Citizen Brand

Urban Sprouts

Urban Sprouts is a great program in San Francisco that should be emulated everywhere.  This is from their website:

"Urban Sprouts is a school garden program that serves low-income youth from San Francisco’s under-served neighborhoods. We teach youth to grow, harvest, prepare and eat vegetables from the school garden, in order to help youth become more engaged in school, eat better and exercise more, and connect with the environment and each other."

This is a great opportunity for any company involved in the food industry.  What could be better than children learning to appreciate and understand where our food comes from and learning to prepare food in a healthy and nutritious manner.

There is more information available on the Urban Sprouts blog.  Big thanks to Britt for bringing this to our attention.

Turning Lemons into Lemonade

There was a great reminder this past weekend that the best cause branding programs do not have to be complicated. 

By now you have likely heard about Alex's Lemonade Stand.  Alexandra "Alex" Scott is no longer with us on this earth, but she left us a lot to think about in the eight years of her life.  Before she turned one, she was diagnosed with an aggressive childhood cancer.  When she turned four in the year 2000, she decided she would set up a lemonade stand and help "her doctors" find a cure.

She died four years later, but her cause lives on and grows each and every year.  It's an incredible legacy and she has taught us all invaluable lessons about how to make a difference in the world....one cup of lemonade at a time.

In the past six years, children all over have kept Alex's dream alive by hosting thousands of lemonade stands raising money to help find a cure for children's cancer.  It's a perfect example of a citizen brand.  And it absolutely demonstrates that the best idea is a simple one.

The best chair ever made

It may be the perfect combination of form and function ever produced - the Eames Chair.

It celebrates 50 years of exuding both comfort and style.  The Chicago Tribune tells the story.

 

I am the proud owner of an Eames Chair and the truth is that I love to both sit in it and look at it. 

If only more products were produced with the care and insight that produced the amazing Eames Chair.  Happy 50th birthday!

Need a Top 10 List?

Just for fun, here is a great site that will give you plenty of fodder for your next cocktail party or even a brainstorm.  tenmojo.com is definitely worth a look if you have never visited it.

You can find the usual list of top ten films and top ten songs but what about a list of the top ten business start-ups?

Or the ten best hotels to visit in 2006?

What about the ten most famous noses in history?

You can check out the ten best beers; or the ten biggest beer consuming countries; how about the top ten guitar air riffs; or, the top ten blues guitarists of all time.

Of course you can always check out the more famous top ten list from David Letterman too.

Enjoy.

A Kansas Wedding

It was a very special wedding.  My oldest son, Brady, and his fiancee, Alicia exchanged vows on a breezy, but dry day, in the Kansas countryside on Saturday, May 27.  This was truly their wedding.  They planned every detail and worked hard, along with a lot of help from friends and family along the way, to make sure the day was perfect.  And it was.

We began with a dinner party Friday night for the wedding party and immediate family of the bride and groom.  My wife, Char, is a party planner extraordinaire and everyone had a great time.  It was a nice and mellow beginning to the weekend and gave everyone a chance to catch their breath after months of planning and work in anticipation of the big day.

The wedding and reception was held on 160 acres of land on the northeastern edge of the Kansas Flint Hills in Shawnee County.  It was Alicia's family home.  Her mother, Marcia and father, Bruce, bought the land in 1976 and Alicia and her brother and sisters all were raised there.  Alicia's father passed away five years ago and this wedding took on special meaning for Marcia, Alicia and the whole family.

It is an understatement for me to say what it meant to me and my family as well.  As I have discussed here before, I am blessed with two wonderful sons.  Watching Brady grow up, graduate from KU, spend two years in the Peace Corps in Guyana and now be married has given me nothing short of pure joy.  To me, Saturday's ceremony and party were like a celebration of these first 27 years of his life.

My youngest son, Blake, was Brady's best man.  He gave a wonderful toast Saturday night that was so insightful into the relationship between my two sons.  It is close and deep and for that I am eternally grateful.  He talked about how Brady and Alicia are showing all of us what a real loving relationship can look like.  And he's right.

It's difficult to explain how special the ceremony was in writing, but there was one element that was particularly touching.  It is called hanfasting.  A long piece of ornamental cloth was placed over Alicia's and Brady's clasped hands.  Then each parent was called up to tie a knot in the cloth and say a few personal words to the bride and groom.  It was a great way to involve all the parents and gave us a moment to share with them.  Then before they said their vows to each other, Alicia and Brady went into the crowd and visited briefly with each of their family members.

They read their personally written vows to each other, both making it through despite the high emotions of the moment.  Then their good friend, Adam Holm, who presided over the wedding, pronounced them officially married and the celebration could begin.  There were surprises yet to come.  For example, instead of a guest book, they have a picture guest book.  A digital camera was set up on a side porch with a red backdrop and a box full of props.  All of us took turns grabbing a prop and having a fun picture taken that becomes the official guest book for the wedding.

