Jax is Home at Last!

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Just over 2 months ago, on Easter Sunday, 2014, a Home at Last Dog Rescue volunteer went to one of the most overcrowded shelters in Philadelphia and pulled a dog that had been brought in as a stray. He was covered in dirt and bugs, had a double ear infection that required surgical cleaning, was emaciated, and was just in all around bad shape. He was also scheduled to be euthanized that day. Despite his really rough road, he was wagging his tail at her from his kennel. She pulled him from the shelter and brought him to a foster home. That dog was Jax.

After a whirlwind week of vet appointments and multiple foster homes, Jax came to live with Jennifer Smith and family. He loves everyone (dogs, kids, cats – you name it). And, he wakes up every morning with such joy and delight at the prospect of facing another day that he helps us put a smile on our faces every morning. Jax is, as we say at Corporate Visions, “all in”.

jax-lunch

Jennifer’s family is so grateful that they get to share their lives with this lovely guy, that when she received the $100 challenge, she knew immediately who she wanted to give it to. Jax and Jennifer drove down to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania to a “Home at Last” adoption event and gave them the $100 as a way to say thanks for saving his life and in hopes that they can save many more dogs like Jax. [By Jennifer Smith]

Plumstead Baseball Receives a Generous Donation

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Eric Nitschke’s 13-year-old son, Luke, [photo above] plays for their local youth baseball organization—Plumstead Baseball. Eric has coached this team for many years—and actively helped with the organization’s website and publicity.

He always believed that baseball is a valuable youth activity—not just for the on-field skills—but also for developing a sense of cooperation, teamwork, leadership, and to help set healthy expectations for competition and conflict resolution.

Each year, the organization receives requests for help from less-fortunate families who cannot afford to play baseball. This is not an expensive league, but the fees (which are needed for field maintenance and safety equipment), combined with the personal costs of gear and transportation, can be prohibitive for some families, which often prevents their sons from playing.

Plumstead Baseball has set up a financial aid fund to help these families and ensure all players have access to youth baseball. Local businesses and individuals can also contribute to the fund—either as part of a player’s registration, or as a separate contribution. Financial assistance is managed and distributed by organization’s board.

Eric decided to offer his “$100 challenge” to the Plumstead Baseball financial aid fund to help ensure their community’s youth have access to the great American pastime. (Eric and son are also looking into creating an “equipment exchange” to collect gently-used equipment from players and families, and distribute it to players in need, or conduct a spring equipment sale to support the financial aid fund.)

“Thank you for the opportunity to continue to give back to my community!” [By Eric Nitschke]

Random Acts of Kindness Happens in Doylestown

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Kate Myers, Creative Director at Corporate Visions, thought the $100 Challenge was such a great idea that she decided to get her entire family involved. She talked with her 6 year old daughter about ideas for what they could do and finally decided to carry out their idea at a local farmers’ market.

One Friday afternoon, she, her daughter and 4 year old son, assembled envelopes with a $5 bill, a lollipop and a note that said:

“I hope you like your treats. I was just trying to do something nice for a stranger. If you liked this, please try to think of something you could do nice for a stranger someday to make their day!”

Later that evening, Kate’s husband, the kids and she went for their weekly shopping. While there, the kids handed out the envelopes to random people, mostly chosen by their son. Whereas, their daughter was a little nervous to approach a stranger, but their son was happy to walk up, say, “Excuse me”, to get their attention, and hand them the envelope. As he did, Kate let them know that they were taking some time to pay it forward and do a “random act of kindness”.

They were met with a variety of reactions, mostly disbelief and then gratitude. They received happy hugs from many of the receivers and had an offer to do a free family portrait from someone who happened to be a professional photographer. They were even approached by someone else to give them the very same envelope because someone had passed it on to him and he was continuing to pay it forward. They sent the man on his way to share the kindness with someone new.

It was definitely a unique and rewarding experience for all.

[By Kate Myers]

Teaching the Young the Value of Giving Back…

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Many thanks from Lisa Campbell to Corporate Visions for providing the opportunity to participate in the $100 Challenge.

