Jersey Mike's Sub Shops Local Franchise Owner, Jim Shipman -- is our Small Business Feature

What perfect timing; we here at Altruistic Apps™ get to highlight this community business, Jersey Mike's Sub at the height of summer. Just when those fun outdoor celebrations are in full gear. From graduation parties, and family reunions, to simple family gatherings. What
ever your reason, to us, these all make for great excuses to get the kids out of the house and us out of the kitchen (including hiring catering options) -- during summer time.

Any way you slice it, we couldn’t be more pleased to share a bit about our community partner, Jim Shipman. Jim is the friendly franchise owner of three Jersey Mike’s Sub store locations in: Geneva, South Elgin, and St. Charles. He became a Business Supporter who’s put the School Supporter™ app, seen in the shot below, to work for his business. 

Jersey Mike’s Subs is a franchise business keen on giving back to its community, and we think the founder and CEO, Peter Cancro, would be proud of Jim Shipman’s example of that philosophy working with Altruistic Apps™ and the School Supporter™.  

 
In short at that means, is that he has selected a local Batavia school to sponsor for a flat fee, (with the potential of adding more schools) to have his business added as a School Supporter™.  Amazingly, 50% of that fee from using the app, goes directly to the school! 

Now, Jim can connect with the local community, provide specials found only on the School Supporter™app, plus he’s giving back —all at the same time!  The Batavia High School Boosters are doing a great job of building awareness of the app, and in-turn sharing how they plan to use the extra revenue generated to support the improvements to their sports facilities. 

 So folks, if you are looking for a great place for sub sandwiches, whether dining-in their retro Jersey shore styled restaurants, or ordering for catering, Jersey Mike’s gets our vote. From freshly made classic subs, hot or cold, to wraps and orders by the bag or by the box, you  can’t beat their selection. 

From all of us at Altruistic Apps we say thanks, and Go Bulldogs!

The Alltru-team

(Writing and Photography by ©lindambarrett productions)

Meet our Altruistic Apps Team: Steve Haney is our Creative Director

For the next several weeks, we wanted to take the time to introduce you to members of our team here at Altruistic Apps LLC. These are our talented, hardworking partners, often behind the scenes, and we're thrilled to share a bit more about their skills and talents.

Meet Steve Haney, our down-to-earth, easy going, and talented Creative Director. It's his keen eye that keeps the    branding consistent -- from the web and print collateral     to the School Supporter Apps, as well as the business icons.  

When asked what inspired Steve's creativity, his     response was, "I've always loved drawing." "When I was younger I was the kid always drawing pictures of            my family…sketching my brothers as cartoon characters." "From as early as I can recall, I was drawing, and people would  comment on how good and fast I was." Which makes it all the more surprising that Steve didn't take his first official drawing class until college.

Originally, his college studies were in mechanical and technical drawing, but after taking several  classes he found it wasn't as appealing for him. "I liked more creative drawing, so I switched to graphic design." Now, 35 years later Steve is still putting his pen to paper - as well as computer - creating web designs, and print collateral. He's designed logos, packaging, brochures  and more, for hundreds of clients.

                                         

Steve says the most rewarding thing for him is when he hears his clients response after seeing the work he's created, "their thanks makes me feel good…those direct conversations generate the best feelings."

Getting to work with Steve, as part of the team on Altruistic Apps has it's rewards too. Steve said that what he found appealing about Altruistic Apps "is that we'll be providing directly to schools…to me that's everything." "My kids are grown now, but they (their school) really didn't want for things, not the way that other schools did…it's a dramatic difference when I see photos of the schools from some of the neighborhoods in Chicago, and I think, wow, they need help!"  "And the best part is…we can help these schools." 

It's that big hearted nature, along with his creative skills, that makes us feel lucky that we're getting to work with Steve. Next time you click on an icon for your local school or small business or visit our website, know that it's Steve creative talents that help make those possible.  

Cheers,

Linda
The Altruistic Apps Team

Business Feature: Foltos Tonsorial Parlor

Small Business Feature

Every few weeks we will be doing a feature on one of our new local businesses; partners who are supporting both the community and your local schools through the SchoolSupporterApp.

We wanted a way to say thank you to the early app partners with this special value added blog feature, including sharing some photos and a bit more personal story about these local business that enrich our communities. These posts will also be circulated on our other social media outlets.

Feel free to share the links and drop us a comment or two.

Thanks for visiting and stop back often to see the new Business Features.

~The Altruistic Apps team

Creative Earth Day projects to do with your kids!

Happy Earth Day! We thought we'd share some fun projects that show how to renew, reuse, and remake everyday items into something new. Normally many of these items, like cereal boxes, coffee grounds or jelly jars would go right into the trash or recycle bin, but below we are sharing new ways to look at each of them.

This project from Spoonful shows the how-to steps for turning the families cereal boxes into creative magazine holders. Perfect for kids to decorate with finger paint too. 

Mom or Dad, before you throw out those morning coffee grounds and half cup of cold coffee, try this clever fossil project using coffee grounds  with your kids. Looking for even more ideas for recyling, check out http://spoonful.com.

While we love sharing the fun crafty projects, we also felt it was important to provide some information that helps both adults and kids understand the impact of Earth Day in the bigger picture. This article by the SF Gate has valuable information that is quite eye opening. We found it worth the read gleaning information in order to find ways to teach kids about the harm that some of our everyday items (and behaviors) can have on the environment.  Simply changes like drinking more water out of regular drinking glasses, or reusing old jelly jars  instead of plastic bottles - both filled from the tap -  can cut down on the plastic produced and accumulated in our land fills. 

Try making recycling fun by inventing ways for your kids to get rewards for identifying recyclable products. Or, have your kids become "recycling detectives". While shopping, have them look for products that have recycled content in them - showing them the RECYCLED symbol, will inform them while also making the experience of shopping into a game. These kinds of lessons will build lifelong recycling behaviors.  

For more on what is recyclable and what isn't, check out http://www.greengirlrecycling.com/faqs.html.

Happy Earth Day!

Altruistic Apps.

Our How and Our Why

If you’ve been following along on the blog for awhile, you’ve probably begun to see how much we care about helping schools and students succeed. You’ve also started to learn about what we do, and you’ve met some of the businesses, principals and parents we’re working with. However, it’s been awhile since you’ve heard anything from us about how our School Supporter app works or why we’re doing what we’re doing, and today, we’d like to address just that.

What better way to learn more about us than straight from the source, right?

Six Ways to Fundraise Smarter This School Year

By now, your kids have settled into the routine of a new school year, and so have their teachers. Homework, quizzes and tests are keeping them busy. However, if you’re like many parents, you’re probably beginning to notice that some aspects of your child’s school aren’t living up to their full potential. Maybe it’s a lack of technology in the classroom, the elimination of music or art classes, or too few specialized teachers.

The problem? It’s usually money -- there’s just not enough to go around. That’s why you’re willing to sell cookies and cut box tops to help your kids’ classrooms out. But maybe it’s time to add a few new fundraising tools to your belt.

Here are six “outside the box” fundraising ideas that will help you take your efforts to the next level: