As some of you might remember, last year a small troupe of friends and I celebrated Buy Nothing Day on Black Friday, encouraging people to purchase less excess stuff and to donate to those starving to death instead. This simple message has been relayed many times around this time of year, but usually the focus is on giving to the poor, without much attention paid to the massive amount of money Americans spend on gifts for the not-so-poor each year. We hoped to offer both, because we think the two are connected. The less excess stuff we own, the more we have to give to those who truly need it. It’s not at all a profound statement – it’s a rather obvious one, but it is too often the tiny voice that is drowned out by the heavily funded yelling of corrupt corporations via mass advertising. I wrote about that at length in an older post, but the focus of this one is on our 2009 celebration.

This year, we hit eight big retail stores in Des Moines, distributing over 400 flyers, including coupons which read, “100% off things you don’t need or want,” and “50% off more space in your home!” The backside of every flyer included alternative gift ideas and web site addresses for places to help out those in desperate need. We were received generally quite well by those to whom we handed them, with one lady responding, “You know, I really do have too much stuff.” Another person actually gave us a cash donation, even though we weren’t asking for money! Some were a bit confused about the coupons with one lady asking me, “Excuse me, but what store is this for?” “It’s valid everywhere in the whole mall,” I responded.

Of course, the staff of the various retailers we visited (Wal-mart, Target, K-mart, Kohl’s, Best Buy, etc.) were not exactly thrilled with the suggestions we were making, usually picking up on what we were doing after awhile and asking us to leave. We always tried to make a prompt exit when asked to do so, though the police were phoned in on at least one occasion.

Wesley brought balloons for the kids, who were generally excited to see him and happy to have a helium-filled bauble to carry around for the day. Overall, I mark it down as a huge success, and I look forward to future celebrations!

We kicked off our second annual promotion of alternative gifts for the poor at Target and Wal-mart.

It was wretchedly cold outside in those sleeveless tunics.

Target customers were generally pleasant and encouraging, though the management was not.

Bri kindly pointed out that the actor who played the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz” got poisoned by the stuff he put on his face.

Tracy made a fantastic elf, even without the tunic, and she was remarkably warmer as a bonus.

In the belly of the beast.

Everyone looks a smidge uncertain as we travel down to the ninth circle of hell.

Wesley handed balloons out to any children who wanted them.

Wesley greets Black Friday shoppers with balloons and information on gifts for the poor.

Some shoppers were not too fond of our elf-suits and gifts-for-impoverished-children-promoting flyers. Our use of long, hyphenated words didn’t help us much either. (That is a shredded flyer in my hands.)

Some shoppers were extremely receptive, donating money (not asked for), offering hugs, and kind remarks.

This guy referred to me as the Jolly Green Giant.

More balloon giving.

Elves of all sizes played a role on Buy Nothing Day.

The group enters another Black Friday sales frenzy.

Peter Pan and Tinkerhell move across the K-Mart lawn.

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The Ames Tribune reports on a recent Youth & Shelter Services event which featured Danny and a number of other people doing great work to help homeless youth. Dr. Tracy McIntire received special recognition for her work:

“Since coming to our community, she’s made a significant impact on the lives of many individuals,” Lester said. “Her professional commitment for testing and treating sexually transmitted diseases and preventing teen pregnancies deserves recognition,” Lester said. “It’s because of medical professionals such as Dr. McIntire that the Teen Clinic is making a positive difference in improving the health of Boone County teens.”

The full article can be found at the Ames Tribune site.

Photo courtesy of the Ames Tribune.

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“These are brothers and sisters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren who have stories…” The Times-Republican reported on Danny’s recent Youth & Shelter Services speaking event recently. Head over here to read the full article, or just stare at the photo below for the next hour. Either way, something incredible will happen, I assure you.

Photo courtesy of the Times-Republican.

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Greetings, all!

We are now just a few books away from selling our first 1,000 copies of From a Growing Community, Iowa’s Homeless Youth in just the first five months of its release. Your response has been quite impressive, and this book certainly could not have done so well without your support of our efforts throughout. So first, thank you for that. We’re about to hit a milestone!

Now, however, we are wrestling with this question: shall we print another thousand books? While it might seem from the outset that the answer is “yes”, it is not quite so clear to us. Let us briefly explain why.

Selling the first 1,000 books has required us to treat the book as a full-time job, racking up nearly 2,800 volunteer hours. While this has been awesome for the shelters and homeless youth, it has become exhausting for the both of us, as neither of us have taken a penny of pay from the books.This, obviously, has been by choice, because we want to give more money to the shelters, to benefit the at-risk youth they loyally serve.

It was clear to us from the beginning that we would not be able to continuously live in this way because – unfortunately – we have to make some money to live. Thus, we are slowly working our way back into part time jobs to support ourselves, which means our attention for the book is being focused elsewhere.

As only a few copies of the first print sit in our possession, we are faced with a financial dilemma. We have a limited amount of money in our account, which leaves us with an “either or” decision: Either we spend the vast majority of it on a second print of books, or we give it all to the shelters now and close this project where it is. Sadly, we do not have enough money to both print more books and donate to the shelters, as our expenses were higher than we initially thought they would be.*

So we have started to ask ourselves: can we print a second round of this book? If so, how can we gain this energy from our community and how can it help this book become more sustainable than it currently is?

As we ask these questions, we are remembering that the success of this project has been greatly in part due to its grass roots foundation, and word about the book and about what is being done in our local shelters only spreads through all of our efforts.

So, we are calling for your input and help once again. Books are currently in books stores and coffee shops around Des Moines. Would you direct others who might be interested in this book to these stores? Books are also for sale on our website,www.SowSomethingMeaningful.com. But this is our most important proposition for you: if we can get 300 orders online by the new year, we will have $6,000, which is enough to print the next round of books!

If you want this project to continue, buy up some copies for Christmas presents! But, if we can’t get those 300 orders, don’t worry! We think this project has all been very worthwhile even if it stops at 1,000 books. Both awareness and funds have been raised thanks in great part to you, and we definitely appreciate it.

So we leave you with this: should we print a second round?

Sincere thanks,
Justin Norman and Danny Heggen

* Obviously, 1,000 books x $20 is $20,000. But when you factor in a couple hundred discounted pre-orders, promotional copies given away, poster printing costs, and checks from Borders that we have yet to receive, this is where our bank account lies. Though we have said in the past that we make 50 cents per copy, none of that has been withdrawn.

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Yet another article has been written about the book, this one by The Iowa City Press-Citizen. The article begins like this: “When Danny Heggen met Steph in a homeless shelter in Ames, she seemed like any other happy teenager — joking, playful and carefree. “Then you read a letter from her, and it’s, ‘How can this be, how can a 15-year-old girl go through this much and be where she is now?’” Heggen said.”

Click here to read the full article, and smack the “Recommended” button at the top of their site if you like it!

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