Category: Ladue News Feature Stories

Ladue News Feature Stories

Spring Into Clean

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It’s time to get organized.

As we move into the full-fledged, blossoming weeks of spring, many homeowners are using this time to do some deep cleaning to revamp their abodes for the warmer months. Although everyone’s definition of spring cleaning is different, a big aspect of it is an organizational process to rid your home of unused or unwanted items, along with tidying up the things you’d like to keep.

Tiffany Hively, a design consultant with California Closets St. Louis, recommends starting off the spring cleaning procedure with a simple categorization process. In a clothing closet, she suggests putting types of clothing together, like hanging all long-sleeved shirts together in one group, short-sleeved shirts in another.

“You want to take everything out of the space and go through it,” Hively says. “Divide everything into three categories: one to donate, one for items you’re wearing on a regular basis and one for items that have sentimental value.”

Hively mentions that California Closets St. Louis has a partnership with a program called Dress for Success, which seeks “to empower women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life,” according to the organization’s website. California Closets St. Louis will take the donated items from its clients’ closets to Dress for Success to be put to good use.

After the donated items have been sorted and the regularly worn clothing items categorized, Hively recommends putting sentimental clothing into labeled boxes for storage.

“It could be something you wore when you were bringing your first baby home from the hospital – it’s something you want to keep, although it’s not in your rotation of clothing you wear every day,” she says.

The same thing goes for pantries and offices.

“Take everything out, categorize and check expiration dates,” she says. “Purge what you don’t need, and return the items in a way that’s accessible for what you use most. You’ll save time and create ease and convenience on a daily basis.”

Saint Louis Closet Co. president Jennifer Williams recommends starting small with your spring cleaning – with just one closet space at a time.

“Once you get one space organized, you will really realize the time saving and overall satisfaction that organization can bring,” she says. “We offer free in-home estimates, which take about an hour and allow our clients to see the transformation possibilities.”

Williams and her team work within any type of budget to start with basic hanging and shelving. Once the organizational system is installed, clients can come back and add doors, drawers, hooks and other accessories.

“This allows the process to start off simple, cost-effective and quick,” Williams says.

Her go-to spring cleaning tip is to take everything out of a drawer, cabinet or closet. This allows you to clean, paint or even install an organizational system. She reiterates starting small with one space at a time, noting that the motivation from one cleaned and organized space will put you on a path of living a more organized life.

From there, Hively says she’s seeing more people tackle organizing their entire home, space by space.

“It’s more than just the closets,” she says. “People are focusing on the entire home as a way to create order in their lives and love how they live.”

She notes that California Closets St. Louis has been helping organize everything from playrooms to mudrooms to offices, and that its clients have been excited to see that there’s a place for everything – not just in their closets.

“We come in, take inventory of the things they have, go over the vision for the space and hear what’s working and what’s not,” she says. “At the initial consultation, we’ll measure the space, take inventory of their items and find out what’s working and what’s not. We create all of our designs in a 3-D CAD [computer-assisted design] software, allowing our clients to see exactly what their space will look like during the presentation, which typically takes place in one of our showrooms so they can see the products.”

At Saint Louis Closet Co., Williams and her team offer free in-home estimates, where design consultants can measure the prospective clients’ closets and other spaces that need organizing and provide a design and price. Its organization systems are custom-manufactured at the company’s Maplewood factory and are then installed in the home within one day.

“Spring is a great time to clean up and rid your home of clutter that has accumulated from the holidays and long winter,” Williams says. “There’s nothing more satisfying than working with clients at the blueprint stage and getting them really thinking about the overall home organizational needs.”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

Ladue News Feature Stories

Let Your Soul Shine

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TV reporter Rebecca Sheehan was between jobs at KTVI and KSDK when she was searching for a creative outlet. Also an avid practitioner of yoga, Sheehan wanted to find a way to bring the self-reflective aspects of yoga to her life outside the studio. Combining these two ventures, she began designing jewelry in 2016.

This creative outlet soon became Soulshine Yoga Jewels, a local business that sells handcrafted jewelry pieces designed with meaningful gemstones and charms to encourage inspiration, inner growth and enlightenment.

At the beginning of a yoga class, yoga teachers will often ask their students to set an intention for their practice – something to act as a reminder throughout practice when the mind wanders or the student becomes distracted. Intentions are something the student wants to cultivate during practice and out in the world – things like peace, compassion or mindfulness.

“My purpose in creating this jewelry is to keep that intention from your yoga class, or any self-reflecting experience for that matter, with you throughout your day,” Sheehan says. “My intention in class is often to be present because we’re all so busy and our minds are in a million different places.”

The current Soulshine line features necklaces and beaded bracelets. Sheehan originally started focusing solely on bracelets but added necklaces in February after noticing a demand from the yoga and jewelry community. Many of the designs are done in the style of a mala, a string of beads used to keep count while reciting a mantra – something like “om” or “I am fulfilled.” Tibetan Buddhism, for example, uses malas of 108 beads when practicing yoga – and many of Sheehan’s necklace designs mirror that number.

Although her jewelry incorporates traditional aspects of yoga, Soulshine pieces are also beautifully crafted statement pieces that could just as easily be worn for a night out on the town. Many pieces feature sparkly elements, bright colors and even wow-worthy cuts of agate and quartz.

“I think what sets this jewelry apart is that it has traditional aspects and meaning, but you can wear them to yoga or out at night,” Sheehan says. “Most jewelry is one or the other.”

All of Sheehan’s jewelry is carefully handcrafted in St. Louis with high-quality gemstones and materials. The pieces range from earthy malas made with hand-carved sandalwood to modern interpretations of malas with Herkimer diamonds, which Sheehan says magnify the meaning of other gemstones. Her bracelets range from $28 to $65, depending on the resources used, and the necklaces range from $65 to $145. Sheehan initially started selling her bracelets at local Yoga Six studios and boutiques, and now they can be found at retailers across the country and online.

One of her best-sellers is a beaded bracelet called The Motherhood Mala. She designed the bracelet when she was pregnant with her daughter, crafting it with labradorite and rose quartz, which Sheehan claims can help cultivate maternal energy and unconditional love, while increasing energy levels and motherly intuition.

As she’s progressed in her jewelry-making, Sheehan has gotten overwhelmingly positive feedback from her customers. Her customers have told Sheehan how meaningful the pieces are to them.

“My jewelry has brought people to tears because they’re so grateful to have that inspiration at a time in their life when they needed it the most,” Sheehan says. “I entered journalism because I knew how satisfying it would be to make an impact on peoples’ lives. To be able to make an impact in peoples’ lives by simply creating jewelry means a lot to me.”

Right now, Sheehan is taking a break from reporting to be at home with her 6-month-old, Juliet, and see where Soulshine takes her. She says she’s considering going back to TV but “wants to see where this goes.” Keeping her finger in the broadcast business, she also recently signed with local talent agency TalentPlus to do on-camera and corporate spokesperson work and lifestyle modeling.

“I feel fortunate to be able to explore this opportunity,” she says. “When you find something you’re passionate about, there’s this inner drive that keeps you going.”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

Ladue News Feature Stories

Quality Underfoot

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“We all find something in life that will catch our passion and that’ll be something that sticks with us forever,” Greg Halbert says. “For some people, it’s couture clothing; for other people, it’s glassware.”

For Halbert, though, it’s rugs.

The native Missourian owns Halbert Rug Co. on Manchester Road in Warson Woods. In his shop, visitors can find a wide assortment of high-quality, handmade Tibetan and other Oriental rugs of all sizes. Halbert personally curates the shop’s collection of rugs, which are made using hand-spun, naturally dyed wools and traditional old-world techniques.

He’s been a “rug nut” for most of his life, starting in college, when he was collecting antique pieces. When Halbert moved to San Francisco post-college, he found a group of people who shared his interest in rugs, including a friend who bequeathed him a collection of rugs after he retired and moved away.

“He told me to sell them for whatever I could get,” Halbert recalls. “I was working downtown during the week and selling rugs out of my garage on weekends.”

Word got out about the guy selling rugs out of his garage on a narrow, one-way San Francisco street. One weekend, a neighbor called the cops on him.

“Two cops came in one car; one bought a rug,” Halbert says with a laugh. “The other came back the next day and bought one, too.”

Driven by a passion for high-quality rugs and the stories behind them, Halbert began to think of ways to make this hobby a full-time gig. Around the same time, a retail space opened up a block and a half from his house, and a few new rug sources popped up.

