Blue Windows

…1 down and 11 to go. February’s char­ity is Hearts Without Boundaries. This orga­ni­za­tion, based in Long Beach, pro­vide human­i­tar­ian ser­vices such as vol­un­teer med­ical teams, med­ical sup­plies and clin­ics, as well as human­i­tar­ian aid and live­stock to those in need, mainly in Cambodia and other areas in Southeast Asia. I chose this par­tic­u­lar orga­ni­za­tion because it allows chil­dren a sec­ond chance that they nor­mally would not receive. I think it’s impor­tant to reach out to the imme­di­ate com­mu­nity but I also believe our com­mu­nity can be world­wide as well. However large the world may seem it is rel­a­tively small when it comes to the needs of chil­dren. This month 10% of all jew­elry sales will be donated to Hearts Without Boundaries. I thought it was appro­pri­ate con­sid­er­ing Valentine’s Day.

Heather

January is always a quiet month at Blue Windows. You go from hav­ing all your reg­u­lar cus­tomers come in at once in December to hardly any­one at all. December is the best time of year! I get into a bit of a funk after the Holiday rush is over. I miss the con­stant flow of peo­ple and energy they bring. Then some­thing hap­pens after a cou­ple of weeks of quiet. I get a surge of energy and my cre­ative ideas begin to become over­whelm­ing. I imme­di­ately want to change every­thing! You can ask any of my employ­ees. I get like this every year. I orga­nize, read mag­a­zines, plan win­dow dis­plays for the year, patch and paint, clean and start slowly buy­ing for the store again. This year is a bit dif­fer­ent. Among all of those things I’ve finally suc­cumb to face­book, a web­site and blog­ging (which I pre­fer to call jour­nal­ing). I’m excited for the year ahead. Although times are still tough I feel con­fi­dent in the year 2010.

The best deci­sion I made for 2010 was when it became very clear to me that I needed to give back. I truly needed to do this for my per­sonal san­ity. I was begin­ning to focus way too much on money (the lack of it) and how poorly the store was doing. I real­ized how lucky I was to have a store on 2nd St and how for five years I never really took advan­tage of the pos­i­tive impact the store could make on the com­mu­nity. This month we chose The Long Beach Rescue Mission for our char­ity. They pro­vide com­fort for so many peo­ple in our com­mu­nity. Not only do they pro­vide a place to sleep but they pro­vide the help needed for reha­bil­i­ta­tion. Second chances are impor­tant so through the month of January 10% of the store’s prof­its will be donated to the Rescue Mission. I’m excited to see the growth in the store and myself through this challenge.

Heather

Our favorite angel

For many retail busi­nesses the past year has been one of many finan­cial chal­lenges. Although it has been a dif­fi­cult year I am will­ing to accept the chal­lenge and learn from it. Through months of feel­ing stress and hard­ship I came to real­ize there are many oth­ers who have suf­fered worse. The fact is I still have my store and feel truly grate­ful for that. I decided to make 2010 a year focused not on hard­ship but on what I can bring to oth­ers through this busi­ness I have been blessed with. Starting in January of 2010 I will ded­i­cate a win­dow dis­play each month to a dif­fer­ent char­ity or orga­ni­za­tion. A per­cent­age of the store’s prof­its will be donated each month to the des­ig­nated char­ity. My hope is that peo­ple will remem­ber that even when you have very lit­tle to give you still have the abil­ity to give back.

Christmas time in Blue Windows

The local com­mu­nity has always been a huge part of the store’s suc­cess and I would love to hear any sug­ges­tions from my cus­tomers on any orga­ni­za­tions that they might feel would ben­e­fit from this dis­play. My idea is that each month I will focus on a dif­fer­ent type of char­ity. For exam­ple, when cre­at­ing a kids win­dow dis­play I will focus that month on some sort of children’s char­ity. My focus will be mainly on local char­i­ties but there will also be some inter­na­tional as well. I am open to just about any orga­ni­za­tion that is in need. I know the biggest chal­lenge to come will be which one’s to choose. I am excited to learn about what goes on in my own back­yard and around the world. I know I will be inspired by so many of you and I look for­ward to cre­at­ing each and every window.