Get out the donuts, the coffee and the toothpicks…it’s CreateAthon time. Each year, the crew at Trio Solutions Inc. stays up for 24 hour straight (for the record it’s actually more like 36 hours) for five deserving Lowcountry nonprofits. The annual event is part of Trio’s commitment to the community and an extension of our philosophy to make a difference through our time and talent. Over the years, we have provided pro-bono services to organizations like My Sister’s House, Palmetto Medical Initiative, Camp Good Times, Liza’s Lifeline, Love Inc., Charleston Community Sailing and many, many others. It’s always an adventure and each year proves that the 24-hour creative work blitz provides more benefits than eight hours of sleep could ever provide. This year’s applications are in and being reviewed. This year’s winners will be announced on Aug. 15. Stay tuned.

In 2010, Disney is offering a free admission to one of their theme parks if you give a day of volunteering to a nonprofit organization. This past year they gave the general public an opportunity to celebrate their birthday at one of the parks for free through their What Are You Celebrating marketing campaign. They continue to raise the bar in the marketing industry. The Give A Day. Get A Disney Day. program is a unique opportunity to engage more volunteers in service through your organization and celebrate their good deeds. Any organization that is meeting a community need can collaborate with HandsOn Network in the Give A Day. Get A Disney Day. program.

Getting about that time…presentations to the amazing organizations we are helping. Seriously, if you take a minute and reflect on what these groups are doing for our community and the world, it is so impressive. These are people that spend they lives focusing on the goodwill of others. Godspeed to all of you! You are a true blessing to the world and remember on those days when things seem tough that your efforts don’t go unnoticed and WE APPRECIATE EVERYTHING YOU DO!

Everyone at Trio Solutions Inc. is looking forward to helping out our 2009 Createathon Winners: Charleston Area Children’s Garden Project, Good Neighbor Center, Charleston Community Sailing, Palmetto Medical Initiative and Liza’s Lifeline! It was very difficult to narrow our selection to these five. Every organization that applied should be commended for the work they are doing in our community. We would love to be able to help them all. Createathon will begin on Thursday, Sept. 18. Be sure to follow our progress on Twitter.

Nashville, Tenn — Gabe’s Chemo Duck program, a program of the nonprofit organization, Gabe’s My Heart, is raising money to buy 500 stuffed ducks that will help children suffering from cancer. Lu Sipos, founder of Gabe’s My Heart, created Chemo Duck in an effort to help her son, Gabe through his battle against cancer. Chemo Duck is a stuffed yellow duck dressed in blue hospital scrubs with a bandana around its head, a chemotherapy port on its chest and an immobilizer on his arm. Sipos wanted to help her son understand what was happening to him, as life quickly became a never-ending round of doctor and hospital visits. This month marks the 5-year anniversary of Gabe being cancer-free and to celebrate, Gabe wants to give Chemo Ducks to other children dealing with the disease in hopes of bringing a sense of comfort during a very difficult of time. To help Gabe this holiday season, visit www.chemoduck.org and sponsor a duck for a child in need for only $25.

Chemo Duck has become a powerful and therapeutic teaching tool to familiarize thousands of children around the world with cancer protocol and procedures. The goal of Gabe’s Chemo Duck program is to enable hospital staff and parents throughout the country to prepare children for chemotherapy treatment and eliminate the fear of the unknown. In a gentle, age-appropriate manner, children are exposed to life during cancer treatment and now have a friend so share the experience with. In turn, children can use Chemo Duck to help friends, siblings and classmates to understand and empathize with their experience.

“My son was so young when we received his diagnosis and it was very hard for me to explain what was happening to him,” explains Sipos. “Gabe obviously didn’t know the medical terms and was very afraid of the medical equipment. But when Chemo Duck arrived and we began doing role-play with it, Gabe quickly began to understand the procedures and his fear subsided.”

Lu adds, “Thanks to the specialists at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville and with the help of Chemo Duck, my son was able to overcome a very traumatic time. And now that Gabe is a bit older, he realizes the importance that Chemo Duck played in his life and he wants nothing more than to give that gift to other children who are going through the same experience.”

Gabe’s My Heart, a Nashville-based nonprofit organization, was established in 2004 to provide education and comfort to children living with cancer through medical play using therapeutic tools. In addition, Gabe’s My Heart helps parents identify their role in their child’s recovery by offering them specific techniques to help them cope with this life-changing situation. To learn more about Gabe’s Chemo Duck program or Gabe’s My Heart, visit www.gabesmyheart.com.

Trio Solutions is proud to be kicking off our annual CreateAthon project to benefit some of the Lowcountry’s most important nonprofits. We will be offering free marketing services to five local organizations who have little or no marketing budgets during a 24-hour, work around-the-clock creative blitz. This year’s projects include two Web sites, one logo, one communications plan and the design of a fundraising coupon book. All hands are on deck and we’re ready roll!

Check us out on ABC News 4!

Congratulations to the 2008 CreateAthon beneficiaries:

Camp Good Times
Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy
Family Resource Center for Disabilities and Special Needs
Fields to Families
Lowcountry Environmental Education Programs (LEEP)

And many thanks to the 2008 CreateAthon team:

Brad Caricofe
Jennifer Cherock
Brian Dadin
Jordan Freeman
Roxanne Hicks
Nancy Lyons
Jessica Munday
The Cultigraphic Girls!