“When stuff like that happens and it’s right in front of you like that, I don’t think you can ignore it,” Halbert says. “When you do, you could be missing out on a wonderful path in life.”

He had his San Francisco shop for more than a decade before moving back to Missouri in 2007, when he opened Halbert Rug Co. in the Central West End. In late 2015, he moved to a new location on Manchester Road in Warson Woods, where he’s been ever since. The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays or by appointment.

Visitors to the clean-lined, minimalist store will be immediately wowed by the room’s attention-grabbers: the rugs. When customers come in looking for a rug, Halbert typically spends time with them, educating them on the work behind the fine pieces. The rugs range in style from traditional to tribal to Tibetan to modern.

“A lot of changes have happened in the rug industry over the past 150 years,” Halbert says. “The two big things that occurred were the introduction of man-made synthetic dyes and machine spinning of the yarns. Prior to that, all the colors came from a natural plant source, and all material was prepared by hand. Today, in 2018, of the whole world’s production of handmade rugs, the percentage that is done with a handmade yarn strand and a color source that came from a natural plant dye is probably 2 percent. And that’s probably being generous.”

However, all rugs in Halbert’s store are created using this old-world method that predates synthetic dyes and machines. As an example, a 9- by 12-foot rug found at Halbert Rug Co. has years of work behind it. Halbert goes on regular buying trips to countries where rugs are still manufactured this way – often countries like Afghanistan, Nepal and India.

He says these trips are “very busy and very fast.” Since he works with closed market sources that he’s had for years, they know he’s coming and are ready to show him products when he arrives. Halbert selects the rugs he wants for his store and has them shipped to St. Louis, where he turns them around to his customer base.

“This shop is very different from any other shop you’re going to find in the Midwest,” he says. “[These rugs] are something that can last for hundreds of years and increase in value. There’s so much work put into it and such an artistic element to it.”

For more than 20 years in San Francisco and St. Louis, Halbert Rug Co. has been providing clients with gorgeous rugs that range in style, size and origin. Halbert says the most rewarding part of his job is seeing a client’s face light up once the rug is in that client’s home.

“When you put something that big of this quality in a room, it changes the feel and dynamic of everything,” he says. “It elevates the whole space, and the quality makes a difference.”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

Ladue News Feature Stories

Taking on the Big Apple

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St. Louis interior designer Jacob Laws has made a name for himself locally with his fierce passion for art in all forms. The award-winning head of Jacob Laws Interior Design has worked tirelessly over the years to build a brand that reflects his style – and it’s paid off.

Laws kicked off 2018 in New York City, where he attended The Fashion Group International’s (FGI) prestigious Rising Star Awards. The designer was announced as a finalist in early January, and he was named the organization’s Home Furnishings/Product Innovation Rising Star winner at the Jan. 25 event.

Laws had attended the awards event last year, supporting two of the Saint Louis Fashion Fund’s inaugural class of designers, Emily Brady Koplar and Allison Mitchell, who themselves were nominated then as Rising Stars. A year later, a local member of FGI, Ellen Soule, nominated some of Laws’ work for the 2018 awards.

“Honestly, I hadn’t considered my interior design projects, custom designs or bespoke work as a medium that was relevant for a nomination, much less being a finalist and having my name called as a winner,” he says.

Laws’ interior designs are classic with a modern edge. He often juxtaposes old and new and traditional and contemporary, creating a unique and fresh environment. For his submissions, Laws sent in some custom ceramic dishes, a cut-brass sculpture and dish created from the same piece of scrap metal and a wood sculpture carved from a block.

“I submitted pieces that I had designed specifically for several projects,” he says. “I’m very proud to say that each piece has been handcrafted by local artisans, as I find it so important to support local talent and work collaboratively.”

Laws says that each piece was designed with more than just aesthetics as the objective.

“Every piece has its own bit of soul, and all my pieces are named after people who have been influential in shaping and cultivating my brand,” he says, naming the Dean Tower, Nancy Bowl and Holls Vases as examples.

The experience at the awards was surreal, Laws says. He remembers waking up the day of the event “just thrilled” that he was going. An enthusiastic group of supporters joined him in New York, including his partner; his parents; family members; Saint Louis Fashion Fund members Susan Sherman, Tania Beasley-Jolly and Helene Sayad; and his “design sister,” Jessie D. Miller.

