As we continue another week in our new normal, we are still looking to those community leaders to bring the light in darker times. Another great example from inside the SBA membership, Andigo Credit Union!
At Andigo Credit Union we believe in “people helping people” and to show our support for the community during this challenging time we shipped travel hand sanitizers to Clearbrook,which provides services to children, adults and families impacted by developmental and intellectual disabilities. Andigo also partnered with The Backyard Experience to help supply their free activity kits. They had 100 of the Chuck Jones Big Draw Home Edition bags picked up in one day. The kits, which are also going through the Schaumburg-Hoffman Estates Rotary will be given to the Hoffman Estates HEC to be delivered to families receiving assistance.
How do you plan for disturbances to your business that can show up at a moments notice? COVID-19 has rocked our world in a matter of weeks. Now we are all living in a remote world, planning for re-entry, and trying to positively impact our community all at once. It can be overwhelming to try to carry on business as usual, in this unusual time. The Schaumburg Business Association is dedicated to getting you as many resources as we can to help ease the turbulence. This new blog series will include member inspired information in three categories…
• Working from Home – Etiquette and Hacks
• Building a new Blueprint – Navigating COVID-19 and Planning for Re-Entry
• When Community is Business – Stories Using Business for Community
There are unlimited resources, perspective and expertise in the SBA membership, so if you or your business have something to share with the membership, please reach out to Marketing & Communications Manager, Christina Cox at CCox@Schaumburgbusiness.com to share!
Community is usually seen as a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. However, we find the strongest communities can be defined as a fellowship that grows out of necessity.
The business community of Schaumburg and it’s surrounding areas has a unique make up. We all work closely together to make up one of the largest economies in the state. But, occasionally, something comes along that requires us to shift our focus from our business, to our business community. Upon the breakout of COVID-19, many shifted into high gear creating innovative ways to use their business to support their community.
Here are a few of their stories…..
STEVE LONG, BLINK TEES
“Here at Blink Tees, it is our goal to help spread joy within our community while helping others prosper through our passions of screen printing and teamwork. When COVID-19 started to hit our community, we knew it was not our time to slow down but speed up because other small businesses, just like us, were at risk. We decided to launch shoplocaltees.com. Each t-shirt on this website is $20 with half the proceeds going directly back to those businesses. During these times, we believe it is more important than ever to come together as a community, even if it is from afar. Show your support by visiting shoplocaltees.com.”
On one of those tees you will find the logo for 3 Monkeys & Aardvark Studios, home of The Backyard Experience, who is making sure that imagination stays a strong part of family daily life.
BEN OLSON, 3 MONKEYS & AARDVARK STUDIOS/ THE BACKYARD EXPERIENCE
“In the Backyard Experience’s efforts to inspire creativity and imagination in our community, especially in these unprecedented times, we have packaged up parts of our Chuck Jones Big Draw that families have been apart of at sports games and comic conventions to provide the Home Edition. These kits have several creative Looney Tunes themed activities that include How to Draw Bugs Bunny, Build Your Own Acme Disintegrator, Mold A Planet X Creature and more. We have made these kits available for FREE to anyone who has wanted to pick up one up outside our studio. This has also included delivering packs of Acme Creativity Mini Kits to senior homes and branching out even further. Starting soon we will be shipping out Acme Creativity Mini Kits to anyone who requests one in the contentinal United States for Free as well. So far in a weeks time we have had over 70 kits picked up with another 75 requested. We are currently bringing on sponsors in addition to 3 Monkeys & Aardvark Studios like Andigo and Crayola to help fulfill the need. If you would like to help please contact Ben Olson at ben@3mastudios.com or 630.546.9117.”
COVID-19 has created many unstable environments. On March 25th, Anytime Fitness made sure that for local kids, healthy lunch wasn’t one of them.
ALEXIS ISENBERG, ANYTIME FITNESS
“Anytime Fitness gave away 2,000 lunches on March 25th, 2020. Each of our locations throughout IL & NWI gave away 100 to each community. Anytime Fitness Schaumburg had a very successful time helping families in need & creating smiles. Our facility and services we offer are important to our members, which contributes to making the community a better place. Anytime Fitness decided when we temporarily closed, that we wanted to do something to help those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Our clubs received a shipment of apples, granola bars, juice boxes, mac & cheese, cereal, Combos, and Spaghetti O’s on Monday. Each club used the proper precautions, and bagged 100 lunches for the event on Wednesday. Each bag was able to feed at least 2-3 kids for a meal. With the remainder of meals that were not picked up, we will be donating those to the local hospitals for the healthcare workers to take home to their families. We are blessed that we had this opportunity to still help our community when times are difficult for all. Our facility manager Dan Sullivan said, “It was a joy to be able to serve and help members of the community especially during a time we cannot help within our facility walls.” Anytime Fitness Schaumburg plans on doing many more community events in the near future & are always looking for fundraiser opportunities”.
As we settle into a new normal, for the near future, it is important to remain community focused to carry on business as unusual.
