Promotional Professionals Paid It Forward

The first annual Promotional Professionals Pay It Forward Day (PromoProsPIFDay) commenced on Nov 6, and promotional professionals throughout the industry gave their time and talents to benefit those in need. Reports are just starting to come in detailing how individuals decided to participate.

For example, Sadie Schlief, director, promotional products, for Glenwood, Minnesota-based American Solutions For Business, spent both Nov. 6 and Nov. 7 volunteering for the Wadena Otter Tail Long Term Recovery Project (WOTLTRP). The organization benefits the city of Wadena, Minnesota, which was devastated by tornadoes on June 17. The area is still in a state of disaster due to insurance delays, lack of supplies and limited financial resources. WOTLTRP has raised $14,000 to date but estimates at least $1 million is required to make necessary repairs.

Schlief spent the first morning picking up debris on Wadena’s worst hit street. “It was not uncommon to pick up personal items, along with sections of roofs and sheets of mangled tin,” she said. “And at one point, we were making piles of broken 2 by 4s. They are being reused by people in the community who cannot afford to purchase new ones.”

Next, Schlief and other volunteers put up insulation, Tyvek and siding on an elderly woman’s home. “I left Wadena with mixed emotions,” Schlief said. “I was proud of the work we had done but heartbroken for the families and people in limbo since the storm.”

Carla Rakestraw, CAS, 
president of 
Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada-based 
Ultimate Promotions, Inc. built an online merchandise UP e-Store for her local animal shelter, the Grande Prairie & District SPCA. The website, http://www.gpspca.com/shop, will launch later this month.

“There is a growing number of pets needing a new home before the six months of snowy winter arrives,” she said. “I knew this was the needed service I could offer to Pay It Forward without having to explain to my husband about the SUV full of fuzzy, cuddly cats and dogs that need a new home.”