The event took place at a sophisticated venue in Manhattan called Cipriani 42nd Street. Laws describes the atmosphere as “dreamy” and recalls feeling honored, anxious and excited leading up to the announcement. ELLE Decor editor-in-chief Whitney Robinson presented the home and interior category, and Laws says that “everything went black for a split second” when his name was called.

“I truly didn’t have anything prepared to say because I never imagined that I would win,” he says. “The first words into the microphone were ‘Oh, [expletive].’ Luckily, the room laughed and clapped.”

Laws says he dedicated the award to his style icon and inspiration: his grandmother Winnie Phillips Stahl.

Inspired by the movers and shakers he interacted with in New York, Laws is already deep in projects for 2018. At the beginning of March, he was back in New York, working on the initial stages of a new effort called Jacob Laws Lifestyle. He’s also in the middle of a few St. Louis interior design projects. Those interested in learning more about his work can contact him at jacob@jacoblaws.com.

“I will never give up designing and working on projects,” he says. “Being able to love what I do positively influences my quality of life.”

As today’s design continues to evolve and morph to reflect the current culture and atmosphere of the world around it, Laws remains inspired by nearly everything around him.

“The beauty of design is that it’s an art,” he says. “Every artist has [his or her] own particular niche. I’m always inspired by other peoples’ talent. I always find inspiration in art, fashion, culture, history and travel. Those are the things that will always excite me.”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

Ladue News Feature Stories

A Place for Kids to be Kids

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Cancer affects not just individuals but whole families.

In a world where nearly everyone has been touched by cancer in some way, there are 5 million children in the United States alone who have been affected by a parent’s cancer. The emotional toll this can have on a child in his or her formative years can be great, but one organization is working purposefully to ease the burden.

Camp Kesem began 18 years ago at Stanford University to provide a supportive, safe place for kids who have lost a parent to cancer, who have a parent undergoing treatment or whose parent is a cancer survivor. The free weeklong summer camp has grown from humble beginnings to more than 100 chapters in 40 states across the country, with some chapters offering multiple sessions each summer.

One such chapter is right here at Saint Louis University (SLU). The local chapter started in 2013 and is operated by a group of SLU volunteers who work year-round to raise money for the organization.

Laurel Dusek, a junior political science major at SLU, serves as the chapter’s public relations and marketing coordinator, along with fellow student Justin Parramore. She got involved with Camp Kesem after working as a camp counselor at home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This will be her second summer helping with the camp itself, and she works with other student volunteers to raise money for Camp Kesem throughout the year.

“I love summer camp and how impactful it can be for children, especially if they’re going through a tough time,” Dusek says.

This summer, dozens of campers ages 6 to 18, along with student volunteers, will venture to Sunnyhill Adventures Center in Dittmer the first full week in August for swimming, fishing, archery, arts and crafts, other sports and more. The counselors work to ensure the week is a safe, supportive and high-energy adventure for the campers. The days have built-in downtime, a rotating selection of activities and evening all-camp activities like “capture the flag” or talent shows that bring everyone together.

Each day at Camp Kesem is different, allowing campers to get a full spectrum of summer camp experiences. What sets Camp Kesem apart from other summer camps, though, is its built-in support system for the hardships that accompany a child dealing with a parent’s cancer. With a 3-to-1 camper-to-counselor ratio, Camp Kesem ensures that campers get the attention and support they need. Each evening, counselors also facilitate “cabin chats,” where campers can talk about what’s on their minds in a safe place among peers.

“We’ll read, tell a story or lead a discussion, depending on the age group,” Dusek says. “I was with the older girls [last summer] and was able to ask deep questions about school and life in general. It’s a chance for everyone to get to know each other on a deeper level.”

Once during a week of camp, counselors facilitate a session called “empowerment,” where campers are invited to share their family’s story. It’s a time for campers to discuss what they’re experiencing, their hopes and dreams, and what the camp experience has done for them.

“It gives them a sense of comfort knowing the people around them understand what they’re going through,” Dusek says.

