Jerry Stringer
01-26-2004, 12:46 AM
WOW! I don't check the forums for 24 hours and when I do it takes over an hour to read all the new messages!!!
Well Saturday morning started out with me reading a 1/2 page article (with photo) on the FRONT page of our hometown newspaper, the Burleson Star . . . plus it was continued on page 11 with another photo!!! They did a great job . . . I just wish the photos could have made me look a little younger!
Then it was off to the Fort Worth Woodcraft store for pen turning demos. This was my first time for doing a demo and the manager told me that it would probably last an hour or so. Chris, one of the employees, and I started talking and turning about 12:30pm. It was constant people until 5:30pm!!!
I had taken my own wood blanks out of mesquite and redheart, but Ray, the manager, told me to take whatever kits we needed off of the display and use them. I only turned 7 pens but quickly learned that it' s a lot slower when you have to explain everything you are doing, let everyone touch, and answer questions. Chris turned two beautiful cigar pens and another employee donated a gorgeous dymondwood pen that he had made. All of the pens will go to Freedom Pens.
I took a flyer along and Judy, the Assistant Manager, displayed it prominently on a clear plastic box where customers could buy supplies and put them in the box. I don't know what all was donated, but the box was well on its way to being filled at the end of the day! I left them all there so that the box was showing some activity. I'll pick it up in the next couple of days.
I gotta tell you about the touching moment of the day . . .
I told everyone who came by they could write a short note to a soldier on a 3x5 card and put it with the pen. I assured them I would package the card with the pen when it was shipped. One mother bought two kits to donate, one from each of her daughters (age 5 and 6). She wrote notes on 2 separate cards and had each daughter sign it. It brought a lump to my throat to watch those two young girls put the effort that they did into perfectly printing their names on those cards! I just thought about what the soldier was going to feel when he or she read the note!
Thanks, Woodcraft, for letting me be there!
JDS
Well Saturday morning started out with me reading a 1/2 page article (with photo) on the FRONT page of our hometown newspaper, the Burleson Star . . . plus it was continued on page 11 with another photo!!! They did a great job . . . I just wish the photos could have made me look a little younger!
Then it was off to the Fort Worth Woodcraft store for pen turning demos. This was my first time for doing a demo and the manager told me that it would probably last an hour or so. Chris, one of the employees, and I started talking and turning about 12:30pm. It was constant people until 5:30pm!!!
I had taken my own wood blanks out of mesquite and redheart, but Ray, the manager, told me to take whatever kits we needed off of the display and use them. I only turned 7 pens but quickly learned that it' s a lot slower when you have to explain everything you are doing, let everyone touch, and answer questions. Chris turned two beautiful cigar pens and another employee donated a gorgeous dymondwood pen that he had made. All of the pens will go to Freedom Pens.
I took a flyer along and Judy, the Assistant Manager, displayed it prominently on a clear plastic box where customers could buy supplies and put them in the box. I don't know what all was donated, but the box was well on its way to being filled at the end of the day! I left them all there so that the box was showing some activity. I'll pick it up in the next couple of days.
I gotta tell you about the touching moment of the day . . .
I told everyone who came by they could write a short note to a soldier on a 3x5 card and put it with the pen. I assured them I would package the card with the pen when it was shipped. One mother bought two kits to donate, one from each of her daughters (age 5 and 6). She wrote notes on 2 separate cards and had each daughter sign it. It brought a lump to my throat to watch those two young girls put the effort that they did into perfectly printing their names on those cards! I just thought about what the soldier was going to feel when he or she read the note!
Thanks, Woodcraft, for letting me be there!
JDS