Work Builders – Dad's Blog

A great day for Ryan and his charities!

What a great day it was for our family! On Saturday (Nov. 21) we held Ryan’s Work Builders Block Party and everything went great. We had over 100 people attend and help with our project. By days end we finished over 1,200 building blocks which would fill out more than 100 complete sets of Easy Builder building blocks for charity!

We are so grateful to Binghamton University for providing a place for our event to be held and to the Binghamton Circle K student volunteer organization in particular, who supported our effort as university sponsors for the event. Without Circle K’s sponsorship we would not have been able to hold the event on BU campus.

The room was bustling with activity all day long and the energy was great. We had volunteers helping out from all age groups and all backgrounds. There were many Binghamton University students, Vestal Elementary School students and parents, Cub Scout members, professional colleagues, family friends and many others who heard about the event and made the time in their schedules to come and help.

Ryan was so energized that it was all we could do to get him to take a moment to eat a sandwich. He was busy showing people how to do the painting then took over moving hundreds of blocks to and from the outdoor painting area.

Collin hands out stickers!

His younger brother Collin spent the entire day greeting everyone who attended, giving them stickers and big smiles. If you were here on Saturday it is a good bet Collin “stickered” you before you left.

Over the next few days or week perhaps, we will be packaging all of the 1,200+ building blocks into the Easy Builders cloth bags in preparation for donation to Toys for Tots and SOS Shelter. I have been in touch with both of these charities and they are thrilled and look forward to our donations. Doing that will be great fun and I am looking forward to seeing the look on Ryan’s face when he gives them his building block sets. It is what he has been working towards all along.

There are so many people to thank for helping to make Ryan’s vision become a reality it is hard to know where to begin. But here are a few I would like to mention in hopes I am not leaving anyone out.

• Binghamton University
• Binghamton Circle K student volunteer organization
• 3i Graphics
• The Write Strategy
• Lowe’s Home Improvement
• The Johnson Family
• All volunteers/participants who attended!

At some point of the day during the Work Builders Block Party on Saturday Ryan came to me quite happy and said, “Daddy, I want to do this again… next week!” Well, we can’t quite manage something like that, but maybe again next year, who knows.

This was the question Ryan posed to me this evening, “Daddy? Why are all these people helping us so much?”. A fair question to be sure since in the last 12 days we have had the Johnson family lend us woodworking tools, numerous staff of Binghamton University spending countless hours to help us find a home for our event, 3i Graphics donating signage and at least two different Binghamton University student volunteer groups asking to be involved. Beyond that we have had many, many people telling us they plan to come on Saturday to participate in our Work Builders Block Party. So, a  fair question indeed.

What struck me in his question was his sincerity. He simply doesn’t realize just how special it is, what he is doing. So, he does not understand why so many people want to pitch in and help. He is excited about Saturday’s event not because he will personally get anything out of it or from any expectations of play or “party”. He is excited because people will be helping us make more blocks and that means more to give to Toys for Tots and SOS Shelter. Now I know I am biased as his dad, but really, there is something special there.

But back to Ryan’s question, why are all these people helping us so much? To answer his question I found myself explaining what it means “to inspire”. Put simply, I told him that all of these people have seen what he is doing and they think it is good, especially coming from a 6yr old. They are  moved by his good intentions to the point that they feel they want to help and be a part of it in some way. They have been inspired.

I think he understands now, why all of these people are helping us. But at the same time I do not believe he thinks he is doing anything overly special. For him, this is just what he does and it is fun. And that, is a good thing.

If you have not already heard about the Work Builders Block Party I would like to personally invite you, your friends and family to come out and help Ryan and I support charity. All the details are now confirmed and that was no small task!

Through the generous help of numerous others we are now able to say that this event will be happening this coming Saturday November 21 and will be held on the Binghamton University campus! Our special thanks to the Binghamton University Circle K student volunteer organization without whom we would not be able to hold our event on University property. Thank you for your interest and support! Here are the event details.

• Date: Saturday November 21, 2009
• Time: 10:00am – 3:00pm
• Place: Binghamton University Fine Arts Building rm# 212
• Who: ALL are invited from our community and the University
• What: We will be sanding and spray painting building block sets
• Why: ALL Easy Builder building block toy sets made on this day will be donated directly to Toys for Tots and SOS Shelter. These building block toy sets will be distributed to children and families in our community who would otherwise have less to offer their children this holiday season.

This is a community charity project being supported by Binghamton University, a wonderful example of how the students of Binghamton University can reach out and work together with our local community to help others.

We hope that you will be able to come and help us to make as many building block sets as possible for donation to these worthy charitable organizations! Please note that you are welcome to come for what ever period of time you can make available whether that is 20-30 minutes of 2-3 hours.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Yesterday my wife and I escorted Ryan on a visit to the offices of the United Way of Broome County located here in Vestal, NY. After the Staff and Board of Directors learned of Ryan’s intention to support United Way, they extended an invitation for him to visit.

Ryan showing off his LIVE UNITED shirt!