Although SLU’s chapter of Camp Kesem is fairly new, it’s become popular due to St. Louis’ proximity to prominent hospitals and research centers. This summer, Dusek says the camp plans to take on two dozen more campers than in 2017, for a total of 110 this year. “Last year, we had 86; this year we should have at least 110 at our larger campsite,” Dusek says. “In 2017, nationally, we served more than 7,300 kids.” Luckily, volunteer growth has mirrored growth in campers, and Dusek says volunteering is becoming popular on campus.

“Since St. Louis is such a big place for hospitals and research, there are a lot of patients with families in the area,” she says. “It’s great that we have this organization to support them.”

It takes about $1,000 to support each camper, so this year’s fundraising goal is $110,000. Through events throughout the year, like the annual Make the Magic event and Giving Tuesday, along with generous donations, the local camp is able to expand and serve more local children each year.

“Everyone involved is so passionate about the organization,” Dusek says. “Camp can be a great place for people to discover new things about themselves. It’s such a powerful experience.”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

Ladue News Feature Stories

Lapping the Competition

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The entrepreneurial game is full of makers who saw an aspect of the market they were unsatisfied with and sought to make better. One such creator is St. Louis native Daniel Shapiro, who wasn’t happy with the options being offered in the workout clothing market. As a result, the New York-based entrepreneur launched his own company, Fourlaps, about a year and a half ago.

Shapiro grew up in Clayton and attended Washington University in St. Louis. He had always been interested in retail, apparel and consumer products, so working for Gap, Inc. doing apparel merchandising came naturally to him. It wasn’t until later, though, that Shapiro began a more active lifestyle.

“I was thinking about the clothes I wear to the gym and how I wasn’t satisfied with what was on the market,” he says. “So many of the big brands were super heavy on the logos or only came in neon colors. I wanted to create a fashion-inspired brand for men.”

Shapiro thought about starting his own brand for a while but was nervous about the process and what it would entail. He moved to New York to work for Gap but ended up leaving the company in 2013 to start his own venture: Fourlaps.

The name refers to four laps around a track, equaling a mile, signifying what might be one’s first athletic milestone. With a motto of “start before you’re ready,” the brand encourages its customers to wear the clothing both inside and outside the gym, as well as for everyday attire.

“Fourlaps is changing the game with standout, thoughtfully designed workout essentials for men who aren’t willing to compromise on performance and style,” Shapiro says.

Although he had the concept down, getting Fourlaps off the ground was hard work.

“I had a large network of people, so the process [of creating Fourlaps] began by networking to find an agency to create the logo,” he says. “I also had to find a designer and a company to produce the clothing. I was working on production, brand and design all at the same time. These things always take longer and cost more than you expect.”

Fourlaps took about two years to come together and launched in August 2016. The line consists of T-shirts, tank tops, hoodies, shorts, jogging pants, hats and even a duffel bag. Most of Fourlaps’ line hovers around the $50 price point, with a few products like the hoodies and jogging pants retailing in the $70-to-$80 range.

While some of the pieces are colorful, they’re mainly muted tones like grays, blacks and blues. Products like the best-selling Advance Short and sophisticated Dash Tank have captured the attention of renowned publications like GQ and Men’s Fitness, which, in 2016, called the brand “our favorite new apparel brand” and “an absolute game-changer,” respectively.

Customer feedback has also been “overwhelmingly” positive, Shapiro says, with customers showing enthusiasm for the independent brand.

“Color is always part of the brand, but we’re going to be [softer] about color in spring of this year,” Shapiro says. “We’re going to take this next line to the next level in styling, color and technology.”

Although Shapiro and his company are based in New York, some of the products are printed here in St. Louis – something that’s important to the Clayton High School alumnus.

“St. Louis is such a huge part of who I am,” he says. “Much of Fourlaps has been influenced by my upbringing.”

As the brand grows and evolves, Shapiro says he’ll be looking into doing some brick-and-mortar wholesale. As of now, though, the entirety of the Fourlaps brand is available only online.

Founding his own brand has been a learning experience for Shapiro, but already he’s taken away some key lessons.

“First, you have to trust your instincts,” he says. “Also, [the process] isn’t a sprint – it’s an Iron Man triathlon. You need to be able to think long term and short term. Sometimes things take a day, and other times they take months. It’s all about perseverance.”

