Local brews and local charities are coming together at the Oregon Public House. This is the nation's first non-profit pub. Roughly $1 per pint sold goes to local charities. In the first two weeks of business, the pub raised $2034.80 for charity!
Ryan Saari is the founder of this amazing pub and has rightfully created the motto "Have a pint, change the world". He said that during hard times, people stop giving, but alcohol sales go up so…. why not solve both challenges?!
Wonderful charities and great beer? I'll drink to that!
And that's what's good,
Jon
Life is so short. Kids grow up wanting to be astronauts and archeologists… ok well I wanted to be an archeologist :) Probably because of all those Indiana Jones movies. It is so special when you see people pursuing those dreams…especially when they pursue them in style!
Meet Chris Holmes, a 31 year old working a boring (I'm guessing) job as a Border Agency Official at London's Stansted Airport. His dream job - making cakes! So after his cake business started growing, on his 31st birthday, he baked a cake for his employer, with his resignation letter written as icing on the cake!
Chris Holmes, aka "Mr. Cake" stated, "... Having set up a cake company, I thought I would leave them with a memento that would be a nice way of remembering me. I had the idea six months ago so I've kept it to myself since then."
In a way, we are all "Chris Holmes" if when are not pursuing our dreams. Life is short, go after your dreams, and become your own "Mr. Cake" :) You can grab one of his cakes at http://mrcake.co.uk!
And that's what's good,
Jon
Tom Roeser is on a mission to save Carpentersville, Ill. He is the 60 year old CEO of the town's largest employer, Otto Engineering which makes communications gear.
Carpentersville was hit hard by the recession and showed signs of becoming a crime ridden wreck. Once houses started going under, crime started rising. Broken windows and graffiti started becoming a common appearance.
Roeser cares deeply about his town and wasn't going to let it go down. Unfortunately, he couldn't get any help.
"It really was neglected," said Roeser. "I went to the town, the county; I went to Habitat for Humanity; I told them that we needed to do something about this neighborhood. I couldn't get help from anybody."
So he took matters into his own hands. He bought up 193 foreclosed homes, fixed them up, and sold or rented them out at discount rates. It's starting to work - crime is going down, other neighbors are improving their houses and people are staying.
Roeser is not expecting a profit from all of this work. "The plumbers make money, the electricians make money, everybody makes money and the people get a new home at cost," he said. "I come out of it whole."
And that's what's good,
Jon