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I.D.E.A.s!
Newsletter of The I.D.E.A. Store, Dec. 6- 19, 2012
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Join our email list for updates of inventory and ideas!
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SHARE this newsletter to help us get the word out about what a great place this is for our community! Check out our website for our shopping hours, directions to the store and our wish-list of items for donations and more!
www.the-IDEA-store.org
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Winding down, recharging . . .
Happy Holidays from The I.D.E.A. Store team!
The store's "team" members - staff and core volunteers who keep the place humming day to day - are, back row (L-R): Irene Law, Receiving Coordinator; Craig Rost, Recycling Coordinator and General Manager's Righthand Man; Melissa Mitchell, Communications Coordinator; Gail Rost, General Manager; Ning Zulauf, Assistant Manager. Front row, Shauna Carey, Education Specialist; Claire Billing, Volunteer Coordinator; and Carol Jo Morgan, Environmental Specialist.
It's been a long but extremely fruitful year for The I.D.E.A. Store, thanks to your generous support! We couldn't have come so far in such a short time without your quality donations and your invaluable contributions as shoppers and as volunteers.
The store's staff and volunteers will be taking time off between Dec. 23 and Jan. 7 to spend the holidays with family and friends; we hope you will have the opportunity to do the same! We also will be using some of that time to reboot a few things around the store - all aimed at making the store and classroom area function to better serve your needs.
So, if you have last-minute shopping or craft-supply-gathering to do, be sure to come to the store before 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 22 to pick up what you need.
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Toe-to-heel deal
Solmates make the perfect stocking stuffers
They're warm, they're colorful, they're cotton and - for a limited time only - they're on sale! That's right, our remaining supply of Solmate socks are now 20 percent off, through Dec. 22.
If you haven't discovered your perfect Solmates yet, be sure to come in SOON and take home a pair or two. Grab some more for folks on your gift list, too. And if you have become acquainted with them before, well, then you know you can always use one more pair!
But don't drag your feet ... the window of opportunity is closing fast!
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Enter now!
'Hatch' artists' deadline approaching: Jan. 11
If you've been considering participating in The I.D.E.A. Store's first-ever creative-reuse art festival, there's no time like the present to to submit your application! Hatch takes place
 March 1-3, 2013, but the application deadline is just around the corner: Friday, Jan. 11, 2013.
So, if you create art or functional design with recycled, reused or otherwise repurposed items, we want YOU! If you make unique items on a volume basis, consider entering in the "art fair" category to be a vendor. If your art or design work is truly one-of-a-kind and produced on a smaller scale, the exhibition might be a better fit for you and your work. And if you do both, you may want to enter in BOTH!
More information about the event is available here. Also be sure to "like" the Hatch community Facebook page and keep up with the Hatch event page (also on Facebook) for the latest updates, news and links to examples of creative reuse gathered from various sources.
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Wrap it up!
Reuse tissue and other packaging materials
Running low on gift wrap, tissue paper, ribbons and
bows? Don't forget to check out the supply at The I.D.E.A. Store before you rush out to the big-box stores and get yourself in a big old jam.
We always stock plenty of gently used tissue paper and often luck into some new stuff, too. Ribbon - in various lengths, colors and textures - can always be found on the store floor, too. Wrapping paper comes and goes, so you never know exactly what you'll find - sometimes new, sometimes vintage!
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And . . . we'll catch you on the flip side, too!
 Don't throw away those bows and ribbons after you open the presents! Of course, you can reuse them yourself. But if you have an overflow, we'll gladly accept both items at The I.D.E.A. Store. We also accept new or used bubble wrap and tissue paper. However, we simply don't have enough room for packing peanuts, so you are encouraged to take clean ones to local pack-and-ship stores, which accept them for reuse or resale. Thank you for reducing holiday waste!
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Ring-ting-tinglin' too cool!
Embellish with bells that jingle, jangle, jingle
 'Tis the season to be wrapping up all kinds of things: From work and studies to holiday shopping, baking and gift-making. With all that activity, who has time to decorate?
If you've been rushing about like most folks all month and suddenly realize your nest needs some seasonal feathering, why not jingle bell rock out the decor? The I.D.E.A. Store is a great source for jingle bells and all kinds of other last-minute materials for your home-decorating and gift-making projects. But remember, we close for the season at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 22, so you may need to do just a bit more rushing around to get to the store in time for one more shopping spree!
* Tie one on! Actually, tie several ribbons and bells to a strange of white lights.
* Belt plus + jingle bells = instant décor.
* Trim a mini tree with jingle bells.
* Make sure the kids are there with bells on.
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The I.D.E.A. Store Village Green: Rehabbing habits
New priorities, perspectives in the new year
By Carol Jo Morgan, MSW, MS
Environmental Outreach Coordinator
Volunteers and staff hear regularly from donors, customers and teachers that The I.D.E.A. Store has affected them in various ways. How has The I.D.E.A. Store influenced your life and habits since it opened two years ago?
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Are there elephants - white or otherwise - lingering in your closets? Consider donating them to The I.D.E.A. Store
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Here are some signs:
* Does your hand hover over the trash can or
recycling bin as you pause to consider whether what you were about to deposit there might be accepted at the store?
* Do you look at odds and ends with new perspective about what they could become?
* Have you and your students celebrated receiving a monetary grant from the Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation's The I.D.E.A. Store proceeds?
Stratton Elementary School teachers had their weekly meeting at The I.D.E.A. Store recently, toured the place, collected new ideas for projects and selected things that will
be purchased for the school's "MicroSociety" ventures. As they were leaving, I was surprised to see a police officer outside the store's north door and asked him whether something was wrong. He said no ... that he was hoping the store was open so he could get materials for his Boy Scout troop to use. He was disappointed to see that the store was closed, and he went on to say that he would not have come last year to a place that sells "junk," but now The I.D.E.A. Store is one of his favorite places to shop! We thank you, sir, for this most wonderful compliment.
The I.D.E.A. Store and CUSF staff-volunteer teams got together recently for a holiday party that included a "white elephant" gift exchange. We were each challenged to bring something "useless" from our home and dress it in fancy wrapping so another of us would
choose and unwrap it, have a good laugh and take home someone else's castoff. I was especially challenged to find a white elephant because routinely distribute things we no longer want or need to several community organizations, including The I.D.E.A. Store, of course. I also tend to see multiple reuse possibilities for a single thing! What it comes down to is that the store gives us a new way of seeing treasures instead of trash. Please join with us in resolving to spread this re-vision in the coming year!
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So, What's This All About?
The Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation saw a need in the community to accomplish several things: 1. Support the arts and arts education, 2. Support environmental education in our communities, 3. Impact the environment by reducing the rate of waste disposal, 4. create a place for everyone to have access to quality materials and 5. Support itself in light of the difficult economic times. So donate your discards and shop re-use. Its about making a difference!
www.cuSchoolsFoundation.org
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INVEST. DEVELOP. ELEVATE. ACHIEVE.
The I.D.E.A. Store is an earned-income social enterprise
of the Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation,
a full 501c3 non-profit organization supporting K -12 education in
Illinois Community School Districts Unit 4 and Unit 116
Phone: 217-352-7878 Store hours: Tuesday - Friday, 2 pm - 7 pm and Saturday, 10 am - 3 pm
28 E. Springfield, Champaign, IL 61820
2nd Floor - handicapped access and loading dock available on north side of building
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