Tuesday, February 25, 2014

You make my life better :)

Today I woke up and just wanted to tell you all how much you mean to me and how much better my life has become since starting Paper Clouds Apparel. This business came to fruition from seeing a drawing hanging on the fridge of my parents home in Chico, CA. None of my siblings or myself have children so I was confused as to what this drawing was doing on my fridge. I asked my mother, a bus driver for children with special needs, to tell me the story behind this drawing. She then explained to me that a little girl on her route would draw the whole ride to school and often give her drawings to her. I spent the whole night mesmerized by this great piece of art. I couldn't get it out of my head and the next morning I awoke with the idea of how cool these drawings would look on a shirt. I came up with the idea that I could start a business that gives those with special needs a place to showcase their creative abilities and artistic talents and we would give 50% of the profit back to the special needs school, organization or cause that the artist attended or chose.


 (The art that started it all)

After coming up with the idea for Paper Clouds Apparel I had to come up with the money required to start the business. So for three years I worked all the jobs I could: road construction, bartending, bouncer, you name it, I was willing to do it to get the money needed to get PCA off the ground. A loan wasn't really a possibility due to the fact if I went into a bank and told them I was planning on giving away 50% of the profits they would have promptly shown me the door. I also didn't want to take on investors and have them have the ability to tell me how to run the business and have the authority to change how much we give back. So I did it all on my own and so happy that I was able to launch Paper Clouds Apparel. 

(Our first every shirt)

For two years I would just gather artwork from a Phoenix habilitation center and print up a lot of shirts and post them on a poorly constructed website and hope they sold. I always wanted to help those with special needs nationwide and then came up with the idea how to do so. Every two weeks we would team up with a different special needs cause, school, or organization and put out new designs every week. We would order and print the shirts at the completion of the two week campaign and this would give us the ability to have an actual profit and be able to hire adults with special needs to package ALL our shirts ! I really wanted to do this after reading studies that stated that anywhere from 80-93% of adults with special needs were unemployed. 

(Some of our amazing workers)

Since our change in the way we operate in January of 2013 we have been blessed enough to hire over 100 adults with special needs to fold and package our apparel. The times spent with them as they package our shirts is such an amazing time for me. These individuals work so hard and want to do an amazing job. They take such pride in their work and I could not be prouder of them all. I pray one day we will have many more businesses giving those with special needs a job.

(My mother, the inspiration behind PCA)

One of the most amazing byproducts of starting this business has been the changes these projects have brought to the artists with special needs and their families. Paper Clouds Apparel is still a very small business and I still work a full-time job and end up working 80-90 hour work weeks. At times I can feel the stress of the business bearing down on me. Somehow whenever I get to feel pressure I will receive an email or message from one of these amazing families and it snaps me right out of it and reminds me why I am doing this and how I need to turn it up and work even harder so we can grow and help even more individuals with special needs. 

(Collin in wearing HIS design and the letter he wrote me)

Collin is one of the people who inspires and motivates me. I met Collin through his loving and fantastic mother Tammy. Collin has autism and was having a hard time just getting through his days and it was hard on the whole family. Then they found Common Threads Family Resource Center and things got much better. Tammy said they "Brought a smile back to my son" Common Threads needed a smartboard to help their students be able to learn. So we teamed up and it was one of our biggest campaigns when we first launched. Then a local news station picked up on the story and they were able to get TWO smart boards. After the campaign concluded I received this picture of Collin wearing a shirt with his art on it and a Thank You letter from him ! I am so blessed to know this amazing family.

(My buddy Logan and his prom date MacKenzie)

Another amazing and inspiring family we met through the amazing Facebook page The Crumb Diaries. A mother basically writing about her life with a son with special needs and their amazing interactions. Once you visit this page you will instantly fall in love and become addicted. Logan has created many designs for us and his campaigns have been our most successful to date. Recently this was posted on The Crumb Diaries and I was brought to tears of joy for Logan and proud that people like MacKenzie are out there.

"As you know, having Apraxia makes speaking difficult for Logan, so last night he colored a sign, picked out some flowers and put on a suit and tie to ask MacKenzie to prom. Here is his invitation..and here is her reply MacKenzie is not challenged, or differently abled... but she is special. She is a young lady who Logan admired last year, watching her as she led our high schools cheer squad. She is a girl who has always greeted him with a kind smile or hello when passing. She is a person who is taking time out of her busy college schedule to accompany Logan to a milestone event.
For kids like Logan, sitting next to a "pretty durl" and being treated with kindness and respect means the world. We are changing the face of our special needs youth, one friendship at a time."
(Ethan is pretty happy with his PCA Christmas shirt)

Another amazing family I have been contacted by is the Tompkins family. Scott and Jodie are always sharing our posts on Facebook and leaving comments and then they begin sending me messages and I have been so touched by them that I just had to share.The following is a compilation of some of the messages I have been sent by the Tompkins

"lol its his favorite shirt..the only one he doesn't try to pull of
Seriously thank you for being you
Giving people with special needs dignity, pride...priceless
I am only beginning my journey with my son and it makes me so happy to know there are people like you in the world to make a difference and I need that after a very rough start to our journey.
I felt like no one cared about anything but money and even though we do ok for ourselves we were in a bind..no assistance or anything. We were stuck. No local programs, nothing. I had to take him out of therapy because I couldn't afford to take him. I paid them, they haven't even contacted me to get him back in. I've had to do all the footwork, research. 6 months later, life's a lot brighter, thanks to people like you. Don't ever change! I am a lucky person to be my kids mom. He is AMAZING. So smart and wonderful, just wired different. He is going to grow up to do great things.. I guarantee it"
 (Ethan in his Sky shirt created by William)

Just the other day I received the picture above from the Tompkins of Ethan in his new shirt and they had this to say


"He loves it! He said "ooooh my sky shirt" as soon as we opened it. Keep up the good work guys! Ps.. He is very happy to know William also likes Angry Birds! (He saw his yellow angry bird socks in the picture you posted and said "look mommy he has angry bird socks like me too!")"
Hearing how we can affect these families and show others with special needs that we feature art created by people "just like me" really makes me happy and gives me the strength to keep putting in 80-90 hour work weeks and make Paper Clouds Apparel a huge success and help millions with special needs. 

(Exactly how I feel every day running PCA)








3 comments:

  1. I am William's mom. He really loved reading this with me today. I am so glad that you took the time to write in and share that. Awesome post!

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  2. All your paper cloud apparels are wonderful and i am appreciate your amazing work.Thank you.zarah from bizbilla.com

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