When Lisa heard about the challenge, she knew she wanted to do something with her 10-year-old son to reinforce the value of giving back.

Lisa decided to give the $100 to Chubby’s Ice Cream, a family-owned ice cream shop in Plumsteadville, PA, which is part of the Doylestown community. She does not know the owner personally, but is aware that he is a very generous man and donates ice cream to countless organizations in their community.

It was quiet when they arrived, and the girls working in the shop were stunned and very grateful when they were handed a $100 bill and asked them to put it towards any forthcoming orders. Lisa did not have a chance to see any customers after us, the best part was when her son asked, “So who are we going to give the next $100 to?” That is priceless! [By Lisa Campbell]

The Reading Challenge in Doylestown

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Jim Jordan’s local school district in Doylestown, Pennsylvania asks all kids in middle school and up to choose and read at least one book from a summer reading list that the school provides. The Doylestown Bookstore, an independent book seller here in downtown Doylestown prominently displays all the books on the list on tables in their store. Jim broke a $100 bill into 10 x $10 bills and slipped the bills somewhere near the back of randomly selected books on these tables. On each bill was attached a sticky note with a message, such as:

• See – your teachers were right. Reading is rewarding.
• You never know what kind of surprises you’ll find in the pages of a book. #nonfiction
• Congratulations! Read on young blood.
• You’re almost to the best part. Keep reading!
• The value of reading cannot be overestimated
• Bet you never found one of these in a book you got from Amazon. Keep reading!

Jim’s goal was to simultaneously reward kids for reading and encourage them to keep doing so, as well as to support my local, independent bookstore.

Jim had fun and he writes, “…And oddly enough, a slightly nerve-wrackin experience”. Great idea!

[By Jim Jordan]

Synchronicity, Caring and Sharing…

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Synchronicity. It shows up in my life on a routine basis so I’m never surprised, but always grateful, when it shows up in a big way, which is what occurred this week when Joe gave us the opportunity to experience the flow of abundance.

It started on Tuesday morning’s run with my girlfriends. Like every other morning run, we chat about and “process” life’s daily wins and challenges. On this morning, the topic of conversation was all about the acquisition of Launch International. As I was sharing my excitement and angst with my closest friends, I mentioned the $100 challenge and we talked about ideas. That evening, I received a text from one of those friends with the below message:

Christina Schill .. Bucks County Lost and Found
I know this page is for lost and found pets but I was looking for advice and maybe some help for a woman I met today living out of a van with 5 dogs. The dogs are all well fed and looked to be in good condition. She had plenty of food and water for them, but it is way to hot for them all to be in the van. She had been staying in the parking lot of Walmart in Quakertown for like the past 10 days. She was asked to leave today because someone called the police on her. I gave her gas money and directed her to a campsite not too far away where she is currently staying. I wish there was more I could do for her but I don’t know what or how. She was crying so much because she thought she was going to lose her dogs today. Any suggestions?”

Uncanny timing, so I knew this was it. It took a couple of days to find this woman, but we were able to track her down, visit with her to make sure she and her dogs were in a safe place, offer her assistance, and provider her with gas money ($100). What’s more, there is now a network of like-minded local people who are providing all kinds of ideas and assistance to help this woman and her dogs. I am grateful to be a part of such a beautiful community. [By Mary Pacell}

Volunteer from CVI Impacts Hong Kong Agency!

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Fu Hong Society (FHS) is a non-profit organization registered in Hong Kong. FHS has over 50 service units serving over 4,000 service users including persons with intellectual disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and those with autism.

Since the establishment in 1977, FHS has been committed to providing pioneering and innovative services to meet the needs of persons with disabilities, enabling them to achieve maximum independence and become fully integrated citizens in the community. FHS has pioneered in developing different services for these individuals, including temporary residential care service, home-based training, hotline service, care and attention home, and extended services in day care centers.

On June 22, 2014, Roxanna Yuen, Project Manager in the CVI Hong Kong office, volunteered to participate in an activity organized by this society. One of the instructors accompanied her with two students for their haircut. After arriving at the center, many students approached her, held her hands, and led her towards the main gate. Two of them were allowed to go to the salon for their haircut. They both sat quietly in the salon without leaving their seats and communicated with the hairdresser using simple words.

After their haircut, two of these students were invited to join in for a nice Dim Sum lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant. The instructor subsequently brought two additional students to join in. The six of them were able to enjoy Dim Sum lunch together.

After lunch, the instructor asked one of the students to do a portrait drawing of Roxanna. First, he looked at her for quite a while, then started to draw. Roxanna was amazed that he was able to draw quite well. [See photo of the young man drawing and the finished artwork.]

Roxanna final drawing

“I was pleased to have had this chance to get to know more about helping individuals with intellectual disabilities and to experience seeing how much they are able to do for themselves when given the opportunity.”
[By Roxanna Yuen]

Corporate Visions Running Team Raises $18,000 for Charity

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While the “crazy” Corporate Visions Reno Tahoe Odyssey running team certainly didn’t break any speed records over the course of 178 miles, they certainly broke their fundraising record, raising over $18,000 for local charities!

Being trapped in a van with sweaty, sleep-deprived coworkers for 36 hours may sound like a team-building disaster, but these 12 intrepid souls bonded over shenanigans, cold beverages, chaffing, broken arms, a bullhorn blasting motivational quotes from our CEO, and that sweet runner’s “high.” Congratulations to Conrad, Meredith, Jeff, Mike, Jeannie, Dustin, Fabiana, Matt, Alyssa, Joe, Meghan and Jake for going the distance, and a heartfelt thank you to Corporate Visions for sponsoring the event, and everyone who donated to the cause!
[by Jeannie Frantz]

Another RTO Victory for Sarah & Ross McMahan

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On May 30-31-2014, Sarah and her husband, Ross, had fun running the Reno Tahoe Odyssey on a competitive team this year, however, Sarah did miss running with the crazy Corporate Visions, Inc. bunch! The rest time between running legs was short, only resting a couple times with a sleeping bag on the ground. The cement of a Wal-Mart parking lot never felt so comfortable!

We won first place in the co-ed division in around 19 hours 55 minutes and 4th team overall out of 246. Yep, we were sore! [by Sarah McMahan]

15th Annual Honor Thy Healer Award Program

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Lynn Zambrano, Laura Lewers, and Charlotte Kobayashi volunteered on May 8th 2014, for this dinner awards evening, held at Mill Valley Community Center to sell the remaining 39 raffle tickets of the 100 raffle tickets being offered at $100 per.

This evening event highlighted Zero Breast Cancer’s research/educational programs and recognized individuals, organizations and businesses that have helped to understand breast cancer, the healing processes, and the environmental conditions that lead to increased levels of breast cancer in Marin County.
This year, with the additional help of the 3 Corporate Visions, Inc. volunteers, the 39 tickets were sold out before dinner was served- remarkable!

Keynote speaker was Dr. Pamela Munster, MD UCSF Cancer Center and the following are a few of the awards presented:
Dr. Vida Campbell, MD, of Marin General- developed a Breast MRI program
Dr. Marla Anderson, MD of Kaiser Permanente San Rafael, CA- for breast cancer care expansion program
Paul Tasner, PHD and Elena Olivari, MA, founders of a new innovative company called Pulpworks, Inc.- designs sustainable and biodegradable alternatives to toxic plastic packaging.
The three of us, Laura, Lynn and Charlotte, had a great time meeting new professionals all working towards eliminating conditions to prevent the occurrence of breast cancer.

The next major event for Zero Breast Cancer is the 12th annual 6 mile Dipsea Hike for Zero Breast Cancer in Mill Valley, Saturday, September 13, 2014, starting at 8:00 am.
For more information on Zero Breast Cancer events, go to www.zerobreastcancer.org [by Charlotte Kobayashi]