Yes, it’s that time again. Trio Solutions will join the ranks of the sleep deprived as we host CreateAthon 2008. During this 24-hour, work-around the clock creative blitz, Trio will provide free marketing and creative services to nonprofits. CreateAthon will be held from at 8 a.m. on Thursday, September 18 to 8 a.m. on Friday, September 19 and five lucky applicants will get to assist in turning the staff at Trio into caffeine-addicted zombies for a 24-hour period. Although this is the second year Trio will participate, CreateAthon is in its 11th year and has benefited 1,008 nonprofit organizations nationally with 2,143 projects valued at $8.5 million. So help us keep the energy alive and fill out the application on Trio’s site. The deadline to apply is July 28, 2008. Who knows…you could be on of the lucky five!

Friday evening as I was running around the kitchen preparing for our company, I turned on the television and saw Tim Russert’s face. The NBC station is typically on in our house, so this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. However as I continued listening to the story I realized what had happened and that I would never really see Tim’s face on television again. Tim had died of a heart attack doing what he loved so much, preparing for Meet the Press. This weekend I learned more about Tim Russert than I ever would had this horrible event not occurred. And learning about the kind of man Tim was just makes this all the more bittersweet. I almost felt as if I was mourning a close friend or family member. All of the sudden you see him as a husband, a father, a devoutly religious Catholic, a loving son and a wonderful co-worker. We talk about our philosophy at Trio often and this weekend I learned what it means to live it day in and day out. Got get em’ Tim. You are probably in heaven right now explaining to God about the crazy politics of our time. Hopefully you have the biggest whiteboard you could ever ask for!

This past Thursday, Trio Solutions Inc. launched our latest service to the nonprofit world at the 11th annual SCANPO conference - The Nonprofit Nook. We signed up an enthusiastic group of nonprofit professionals to help serve as our launch focus group. We look forward to receiving their feedback and making this site the best resource it can be. Our goal is that The Nonprofit Nook will offer a special section on the World Wide Web for nonprofits to gather free information, resources and support for their marketing needs. A place for nonprofits to make the most of their marketing, event and Web efforts. We have lofty plans for The Nonprofit Nook and look forward to providing quality, useful and innovative services for our nonprofit members. Check it out!

A little over a year ago, Trio began discussing the importance of nonprofits communicating and sharing with one another. Specifically, we felt that the three areas of Web, marketing and event planning are all important topics for nonprofits to share their successes, concerns and questions. From our discussions was born the Nonprofit Nook. Although the Web site is still in development, we have begun hosting monthly workshops at our office. The workshops are being lead by our incredibly talented VPs, Krista, Jen and Brian, and they have been a huge success! I can’t say enough good things about the presenters or tell them enough how proud I am of them. It takes a lot to speak in front of an audience. Especially one of eager nonprofits wanting you to share all your wisdom! But their hardwork has been worth it. This is just another way that Trio continues to give back to nonprofits. We truly do live out our mission- Work hard. Enjoy life. Make a Difference.

Jen and I are at “The Special Event” in Atlanta, Georgia, the event industry’s largest trade show and conference. More than 9000 professionals within the event industry from around the world are here sharing ideas and trends. It’s been a great experience so far. I actually presented on planning events for nonprofits on Tuesday morning. There were close to 200 people in my session. Pretty amazing. The coolest thing that we have gotten out of the conference so far is the committment to create a green office at Trio Solutions and to start creating green events for our clients. Our first step is to develop a sustainable plan for our office. This isn’t going to happen overnight but there is no reason why we shouldn’t put our best foot forward now and there are countless reasons why we shouldn’t do anything at all. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.

In the current edition of U.S. News & World Report their staff shared 50 ways to improve your life. These are quick tips and advice that can improve your body, mind, money, world, and play. I highly recommend picking up this issue. I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of the quick picks was to “purchase a health care gift card.”

Our team at Trio Solutions Inc. has been working with our client, MedExpress in Augusta, Georgia to develop gift cards that give the gift of better health. In a country where health insurance premiums are soaring and small, medium and large businesses are struggling with providing affordable health benefits to their employees we have all been very excited about this new concept. Our thought is that employers can now provide their employees with gift cards in increments of $25 to $1000. The article in U.S. News & World Report just valided that we are on to something and it makes us proud to help our clients be on the cutting-edge. We are very excited about offering this to businesses in the Augusta area.

