Total Impact House

It could have gone a lot of different ways.

It’s a safe guess that people attending an outdoor jazz festival would certainly be sympathetic to helping women start their lives anew after great mistreatment, but how willing would they be to actually help? Would people really be inclined to spend money in support of women they don’t know, especially when today’s economic woes are widespread?

We couldn’t have asked for a better response.

On September 26, over $800 was raised for the women at Total Impact House from a tent at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. During the annual gathering in the central green space of University of Chicago’s campus, we sold vibrantly colored necklaces, bracelets and earrings that are handmade by the women at Impact House through a process that turns strip of recycled paper into beads. While the bracelets and necklaces seemed to grab the most interest from our visitors, the purses, laptop bags, aprons and wrap skirts sparked their share of recognition.

The day started out overcast and murky, but that didn’t seem to affect the attendees’ moods. People who stopped at the tent were eager to learn more about the House and the women.  Many stuck around to share tales of their own work with charities, the joys of New Orleans radio and spontaneously ending up at the fest, without any intention of going.

Since it was our first attempt at raising money and awareness for the House outside of the Total Attorneys confines in the Loop, something had to wrong. It’s a distinct, almost ritualistic aspect of a first attempt at anything. The first time I tried riding a scooter, I flooded the engine, lost control as the scooter suddenly shot forward and flew off after hitting a nearby curb.

Fortunately, the only thing we were missing that day was an Internet connection to relay details as time went by through Twitter and other online means.

But a wise teacher once said, “Never depend on gear, especially anything electronic.”

Long before wifi, laptops and phones that really are small computers, we sent messages through written words.  So, to give a rundown of the day, I present “Analog” Twitter:

1 p.m.:  “Teaching” the Impact House to passersby, beyond just the jewelry and bags. Seeing people’s eyes with the signature “light up” effect when they find out the House supports women who escaped the sex trade.

1:30 p.m.: A nice woman named Evelyn bought the best apron, one of the two blue ones with all of the Eastern Hemisphere countries on it.

1:35 p.m.:  A woman and her son got really excited about the colors on one of the bracelets. Wide open mouths as they flipped through the choices.

1:40 p.m.: The sun finally came out! A mother and her daughters came directly from the Chicago-area run that morning, and are fascinated by the recycled-paper beads.

2:15 p.m.:  A couple from New Orleans are in a long conversation with Clé Torres about WWOZ 90.7 FM, a legendary NOLA radio station. They’re interested in the aprons too. Who knew?

2:24 p.m.: Eyes are still getting big when we explain the cause. Adam Mikolaj and Clé are savvy salespeople, tag teaming everyone passing us. “Hi, how are you?” goes a long way.

2:33 p.m.: Adam made a good point. “It’d be helpful to know the region of Uganda that the house is in.” And the region is Gulu!

2:42 p.m.: An attorney from Madison is talking with us about how she can fix up her website.

2:51 p.m.: A woman said she wasn’t planning on stopping at the Jazz Fest, but she got out of her car, heard the music, and found the nearest parking spot. She said, “I fell in love with this jewelry right away! All the colors, and it’s for a good cause.”

2:53 p.m.: Another passerby suggested we sell the goods on a website…hmm…

3:15 p.m.: A woman with her glasses hanging from her shirt button suggested the women use their method for making purses to make cases for glasses.  She said she really could use a case about now.

3:45 p.m.: A young man just walked up, overheard what the House is about, and said, “I don’t want anything, but here’s some money.” He then dropped a five dollar bill on the table and then walked away. Thanks?

4:02 p.m.: Sharon Spinos really wanted to buy Betsy’s painting. She suggested more paintings be made to sell for the Impact House.

4:20 p.m.: Jason Taylor, Jessica Stephens and Brian Ott arrive. Immediately the energy goes up. Jessica puts the necklaces on everyone, and Jason figures out a way to use his iPhone for credit card purchases.

4:30 p.m.:  I run into a friend, Steve, who tells me about Tatsu Aoki, an upright bassist who plays with Japanese Taiko drums along with his band. That’s right. This is a jazz fest.

5 p.m.: Edwin Sanchez’s Latin Band put a Salsa twist on “Don’t Mean A Thing if Ain’t Got That Swing.”

5:20 p.m.: Back at the tent. In 30 minutes, Jason completely redid the table arrangement and has his laptop streaming videos taken at the House. Call it Taylor Feng Shui. Jessica is captivating passersby with her take on the “cause” speech.

5:55 p.m.: “I think it’s time for my first beer,” Jason said.

6:25 p.m.: Guy Suesuntisook, wearing a headband, and me, wearing a headband and apron, do a lap around the tents and the sitting area to see if we can take the show with us on a walk. Didn’t work so well…

6:30 p.m.: Tristan, who had been laboring for at least two hours on a sign to explain the tent, the sales and the cause is finally finished. At times, he looked as serious as a surgeon.

6:45 p.m.: A man holding his young daughter talks with us about a church effort he was just a part of to raise enough money to feed 20,000 kids in Kenya for a period of time. The look in his eye says he is very pleased with Impact House, but he isn’t quite as surprised like many other people.

So, a reader might at this point ask, “How do we know this ‘Analog’ Twitter is real?”

The proof:

A sizable thank you is in order to all who participated: Kelly and Tom Muir, Adam Mikolaj, Sarah Widner, Ellen Margovsky, Clé Torres, Jessica Stephens, Jason Taylor, Morgan Brickley, Brian Ott, Colleen Dorn, Jon Olen, Ryan Postel and Guy Suesuntisook. And a special thanks to Tristan Milner for his painstakingly precise efforts on the sign, which led to more people stopping by.

See the other pictures here and here.

Results of our charity mustache-growing contest for the Impact House will be up next.

Is there such a thing as facial artistry? If not, facial comedy should suffice.

Stay Aware.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 4:15 pm by Benji Feldheim . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.