a bag full of love
Forecast Staff packing backpacks with supplies for the students of Glen Iris Elementary. Pictured (counterclockwise from the front): Phoebe Hauser, Abby Loveless, Abbey Moon, Billy Halliday, Tristan Cone, Tarria Smith, Bridgette Nelson, Brittany McNaughton, Mark Hyde, Hannah Binkley, Evan Seymour.
At Forecast, we have the immense honor to SHAPE A MOVEMENT. That means we don’t simply wait to adapt to the ever-shifting future we see ahead of us, instead, we take steps to make that future a better, more beautiful one. This has just as much to do with our interactions outside of the salon as it does with what we do behind the chair. We believe that we have been immensely blessed by our clients that we are able to come into work every day to do something we love, and have a responsibility to turn that around and create blessings for our community.
After the lockdown, and having spent so much time inwardly-focused to provide great service for our clients and a successful business for our co-workers, we felt it was time to turn that focus around towards our community. We had donated back-to-school backpacks in previous years, and we were sure the need would be even greater in this difficult environment. We contacted Mrs. Rodgers, the counselor at Glen Iris Elementary, who informed us that besides the usual need for supplies (of which there is always great need) there was a specifically great need this year due to the COVID-19 guidelines. Where in past years a shortage of crayons could be solved by several children sharing, each child had to come to school prepared with their own supplies—no sharing allowed.
This year, we partnered with Eyes Not Forgotten. Eyes Not Forgotten is a nonprofit organization on a mission to bring positive change to people and communities in the United States and around the world through fundraising, partnerships and direct service. Through donations they received and the money we had raised over the past year, we were able to supply fifty backpacks full of supplies for the kids of Glen Iris Elementary. Filled with things like pencils, crayons, markers, paint sets, and notebooks, these backpacks are something that should last into high school and possibly college!
While it was a thrill to have the opportunity to speak with someone from WVTM Birmingham and share with our city about our love for community outreach, of course the greatest moment came when we finally—after all the fundraising and planning—dropped off the backpacks at Glen Iris Elementary. To see in the administrative teams faces and hear in their voices just how thankful they were for just a small token of our appreciation for all they do to educate the next generation was the greatest blessing: and to be reminded that we are all in this together during such a difficult time was something we wouldn’t trade for the world.
If you would like to contribute to Eyes Not Forgotten please visit their website. If you would like to donate time or resources for our next project, please email Forecast!
Phoebe Hauser, Communications Director