On the way to their offices Ryan was full of questions about the United Way. What charities do they help? Would they want his building blocks? What does “LIVE UNITED” mean? All good questions and perfect for discussion during our visit.

We were hosted for the visit by Mr. Bruce Dudley, the Communications Director for United Way of Broome County. Mr. Dudley had lots of good questions for Ryan about his business and his building blocks. That was really great for helping Ryan to get comfortable with the visit. I notice that when ever Ryan is asked to talk about his building block business or better yet to show them to someone, his face lights up a bit and his shyness seems to fade. He really likes what he is doing.

We learned that United Way supports one of Ryan’s chosen charities, SOS Shelter. Ryan also learned that United Way supports a few other organizations which he is aware of or even involved with such as Boy Scouts of America and the JCC where Ryan had pre-school and now attends after school programming.

Ryan receives his own LIVE UNITED t-shirt

During the course of our visit Ryan also learned what “LIVE UNITED” means. Mr. Dudley explained by telling Ryan that “We all live in the world together and depend on one another. When we help one person we are helping everyone and that is what it means to LIVE UNITED”. He went on to tell Ryan the by doing what he is doing, supporting the United Way and other charities, he is LIVING UNITED too.

Then Mr. Dudley gave Ryan a gift, the LIVE UNITED t-shirt you see here. Ryan was delighted to have received the shirt. He had already seen some of these shirts. Over the last few weeks we had been researching various charity organizations with Ryan. While learning about United Way we watched their new videos which talk about LIVE UNITED.

I think by the time our visit was over Ryan was even more confident in his intent to support United Way. Every day is a learning opportunity in some way.

Early on in the process of building his start-up business, Ryan told us that he wishes to support charity and he has remained steadfast in that mission ever since. Since then he has identified three charities to support in various ways, two of which he wishes to support by making a direct donation of his building blocks.

After contacting these charity organizations to learn if they will accept hand-made toys and if so how many, we learned that the answer to those questions in both cases was a solid yes and “as many as you can provide”. This begged the question, “How many can we provide?”

Between the two of us we had an idea of what we could produce but we wondered if there might be a way to do more. So we talked and brainstormed together to try and figure out how we could make more, lots more. The result of that brainstorming is our “Work Builders Block Party”, and YOU are invited!

The Work Builders Block Party will take place on Saturday November 21, just over one week from now! This will be a volunteer effort to make as many sets of Easy Builder building blocks as we can in one day. Everything produced on that day will go directly to charity! So mark you calendar for November 21 and please plan to come. We need all the help we can get!

Between now and that date I will be cutting at least 500 wood blocks to have on hand for the project. The task for the day will be to sand the sharp/frayed edges so children will not get slivers and to spray paint them different colors that kids will enjoy. It is an easy task really, so bring a friend and spend a little time with us helping charity.

Our plan on Saturday Nov. 21 is to have a large window of time where you are invited to come and participate. You are welcome and encouraged to come for as much time as you can share whether that is 20 minutes or 3 hours. The final details of location and exact hours for the project are being finalized currently and I hope to have all of that information available to you very soon.

A lot of people have expressed interest in helping Ryan and I along with this project for charity. Now is the time so please plan to come to our Block Party, help us make some building blocks to go to kids this holiday season!

If you are planning to help us on Nov. 21st please drop us a note via email and let us know you are coming. If you have a group that might be interested in getting involved then please let us know as soon as possible. We’d love to have you there with us!

If the turnout seems good I may have to cut more blocks for the day. That would be a great problem to have! So continue to watch this blog and Ryan’s Web site for more details as our plans are finalized.

One other way someone may be able to help…

If you know of anyone who might be in a position to help with providing materials for this growing charity project, I would be grateful for help of that nature. As the scale of this seems to be growing so too does that side of the equation. The spray paint and the sanding tools (sanding blocks, sand paper) are the greatest expected expense. Please email me if you have any leads in this regard. Thank you!

Ryan displays Easy Builders for class

Today Ryan was a guest speaker for the Introduction to Entrepreneurship class at Broome Community College, a SUNY school here in Binghamton, NY. The course instructor, Laura Knochen-Davis, had learned of Ryan’s start-up business and invited him to speak to the class.

Ryan and I had put together a presentation of visuals for the class which showed a bit of the story of how Ryan came up with the idea for Easy Builders and how he produces them. While the images displayed on the screen Ryan talked to the class and described what was presented. He then showed his Easy Builder building blocks to the class in a variety of colors and fielded questions.

Greg Tally, Dean of Business School, BCC.

Ryan was a bit shy to get started which didn’t surprise me but once things got going he did very well. A surprise for both of us was that there was a special guest in the room to see Ryan’s presentation. Mr. Greg Tally, Dean of Business and Public Services, came to see what Ryan had to say and he also presented Ryan with a Certificate of Appreciation and a small gift (always a hit with 6yr olds!).

