It began with an idea from our digital media partners, Big Dreamz Creative. “Why not let us take your pink trash cans out into our area communities and let people see them ‘up close and personal’?” That led to “we can partner with Chappy’s Deli and set up at each of their locations”. That led to “why don’t we take other pieces of merchandise with us and let folks see that as well?” That led to the juggernaut that was the Trash Talk Tour.
Once dates were set, the Tour began at Chappy’s Deli on Perry Hill Road. To everyone’s surprise, people had started calling Chappy’s several hours before the Tour stop was scheduled to begin, asking when the cans were going to arrive. Thanks to the pre-event sale of cans on the Joy to Life website, the crew (made up of Nancy and Tommy Fields of Big Dreamz Creative, JTL’s Volunteer coordinator Melissa Orr and her husband Joe and JTL’s Equipment & Set Up Manager Larry Urqhart) knew how many cans to be sure to have on hand, but were not prepared for the overwhelming response of people stopping by and purchasing the cans and merchandise having not heard of Joy to Life before! The original goal was to sell ten cans per stop. By the time the first stop wrapped up,63 pre-ordered cans had been sold along with 24 sold on site!
There were so many amazing moments during the Tour. There was the couple who won a can by spinning our prize wheel, only to gift it to their waitress at Chappy’s. There were the cans that were personally delivered to homes by the crew when the buyer couldn’t get it in their vehicle. There was the Chappy’s waiter who donated all his tip money to Joy to Life simply because he believed in the cause.
When the end of the Tour came, there were literally no more cans left to sell. Despite the fact that several of the Tour stops had to be cancelled due to inclement weather, the final tally was 103 total cans sold and over $1100 collected for merchandise and donations.
So many thank you’s go out to the Joy to Life staff for helping out every Saturday and to David Barranco, owner of Chappy’s Deli,for partnering with us! Also, big thank you’s to all who gave a donation to spin the wheel and to all who purchased a pink can!
Will there be a sequel? Who knows! We know this, there are a lot more people who know a lot more about Joy to Life now than there were before and it all started with just an idea.