The Trio team is thrilled be supporting such worthwhile causes and we can’t wait to see what we come up with throughout the day and night!

Everyone at Trio is very excited to announce that this week we are gearing up for CreateAthon. In anticipation of the event we wanted to make everyone aware that Trio Solutions Inc. will be closed on Thursday and Friday, September 18 & 19 for CreateAthon 2008. During this time we will be providing free marketing services to five area nonprofits as part of our annual CreateAthon, 24-hour, work-around-the-clock creative blitz. This year’s recipients include Camp Good Times, Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy, Family Resource Center for Disabilities and Special Needs, Fields to Families and Lowcountry Environmental Education Programs (LEEP). If you have an urgent need during this time, please feel free to let us know, however if you have a non-urgent matter we will be available on Monday, September 22. Be sure to follow our creative blitz progress on our blog. We would also like to give special thanks to our creative partners, who have graciously agreed to donate their services to our CreateAthon recipients - Kristen and Catherine at Cultigraphics, Brian Dadin and Brad Caricofe.
 

A few weeks ago I had an amazing opportunity. I had a chance to watch my autistic son surf. OK, maybe not by himself, but on a long board with a professional surfer. This was all made possible through a wonderful nonprofit organization, Surfer’s Healing.

It is very challenging to have a child with special needs. Fortunately, my son is high functioning so he does get to participate in a lot of the same activities as a normally developing child. I do know from being involved and working with other children with special needs that this is many times not the case.

What I witnessed on August 12 at Folly Beach was truly fantastic. I arrived late in the day but enjoyed seeing many children and adults enjoy themselves thoroughly. It was amazing to see the turn out of volunteers in the Charleston area. People were so warm, friendly and eager to help.

My own son who has many phobias, one of which is deep water, wanted me to buy him his own surfboard after he finished surfing. It was also wonderful to see a child (my child) that has many sensory issues not whine and complain about having to go home with sand all over his feet. I do believe the experience was therapeutic for him and many others.

The event itself was extremely organized and accommodating to all. I do hope they come back to Folly Beach again next year, but if they do not I believe we are going to take a road trip to their closest camp.

I am attaching the video I took of Jacob surfing. Notice that he asks to go again. Did I mention that he was scared to go at first, even telling me when I signed him up for the camp that he would NOT go? Congratulations to Jacob (my son) for being scared and doing it anyway. Lastly, “Thank You” to Surfer’s Healing and the sponsors of the camp which made it possible for over 50 children with Autism to surf and enjoy the beach for the day!

Well, after much deliberation, we have selected the winners for this year’s CreatAthon! It was a tough decision considering all of the worthwhile nonprofits in the area but we finally narrowed it down to five groups that we’re thrilled to be working with!

The organizations selected as CreatAthon recipients this year include:

• Camp Good Times
• Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy
• Family Resource Center for Disabilities and Special Needs
• Fields to Families
• Lowcountry Environmental Education Programs (LEEP)

The five beneficiaries will receive free marketing services provided by Trio during a 24-hour, work around-the-clock effort designed to help local nonprofits with little or no marketing budgets. The staff at Trio, along with a few generous vendors and freelancers will lock ourselves in the office starting at 8 a.m. on Thursday, September 18, and work all day and through the night until Friday morning at 8 a.m. It’s a creative extravaganza - lots of work, fun, and what we value the most…giving back to the community!

Trio Solutions - working hard, enjoying life, and making a difference. You know how we do!

No one can avoid the subject with all the media attention. However, most of us live in a dream world and think things like foreclosure will never affect us. Well, it’s time to wake up. The national housing crisis is real and very close to home.

Sunday the Charleston Post and Courier reported on foreclosure statistics in the Tri-County area. They were staggering! Charleston County had 451 foreclosure filings for the 2nd quarter of the year and Berkeley County had 225 for the same period. That’s a 59 percent increase from the same quarter last year. Dorchester County experienced a 73 percent increase from last year and even areas like Mount Pleasant doubled with around 200 filings. No one is exempt from this crisis, Kiawah and Seabook islands had a dozen foreclosures. Up until this point I knew there was an issue, but didn’t realize my local community had been affected in such larger numbers.

Trio has been working with a nonprofit organization over the last few months to address the foreclosure issue.

Family Services Inc., based in Charleston, received a grant from the federal government at the end of 2007 to assist South Carolina residents with mortgage default counseling. By working with a homeowner and his or her lender to develop a reasonable action plan that offer relief to the borrower and help save these folks’ home.

Last year Family Services’ staff assisted more than 500 S.C. residents in foreclosure and was able to save more than 350 homes from foreclosure. Already this year, they have assisted more than 800 homeowners facing foreclosure throughout South Carolina.

The more people they can reach the more homes they can save. All of their services are free to anyone having financial difficulties.

On August 9 they will hold a statewide mortgage default clinic in Columbia at the Radisson Hotel on Bush River Road from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s a one-day event where homeowners can meet with a HUD-approved counselor one-on-one to discuss their options.

I would urge South Carolina homeowners having trouble paying their mortgage, to attend this clinic or call 1-888-320-0350 to receive free foreclosure counseling. To learn more visit www.ForeclosureHelpforSC.org. The sooner a homeowner’s issues can be addressed the more likely they will have a positive outcome.