Haiti Relief - How Dollarama Helps Me, Help Haiti (cross post)

This is a cross post orginally from
http://www.thesunshineisin.blogspot.com


Written by Lisa one of the employees here at The Sign Depot.
The building we are now located in is a drop off centre for this
50 Ottawa St S. Kitchener Ont
Enter on the Charles St side of the building.
When you drop off your donation please come in & see us! Lisa would love to meet you & thank you for reading & responding to this.
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I feel the world finally learning to rally to help those in need.
I know there is so much more that can be done, but this is my contribution.

Dollarama Stuff
Yes you heard right stuff from Dollarama will help those in need.
Yesterday @Flourishflorals tweeted this linkhttp://mcc.org/kits/relief
Which had this info
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MCC is asking for donations of 20,000 relief kits as part of its response to the Haiti earthquake. Thank you for joining this response. Relief kits provide valuable supplies to families traumatized by war and disasters. In recent years, kits have been sent to Iraq, Gaza, Bosnia, Serbia, Nepal, Mozambique, Indonesia and Honduras.

Contents (NEW items only)
4 large bars bath soap (leave in wrapping)
1 plastic bottle shampoo (380-710ml / 13-24oz; place bottle in a re-sealable plastic bag)
4 large bars of laundry soap (Some stores carry Fels Naptha, Sunlight or Zote brands; contact your local MCC warehouse with questions)
1 squeeze-tube toothpaste (minimum 130ml / 6oz; leave in box) 4 adult-size toothbrushes (leave in packaging)
4 new bath towels (medium weight, dark or bright colors)
2 wide-tooth combs(6 to 8in / 15 to 20cm)
1 fingernail clipper
1 box adhesive bandages (minimum 40, assorted)
1 package sanitary pads (18-24 thin maxi)
Place contents in a box or bag and deliver to one of the drop-off locations in Canada or the U.S. The kit will be re-packed in a new 5-gallon plastic pail with lid.
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Looking at the list I realized I can purchase a majority of it at Dollarama. So that's what I did!I got everything except the laundry soap bars. They have them, but they are unwrapped, so I'll get some at the grocery store tomorrow.I spent less than $20 for all of this.I hope to drop it off early this week(the site lists all the drop off locations)So even when you think you're little donation is just a drop in the bucket, look how much my drop will provide!

Vase

Creating a Landmark

The best signs make you stop and take notice, they draw you in for a closer look.

Souvenir City located in Niagara Falls Ontario commissioned us make a sign for their glass blowing studio. What better sign could we make other than huge vase.

We have created a variety of unusual signs for this client from a chain saw carved bear and moose to a Mountie on his horse perched high above the road way.

Every year thousands of tourist are drawn in to pose and snap pictures in front of the signs - photo memento's of a falls vacation. While stopped buying souvenirs!

Here's how we did it.

First, we built a arm powered lathe to accommodate the huge foam shape.

Handles were made from foam and covered in fiber glass

A welded steel super structure for central rigidity and a mounting plate.

The turned vase was then installed onto the steel post and surface coated in two layers of 6oz. woven fiber glass cloth



A complete sanding and filling to smooth the surface

Finally, a crack paint job by Dave to bring out the character of translucent glass. A clear UV top coat to hold the colour, and wax to accentuate the shine.

Done and installed it's hard to miss. Even while we were installing folks were close by getting their picture taken in front of the vase.

I notice many of the those picture takers later wander into the store and exist bags in hand - my work was already hard a work.