i am small...the trip begins....Staten Island...

in the midst of our journey...sometimes the story takes another turn.....and it gets personal. One of the main tenets of my organization...Toolbox, is that all businesses we work with must pay it forward somehow, be involved in helping in a personal way...I found a man who is setting the standard...and a people who, literally had me humbled by their heart...and they need help to jump some hurdles.

[ i am small ] our journey to speak with businesses across the country and give them a voice... was to kick off today..

I had planned to introduce you to our first business in New York City today, fate took a different turn.

First of all the meeting with my first business owner on Staten Island... was with Ross Decker of Eden Environmental Pest control and the "executive director" of the non profit YellowBoots- a disaster relief humanitarian aid organization founded after hurricane Sandy. It was just a logistic snafu, I was in Manhattan and he was on Staten Island...He mistakenly had it on the following day. No worries, small businesses learn to adapt quickly and things happen for a reason.  

Ross, wearing his YellowBoots hat, was onsite for an urgent situation. A homeowner was forced to demolish a cottage on his property instead of rebuilding.. or he would be fined. 

I showed up on Staten Island for the first time ever...drove right to the affected areas. I was stunned.  The day before I had been on the Jersey shore, another area hard hit...construction going well, homes rebuilt, lawns manicured...boardwalk still being rebuilt, but all in all great for 18 months in..

  on the jersey shore, almost all back to normal...

Not the same on Staten Island. Ross was there with Stephanie Argento-Beharovic...a volunteer with YellowBoots on the administrative side and the home owner Sebastian Cina...behind them was a demolished house.  To tell  you the truth, I knew I had to know more.

Here I am with with Sebastian, Ross and Stephanie..in the background on the right..you can see part of where Sebastian's property was demolished.

Ross was the nicest guy you could every meet, a Staten Island native, who started his pest control business and then hired on his dad. Love family businesses. I thought it would be a great Father's Day post on facebook..but Ross was consumed at that point with the needs of these people, and he got me hooked.

Ross Decker and his Dad :) you know what every day should be Father's Day.

This was the most grassroots, truly humanitarium group I have ever met. Ross got invovled when the storm hit, his power went out, but no flooding in his house. He was complaining about having no power when his wife Cat told him to quit complaining and do something, there were areas people had lost everything...so he did. Stephanie volunteered right away, it was two weeks before Ross found out she lost her own house. Ross just went door to door asking what people needed and got it, even if it was helium balloons just to make them smile. Mostly it was food, water, clothes at first...then it turned to the rebuild...I am making a really long story short. 

I kept asking questions...dumbounded and humbled by what I was hearing...Ross, a small 
business owner stopped working at his own business for 6 months to help his neighbors. What started as a group called Eden Cares, ended up joining forces with two other groups that had started " yellow team" and "boots on the ground"...and became an official 501c3 called YellowBoots.

Over the past 18 months, they have helped preserve and rebuild 1500 homes with another 800 to go...average cost for a moderately damaged home is $40,000, severely damaged $90,000. A miraculous effort. Yet, the most astonishing news to me was that the local government's own program called builditback was given 5 million dollars and thus far has rebuilt 1 home in 18 months......too much to cover in one shot...and tomorrow I speak with one of their main allies in the rebuilding effort.. Congressman Michael Grimm.

Bear with me, follow this story...and in the midst we will be sharing the voices of small businesses as I travel cross country...

To me it is all about follow through and having each other's back...and to tell the truth, this is a solvable problem..just need a few great minds. Considering Staten Island is the shadow of the home of some of the best thinkers and innovators in the country, this should be a walk in the park.. help me make this happen, all it takes is an idea, a contact or maybe even an app...I am croudsourcing this think tank...

:) alyse...

p.s. politcal banter is banned here, when it comes to helping people, it is all about heart...and follow through...and those who know me, get that.