Forgive my sporadic posting, please....I'm still adjusting to having a blog to keep up. I'll get better at it, I hope.
I'd like to take a quick minute here and talk about what's happening next week, the Saturday before Easter specifically. WFS is having an Easter-themed coloring contest for the children of Altadena (well, actually, it's a raffle, because all the kids are winners in our book) that culminates Saturday the 22nd of this month. We're very excited to announce that the winning names, of which there will be 3, will be drawn by none other than the Easter Bunny himself. How fun will this be for your young ones? Bring 'em on in, there'll be wonderful Easter baskets for the prize winners and no child will leave empty handed......don't forget your cameras, either, 'cause you'll definately want to get a picture of your cutie and Mr. Bunny!
After you enjoy the Easter fun, you can browse our store.....you might notice the banner hung by our office windows above the cash station. This banner is announcing that 25% of our sales for the entire day on the 22nd will be donated to the Bright Future Scholars for the benefit of Antwan Havard. The Bright Future Scholars are a group of middle and high school high-acheivers under the wing of Dr. Sandra Thomas, Altadena's current Citizen of the Year. Being part of this highly respected group allows a child to expand their educational horizons, exposing them to real-life studies of current events that will contribute to shaping their lives. To that end, they are planning a Spring Retreat in Washington, D.C., this April. Each child needs $2,000.00 to cover their expenses for this important trip, and Antwan was anticipating going with everyone when April rolled around.....but the unthinkable happened and his grandmother passed away. Money that was earmarked toward Antwan's trip had to be used to honor is grandmother's memory, and because of that, his long-awaited trip is in jeoprady. One of my associates, Leilana, knows Antwan and his family very well and brought me a letter Antwan wrote requesting help getting to Washington, D.C. with the Bright Futures Scholars. What could I do, I thought, to help this child take this trip to our nation's capitol? I'd just been at the Chamber of Commerce dinner honoring Dr. Thomas and was so impressed with her accomplishments and moreso by the obvious pride she takes in "her kids", who were there in numbers supporting and cheering her on. I told her that evening that I'd love to do something to help.....this, I thought, is the perfect time to begin doing something. Webster's has been a presence in Altadena for well over 80 years and I believe that we should use that presence to help our community and its most valuable assets.....the children. So come by on Saturday.....don't feel pressured to buy anything, but all of us would sure appreciate it if you did.....you could just leave a donation for Antwan with one of us, if you'd rather.
5 comments:
I think this all sounds wonderful! I will be there to support this cause as it is a great way to help this young man achieve a small portion of his dreams.
Well done on having this fundraiser!
Thank you! We're all very excited about this Saturday....and even more excited about being able to help someone as deserving as Antwan.
Lori-
I hate to say this, but I really really miss the old layout. I think Websters was open between the buildings most of if not all of my life, and the interlocking volumes of space and lines of sight were always very very interesting to me. While I have no idea who the Architect of the late 1950's remodel was, he was obviously influenced by both Wright and Schindler and very simply and inexpensively made the spaces functional and interesting visually and psychologically.
The new spaces seem cramped, but this could be because my mind just insists upon making the obvious comparisons.
I'm sad that Websters, Altadena's 20th Century superstore is now early in the 21st Century fragmented.
Steve, we realize that many people feel the way you do about the separation of the stores. We'd like everyone to understand it was either do it this way or sell the entire complex to a developer. None of Bill's kids had the money individually to buy the complex outright....or even if we pooled all our resources together. So what could we do....tell Bill he could never retire? Our only option was to buy each store separately, allowing the complex to remain in the community. I'm sure losing the sight-line within the store, or having to enter and exit separate doors would be preferable to having condos where the store used to be.
Changing something that has been a certain way for such a long time is hard for everyone. Keep in mind, though, that change most often encourages improvement. Let's all give the 3rd generation Websters a chance to prove their mettle.
I LOVE the new layout of the store. It was nice having the stairs going through each department, but I always felt so swamped walking through. Almost as though my eyes couldn't rest on any particular item because there was SO MUCH going on EVERYWHERE. I love going into your store and actually being able to look at everything you have; and I think your new additions are wonderful. Keep it up!
Side note for the comments above:
I think people are just so afraid of change, it's like because the stairs are gone their whole lives are turned upside down. I seem to recall having to walk up to the liquor and the video's individual departments if I felt like a cool drink or to rent a movie...hmmm. Not too much of a difference there, huh? I also know that Webster's didn't start out with stairs, they started as individual shops. So if anything, you are EMBRACING the store as it should be. Let's be annoyed by something a bit more pressing, shall we? Like global warming or why it's unsafe for children to walk home from school...
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