Thank you Laura for inviting us to speak for your class. They were a very good group and wonderful for Ryan as a first time speaker. Thank you also to Dean Tally for taking the time to come and hear Ryan’s presentation and offering the recognition gifts. We had a great time and another learning opportunity for Ryan was a hit for us at least!

On a side note, it served as reminder to me that Ryan is truly a six year old boy, that his singular focus as we left the building after speaking for the class was that he wanted to go around the corner on campus to the Ice Center (ice rink facility) and play with the “pile of snow” on the ground outside the building. Many snowballs were gleefully tossed into the air before we left for home. Thanks for the fun evening!

Having the right tools really does make a difference. Up until this point Ryan and I have been doing most all of the work on producing these sets of Easy Builder building blocks by hand. Starting with 2x2x8 white pine boards I have been cutting the wood with a handheld electric circular saw. The cutting is at times a bit imprecise depending on a steady hand. The smallest blocks are the trickiest to cut accurately and consistently. I’ve been getting better at it though.

After the blocks are all cut to size Ryan and I forge ahead with sanding the sharp and slivered cut edges to be sure no one will get hurt. This has been a process of sanding by hand with sanding blocks or sandpaper. By far the least fun of all the steps to the production process. After sanding is completed we paint the blocks with cans of spray paint of various colors depending on the orders we are filling at the time. All in all a labor intensive process but one which yields a nice product in the end.

Enter some friends with generous hearts… Learning about Ryan’s business and our tools of choice to date, my friends the Johnson’s made a generous offer of tools. Today we visited the Johnson’s home and picked up a chop saw and a couple of palm sanders to try out. Niiiiice!! Ohh, these make such a difference! Thank you to the Johnson’s!!!

Ryan and I immediately gave the sanders a go. Ryan is a bit skittish with the noise from these (or any power tool), so he’s not so sure they are for him. That is OK really. I’d be just as happy if he is not trying to much with power tools just yet. But Ryan did very quickly come up with a distribution of duties which allows me to use the sanders on some parts of the work while leaving other parts of the sanding for his doing.

The saw of course is off limits for Ryan and he is perfectly fine with that. I am delighted though in that this will make things much more efficient as well as accurate in the end. These tools are borrowed so this is a temporary solution, but they will be a great help to our production capabilities. A critical need right now with a special event we have in the works. More on that as soon as some details are worked out.

Stay tuned!

Early on in this process Ryan told me that he wanted to use some of his money to support charity. After much discussion over the last few weeks around our house Ryan has now decided on some charities that he plans to support. He has selected three charitable organizations to help with a variety of reasons for each one. It is a lofty goal that we will work towards together. Stay tuned, we may ask for your help along the way!

First is Toys for Tots Syracuse NY. This was an obvious fit for Ryan and he liked the idea right away. His reason for choosing Toys for Tots was very simple. “They give toys to little kids that might not have any.” Ryan would like to provide some of his Easy Builder building block sets to Toys for Tots for distribution this holiday season. Although there is no local office for Toys for Tots in the Binghamton area, we may have some interesting plans in the works to facilitate Ryan’s donation.

Next on his list to support is the SOS Shelter here in Binghamton, NY. The SOS Shelter provides emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence in our community. Ryan learned of this organization from his mother as she explained that she has made donations to them in the past. He has a natural sense of empathy for all kinds of people in need and seemed to feel a connection here knowing of his mother’s previous support. Like Toys for Tots, Ryan plans to provide some of his Easy Builder building block sets to the SOS Shelter for the benefit of those families with children who find themselves in the care of the shelter. As he put it to me, “They need toys in case they left all their toys behind when they left their house”.

And last but most certainly not least is the United Way of Broome County. This may be the toughest one to manage some support for in that this will be monetary support. As such it will require that Work Builders become financially successful in order to facilitate making a donation. We are working on that! What attracts Ryan to the United Way is that, “They help lots of different charities”. That pretty much says it all.

Now I’ll put on my proud Dad cap and say I could not be more proud of Ryan for his sincere interest in helping others. This has given us great opportunities to discuss and learn about how fortunate we are as a family and how we can help others in our community. I will also repeat for the sake of clarity that this plan to support charity truly originates with Ryan. Where he gets this I can’t know. At his age I was probably most worried about which toy to play with next or picking on my younger brother. Although he does have his moments with his younger brother, in so many ways he amazes me on a daily basis!

Ryan, excited for his first out of town shipments

Today is the day for Ryan’s first out of town Easy Builder building block orders to be shipped. Our first order of business this morning was to get two orders all packaged and ready for shipping, then we were off to the local FedEx Kinko’s location to drop them off for shipment.

In a way this was a good reminder to me that Ryan is 6 years old. For him the simple process of putting his blocks into their shipping boxes, taping them up and taking them out to be shipped yielded great delight. Maybe it was using the packaging tape gun on the boxes or adding the large air bubble filler into the boxes to keep things from bouncing around too much I don’t know, but he was delighted and that is what counts.

If you are in Illinois or Florida and waiting for your order of Easy Builder building blocks, sit tight they are on their way right now!