Instead of a single wedding cake, they asked several people to bake their favorite cakes or cupcakes and bring them.  And as a tribute to Alicia's father, Bruce, Brady and a good friend put together a video montage set to music.  It was made of pictures of Brady and Alicia with their parents and family and friends throughout their lives.  And then the dancing began and went on into the night as the stars came out overhead and welcomed Brady and Alicia to a new part of their life.

They actually have one more ceremony coming up.  They leave for their honeymoon in early June with a stop in the Caribbean and then on to Guyana and Brady's former Peace Corps post on Leguan Island.  His friends there are probably getting very excited for his return and are planning a beautiful Hindu wedding ceremony for he and Alicia.

There have been so many emotions running through my mind these past few days.  But on Sunday, I told Char that I had an overpowering sense of serenity knowing that I now had a child that was married.  I can't explain it but I know I felt it.  I think it may be because I can see how truly happy they are together and how much they respect and love each other.  And that is all that matters.

Changemakers

As the big wedding day approaches for my oldest son, I have to write quickly tonight.  But I did just find a site that is worth your time to peruse over the next few days.

It's called Changemakers.  Take a look and see how they live up to the name.

Are you a changemaker?

A Wedding

I have been on the road this week and have neglected Citizen Brand for a few days.  I was glad to see people were still checking in each day even though there wasn't anything new.  I'm back at least for a day or two, but this weekend is a big one, so I may be absent again over the holiday.

You see, my oldest son, Brady, is getting married on Saturday, May 27th.  He is 27 and so is his fiancee, Alicia.  27 will definitely be a lucky number for them.  (Just to add to the 27 hysteria, when Brady was born, I worked for a television station - Channel 27 of course.)

Lucky numbers aside, it is going to be a wonderful weekend.  The wedding will be outside in the Kansas countryside at the home where Alicia was raised.  The weather is looking cooperative right now.  But a tent stands ready for the reception and will be put to use if a late spring storm decided to try to intrude on the festivities.

Their story is a good one.  Brady and Alicia have known each other for well more than a decade now.  They were friends and school mates all the way through high school and college and then just three months before they both were graduating from the University of Kansas, Cupid struck.  They realized what they had been looking for in a relationship was right in front of them all the time.

We all love Alicia and I can say that her family feels the same about Brady.  Both are the oldest children in their respective families and all the siblings will be involved in the wedding.  My youngest son, Blake, will be Brady's best man which makes the whole weekend even more special to me.

I will try to have a picture or two next week and share a little more with you about our special weekend. 

Big Food Drive

This is what I call a food drive!

The National Association of Letter Carriers will collect non-perishable food items while making their rounds delivering our mail on Saturday.  Kudos to the NALC and to The Campbell Soup Company for being their partner in this effort to help stockpile community food banks across America.

This is a great example of two organizations teaming up to create a program that is a natural fit for both of their businesses.

Children and Books go together

Imagine your childhood without books.  Too many children among us don't have to imagine.  And that is where First Book comes in.

I have had the opportunity to become more familiar with this great organization this week.  I had long heard about it and the work they do to make sure that children from low income families have the same access to new books that my kids had when they grew up.

First Book has had incredible results.  Consider this excerpt from their website:

Noted pollster Louis Harris has conducted an independent study to determine the effectiveness of the First Book model. This study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Education, surveyed 2,564 individuals over a 14-month period. The results of this study are compelling:

• First Book works for children. More than half of the children -- 55% -- reported having an increased interest in reading. Additionally, the number of young people demonstrating a "high interest in reading" nearly tripled (increasing from 23% to 61%) after receiving books from First Book.
  
  
• First Book works for local programs. 78% of the mentors, administrators and professionals running community-based tutoring and mentoring programs estimated that the "impact of First Book books on a child's desire to read" was "very important."
  
  
• First Book works for the community. The members of the First Book Local Advisory Boards surveyed were also overwhelmingly supportive of our efforts in their communities. 98% of them state that their community was "better off" because of First Book's work.

 There are so many ways to get involved with First Book.  If you know of companies that need a good cause, this is certainly one worth consideration.  Or if you just want to buy some new books yourself, the folks at First Book can help you find a good home for them.

Cats update

The first precincts are reporting and my cats and I are in the top five vote getters in the Fuzzyfotokc photo contest raising money for two great causes - the Kansas City Free Health Clinic and No More Homeless Pets.

Tell your friends and your family and total strangers to go to Fuzzyfotokc.com and cast your vote for me and my cats!

I promise I will write about other things or I could do like some public radio stations and offer to quit writing if you vote enough to put me in first place.

Okay, I will rest for now.