this is one of our favorites.

From the first time I met the owner, Tom, at the National Stationery Show in 2006, we were sold on the quality and integrity of this company’s designs, finished products and unsurpassed customer service.

If you’re looking for beautiful card stock, unbelievable photo quality and gorgeous designs, Tag & Co. is the only designer to consider- they are absolutely flawless in their quality, and they will bend over backwards to create the perfect invitation or announcement for their customers. And Tom is a heck of a nice guy, to boot.

Having worked with Tag & Co. for over five years now, I knew I could count on them to come up with exactly what I was looking for last Fall when a loyal customer of ours (who had moved to Miami several years ago) called up and said, “Ok, Annie, I’m going to need stationery, birth announcements, and Christmas cards…I trust your judgment and I know you’ll come up with something amazing.” My first thought before I even hung up the phone was Tag & Co. In five years, I’ve never been disappointed in the quality of their stunning cards or their friendly willingness to help us create gorgeous announcements to fit any occasion. I sent them the photos for the birth announcements and holiday cards and asked Tom to come up with some options, and within a few days we had several of each to choose from.

I can’t stress enough how awesome these folks are to work with – they’re my first choice for my own correspondence, and I know you’ll be thrilled with them!

There’s been quite the hullabaloo lately surrounding the notion of “keeping it local” and supporting local businesses. Why all the fuss? Well, it’s like this: when small businesses support each other, it creates a sense of community. When there is a sense of community, people are more prone to endeavor to continue making that community the best it can possibly be. When the community thrives, the people who live and work there are productive members of society, and they continue to give back to their community…and the cycle of giving (and thriving) goes on and on and on.

Why else should we support our local businesses? Because those businesses were usually built from the ground up, with care and tenacity, sweat and tears- and since they are built with TLC, they honestly tend to care more about their customers who have helped make them so successful. Have you shopped at Dorothy Lane Market lately? DLM started as a fruit stand in 1948 – yes, that’s right, a fruit stand. And they still support local growers today with their “Honestly Local” policy. They also take care of their customers by offering some of the best service you’ll find anywhere, hands down. And because of their outstanding quality foods, unsurpassed customer service, and local flavor, they’ve built a loyal customer base of tens of thousands of Daytonians.

I’ve had several experiences lately with non-local vendors who have made mistakes on orders and haven’t been willing to work with us to make it right for our clients. We are just a faceless voice on the end of the phone or the unknown person on the other side of an email- and there was little motivation on their part to make it right. They don’t know us; they don’t know our clients- simply put, they’re not invested in us, our clients or our success. If we don’t place another order with them, someone else will, in some other city, in some other state, and these vendors will move right along down the “fill as many orders as quickly as we can” path without looking back.

I don’t want to sound like I’m whining – I’m not. I’m simply pointing out that when I compare large faceless companies to some of the amazing local vendors and artists I’ve worked with here in Dayton – there’s just no comparison at all.

For example, take Ashley Mauro, a local photographer who stopped by my store about a year ago to introduce herself. She came smiling through the door saying, “I’ve been referring people to you and decided I wanted to get to know who I was sending people to…” We had a long chat and afterward I knew I could recommend her work (and her personality) with 100% confidence that my customers would be thrilled with their choice. And if her amazing photography doesn’t speak for itself, her friendly and sweet nature would put even the most stubborn clients at ease. She even took the time to send me a thoughtful little gift of tea and teacups later that week after we’d chatted about our Starbucks addictions.

Then there’s Jaffe jewelers, a Dayton favorite for over 40 years. I had a bride tell me recently how impressed she was with her jeweler for really listening and carefully walking them through the process of choosing a ring that was perfect for them. After meeting with Jaffe, she and her fiance went out to dinner with family; the jeweler they had worked with earlier that day remembered where they had said they were dining and he had a bottle of wine sent to their table. Because he took the time to listen, and made an extra effort to make his clients feel special, he now has a customer for life.

When we continuously refer clients to other service providers we trust, the cycle of support continues…the local businesses thrive, the customers tell their friends about their experiences, and everybody wins.

What’s the bottom line? People like to shop local because they feel taken care of- they can put a face and a voice with a brand. My customers know me. They know what to expect when they come into the shop. And they know that if their New Year’s cards that UPS claims were delivered on December 23rd didn’t actually arrive, that I’m going to spend December 26th re-creating them from scratch and find a way to get them to my customer before the 31st. No matter what. I take care of my people because they take care of me. I believe in building relationships with the people I serve because they are the ones who support us and make it possible to open our doors every day. It’s about sharing the love throughout our network of clients and other local businesses so we can all continue to pay it forward and make our community grow and thrive.