ChemArt Blog

I attended the CASE District 1 conference at the end of January at the Westin Copley Place in Boston, Massachusetts. The conference helps schools in the New England states find creative ways to engage donors. Some would say the name sounds like a future spin off to a CSI television show. Picture this….

CASE District 1-Boston features actor David Caruso as the Alumni Director of a small New England liberal arts school. He searches for members of the class of 1949 on Facebook. In the distance you can here Pete Townsend of the rock group The Who thinking about a new rock opera with only music from Case District 1 episodes. I know what you thinking — after reading this blog I should call a pharmacy. ChemArt has the number on speed dial.

Due to budget concerns (and Mr. Caruso’s availability) it might not be feasible this year for this show. The CASE District 1 conference was attended by many New England schools and universities that learned ways to “Renew Reinvest and Reengage” former and current students.

The mission of CASE District 1 is to provide educational professionals in alumni relations, communications, and development with information, tools, and networking opportunities to advance both their careers and institutions.

The one thing that was not in the CASE mission statement was the word “INSPIRE” which many attendees felt after listening to the keynote speaker John Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs founded a t-shirt company in 1994 with his brother with $78.00 in the bank (now is a $100 million dollar company). He shared his struggles of getting his now famous t-shirt “Life is good®” brand to the market place and the $3 million the company gives for the Life is good Kids Foundation. His words of wisdom that we all took from the conference: “Optimism can take you anywhere”

If you need to get inspired about ornaments like Mr. Jacobs did with T-shirts make sure you join us as we spotlight Troy Newbraugh, Director of Development at the Timber Ridge School, for a how-to demonstration of his school’s annual ornament program, which has raised over $500,000 for the school in a special webinar February 11^th.

Title: Successful Fundraising with an annual Christmas Ornament Program
Date: Thursday, February 11, 2010
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:                  
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/443007203

When I told friends I was going to the NEMA conference last week in Nashua, NH I heard two things.

1)      Does NEMA stand for an organization that handles the distribution of Flu Shots?

2)      Are you planning to go skiing in Nashua?

Answer: 1)NEMA actually stands for the New England Museum Association.

Answer: 2) I have done nothing but sledding since the winter in 1986 and the fear of heights experienced on the top of Mt. Snow (It was called the Summit).

I still have nightmares.

Radisson Hotel, Hogwarts or Shining Hotel

The New England Museum Association held its annual conference at the Radisson Hotel in Nashua, NH November 11-13. This hotel is a cross between Hogworth’s castle and the hotel that Jack Nicholson made famous in “The Shining”. My red room was on the 5^th floor. In attendance was a large group of New England Museums from Maine to Rhode Island that were looking for clever ideas to help generate revenue and inspire New Englanders to come for a visit.

Our ChemArt booth showcased some of the unique ornaments, bookmarks, and lapel pins that we make for museums and historic landmarks not only in New England but across the United States.

When you think about museums in your area, does one stand out above the others, or is it more of a top 5 list? When you attend this type of museum conference it’s amazing what is in your backyard. I grew up in “America’s Hometown” — Plymouth, MA. You were probably thinking about it last week when you were picking cranberries out of your stuffing. Many would say New England has the Pilgrims, The Freedom Trail, and some Witch Museums in Salem, MA.  The truth is there are many unique museums that share an amazing rich history within all of New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island) next time you are out and about stop by and visit one.

Happy Thanksgiving and hope you enjoyed the Cranberry Stuffing.

When I think of Halloween I tend to think of the actor Bill Bixby, known as the father in the television show: “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father”, and of course green comic hero the Incredible Hulk from the 1970’s show of the same name. Remember his great line the Hulk says to the investigator– Mr. McGee –who is trying to reveal the Hulk? “Mr. McGee, don’t make me angry…you would not like me when I’m angry”.  Then he gets angry and turns Green (unless you had a black and white Zenith) and rips off his Hanes T-Shirt.

Growing up us Breen kids loved that show, and purchasing of new Hanes T-Shirts is still a sore subject with Mom and Dad. However, my Dad used the semi-new ripped up T-Shirts for cleaning the garage and washing the windows, etc… So a Breen was thinking Green due to the Mean Green Incredible Hulk. Does that make sense?

At ChemArt we use “Green” methods (meaning environmentally friendly in this case) when making your ornaments. It’s the right thing to do, and we are passionate about trying to leave much less of a carbon footprint than the Incredible Hulk.  (I think his footprint was about a men’s 16 ½).