Some of the other tips that I enjoyed and hope to do in the new year include:

• Stop drinking bottled water. There is nothing wrong with our tap water
• Say good-bye to baseball legends. Go see a baseball game at Shea or Yankee stadium
• Teach your children how to vote
• Take time to listen

If you can’t get the current issue, check out this video of the staffers at U.S. News & World Report sharing the different ways to improve your life in 2008.

Me and Jessica Kersey at the 2007 Race for the Cure

This past Saturday we enjoyed a beautiful day on Daniel Island for the 2007 Komen Lowcountry Race for the Cure. Trio Solutions Inc. is a proud sponsor of our local Komen affiliate and are honored to provide pro-bono marketing services throughout the year. Our entire team goes above and beyond every year to put our best foot forward for this organization and a very worthy cause. There are two folks on our team that deserve a special recognition for all their hard work on the race committee, Jessica Kersey and Krista Robertson. These two served as co-PR chairs for the race and because of their hard work and commitment, this year’s race exceeded all years past with 5521 participants. They donated countless hours of their personal time to ensure that the race received the best promotion possible. As a board member of Komen, it makes me proud to work with such talented and committed people. Our team was “Trio’s Solution” (cleverly thought of by Jessica Kersey) and I do hope that all of our hard work and dedication to this cause will allow us to one day see a solution to breast cancer and ultimately all cancers. What a joyous and triumphant time that will be.

Check out our STATUS REPORT

A special thank you to the Createathon team:
Krista Robertson
Jeanine Szczesniak
Jennifer Cherock
Jessica Munday
Jessica Kersey
Brian Cendrowski
Nicole Cendrowski
Roxanne Hicks
Brian Dadin
Cultigraphic girls

Trio Solutions was selected as the official CreateAthon® agency for the Lowcountry. Although CreateAthon is in its tenth year nationally, this will be the first year this event has been available to Lowcountry nonprofits. For 24 hours, from 8 a.m. on Thursday, September 13 until 8 a.m. on Friday, September 14, every member of our staff will work on pro-bono projects for several nonprofit organizations in our area. During that time, we will complete 15 projects for five organizations. All of our time will be donated.

Congratulations to this year’s CreateAthon recipients:

LOVE Inc.
My Sister’s House
Teacher’s Supply Closet
Lowcountry Earth Force
Berkeley County Foundation of Volunteers for the SC Guardian Ad Litem Program

Inspiring. Amazing. Funny. Strong. This chick, Kris Carr, is all of those things and so much more. If you haven’t heard about Kris and her story, please check out the trailer on her Web site (www.crazysexycancer.com) and be sure to tune in later this month to watch her documentary. Whether or not you’ve been personally affected by cancer – her message is sure to leave a lasting impression on viewers, survivors, and fighters. Educate yourself, laugh a little, shed a tear or two…and take part in one woman’s journey to fight the good fight and to live life to the absolute fullest!

Take care,
Jennifer

Msg from Kris:

Sexy Cancer will be airing on The Learning Channel (TLC) this August 29th at 9 pm! Amen! Yahoo! Yeehaw! Please tune in and spread the word like wild fire. Help us headbutt the ratings and show that cancer really does have an audience - it should! We all know and love someone affected by it. Oh, but the good news doesn’t end there, no, no, no mon cherie, on August 27th my advice from the trenches girlfriends guide to cancer, Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips published by skirt books! hits the stands like a hurricane! Every golden tool you need for the journey is in this book! Finding the right doctor, navigating insurance companies, stylish hospital gowns, dating, sex, changing appearances, nutrition, spirituality, fertility etc, etc darlin’. Grab a copy for yourself or pass it onto someone you love. It’s a nitty gritty manual for facing cancer head on, and if i do say so myself, it’s hilarious!

Working on the fund-raising event for Carolina Autism was so rewarding. I had the opportunity to help with everything from hand delivering invitations to setting up the evening of. This was definitely the highlight of my internship with Trio. Here are some pictures from the event.