Did you know:

• ChemArt recycles over 87,000 pounds of metal every year?
• Between 1998 and 2002 ChemArt reduced its water usage by 46%, its metal hydroxide waste by 55% and its waste treatment chemicals by 51%.
• In 2007 we reduced our daily water usage by an additional 7.8% equal to a daily reduction of 1,219 gallons. 

We are all still pretty hydrated while we make your ornaments so please do not be concerned.

We continue to work hard as a company in working on ways to be as GREEN as the Hulk and manufacture American-made, eco-friendly products for our clients, and a better, safer landscape for our neighbors.

What kind of Green methods do you use in your home or organization? Share your efforts with us and I will choose the best entry and send them a ripped autograph T-Shirt from my childhood and a ChemArt GREEN ornament. Send your entries by Friday December 4, 2009 to marketing@chemart.com

Happy Halloween!

I was born on Christmas Day (I won’t give you the year) but I never thought I would be selling Christmas ornaments for a living.  My Mom did mention I was 97% sure to have my birthday off when I got older.

I also never thought I would have a nephew diagnosed with Autism. Nor thought I would get a call one afternoon at ChemArt from the Autism Society of America about creating a fundraising ornament  one week after little Jack was diagnosed back in 2005.  So, using the Kevin Bacon’s 6^th degree game, the Autism Society of America then connected me through the Doug Flutie Foundation for Autism. I now proudly volunteer at events around Boston to help raise funds for families. That happened to connect me to the National Autism Association who we have created beautiful ornaments for along with Autism Speaks to raise funds and awareness about Autism.

American Autism Society>Doug Flutie Foundation for Autism>National Autism Association>Autism Speaks

(For those of you keeping score.)

This year marks the 10^th Anniversary Doug Flutie and his wife Laurie established the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism on behalf of their son Dougie who battles the illness.

When the Foundation was established 10 years ago, one in 2,000 children was born with Autism. Today it is one in 150. When you look at those numbers, it might be more common today for a Christmas baby to grow up to sell ornaments.

The interesting thing when you volunteer for Flutie events is that you can see how that Foundation and its supporters rally towards a common goal. Every spring and summer  we see a bunch of golf outings, motorcycle rides, pancake breakfast and the occasional spaghetti dinner all to raise funds for a family, a military organization, a child fighting an illness, or helping a cause. Have you ever wondered the impact from those events? It is truly unique to see it from behind the silent auction table or cleaning up after the gala dinner or golf outing and understanding the big picture.

When Doug walks in the room at a charity event, people of course see a football star. Then his son is wheeled into the room and they see a father who is trying to help his family, but cares enough to use his fame to help others like my nephew Jack. My nephew will never understand the impact Doug’s “Hail Mary Pass” had on football, but my family will always have a special place in our hearts for Doug and Laurie Flutie.

Next time you need a boost of kindness and love, think about volunteering. I’m sure you will see six degrees tenfold.

Note: ChemArt tries to get the ornaments out before my birthday. And I do get my birthday off. In fact, the whole company does!

The baseball card market got me good when I was a kid. The packs of 50 cent printed paper that I focused my attention on were my way of thinking I had gotten in on the Microsoft IPO. My purchasing habits were rookie cards of Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and others that would help pay for college and buy my summer cottage on the island of Aruba.

These individual baseball stars of my youth printed on recycled card stock with a bubble gum residue now have combined worthless value that could maybe buy me a 1/2 bottle of Flintstone Chewables.

As I get older and spend 364 days of the year thinking about Christmas ornaments I see more of a collectible that is worthy of value. In this case, it is keepsakes etched in recycled brass and not cardboard paper with a sticky bubble gum stain of Reggie Jackson. The places that I have visited around the United States and the events, celebrations and history I have learned all presented in a gold hand-made ornament are priceless to me. The holidays make us all think about memories (mine are the 12 people who told me in 1986 baseball cards were a waste and not worthy of collecting and will gathering dust).

(P.S. The only person that has the Aruba cottage is the candy store owner from my hometown.)

The ChemArt folks hear all the time from people who collect our ornaments, purchase them for family members or put them away for grandkids. The conversations we have in public or on the phone share an excitement about holding onto a memory that they can enjoy all year long and revisit year after year.

We hope you all had a great and healthy holiday season and look forward to creating more etched memories this year all of course all through baseball season.