With a solid, driven fan base and big plans for 2018, Shapiro and his athletic endeavor show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

Ladue News Feature Stories

Game Changer

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John Coveyou had always been fascinated by hobby board games. Growing up, he spent much of his free time playing Dungeons & Dragons, Monopoly, Sorry!, The Game of Life and the like – anything that he could get his hands on. What started as an early enthusiasm morphed into a real passion. As he got older, he grew into games like The Settlers of Catan, Stone Age and Citadels.

His teen years, though, were a bit tumultuous. At 16, Coveyou moved out of his parents’ house and lived out of his car while he “hopscotched from home to home.”

“I knew I needed to add discipline to my life, so I joined the Army and became a military police officer,” he says.

During his deployment in Iraq, Coveyou and his friends would play poker and Risk in their free time. He would also immerse himself in lectures from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on physics and biology, leading to his being nicknamed “Professor Coveyou” by fellow soldiers.

When he returned from Iraq, Coveyou wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and began working at an engineering consulting company before realizing the corporate environment didn’t quite suit him.

“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I was teaching a basic chemistry course at St. Louis Community College,” he says. “Students would come in and were already so intimidated by the concepts and vocabulary.”

Coveyou recalled that oftentimes memorizing a large set of information related to gameplay came easily, and he wondered if this could help his students retain basic science-related concepts.

“I thought, ‘Why don’t I make some games about these science concepts to see if they can pick up the information they’re so intimidated by,’” he says. “That’s really how [Genius Games] came about.”

Coveyou began making games for his students in 2011 and started to read more information on design blogs about what makes a great game. To actually publish his first game in early 2014, a DNA card game called Linkage, he turned to crowdfunding website Kickstarter.

“We needed $3,800,” he says. “When we raised $12,055 for that first game, I realized this might be viable.”

Linkage’s follow-up game, a protein-building game called Peptide, did even better than the first game on Kickstarter. At the time, Coveyou, his wife and their 2-month-old daughter were living in St. Charles. After some deliberation, they decided to take a risk and sell their house and cars to move into a two-bedroom apartment in St. Louis. Taking the plunge turned out to be worth it, though, since each new game has garnered more attention and enthusiasm from the gaming and science community.

“To date, we’ve published six games, five of which are still in print,” he says.

Genius Games has also published six science-based children’s books, including a set about women in science and other books on various chemistry-related topics like electrons and atoms.

Coveyou gets ideas for games from science concepts he thinks could be mass-marketed. Genius Games are favorites of both educators and families, and the content matches up with what students in a ninth-grade classroom are learning. Once Coveyou has a topic, he’ll research the subject matter and figure out its core ideas that people need to take away. Then, he’ll figure out how to take the concept’s key components and turn them into aspects of a game. In his Cytosis cell biology board game, the game takes place inside a human cell, where resources are cell macro-molecules like proteins, fats, RNA and carbohydrates. Players need to collect resources that organelles produce in a real cell and trade RNA for proteins, and the game moves along just like the functioning of a real cell.

“Once you have the original design, that’s only about 5 or 10 percent of the work,” Coveyou says. “The rest is feedback, changes and playtest [the process of testing a game for flaws before marketing it].”

Genius Games’ latest production, Subatomic: An Atom Building Game, launched on Kickstarter on Feb. 6, meeting its goal within hours; however, funding will remain open for 30 days. Coveyou says it’s a deck-building game that’s themed around the intersection of particle-building and chemistry. Additionally in 2018, he hopes to put out a game on plant biology, where players will go through the process of photosynthesis.

These games are important to kids’ learning because of the pressure society has put on science, technology, engineering and math, today’s ubiquitous “STEM.”

“We’ve been using the same methods to teach classes for decades,” Coveyou says. “We’re failing to really allow children to see the big picture of why studying a cell matters. In these games, we’re allowing both kids and adults to learn through interacting with each other and the motivation of competition. It removes a lot of that intimidation that’s there.”

Genius Games’ games and books can be purchased on the Genius Games website and Amazon, and are available in select area game shops like Fantasy Shop, Apotheosis Comics and NewCastle Comics & Games. They range in price from $19.99 to $49.99.

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

Ladue News Feature Stories

Buy a Bargain, Build a House

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For decades, St. Louisans have had an incredibly resourceful place to both donate and purchase building and remodeling supplies, along with home décor. Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis’ ReStore has two locations in the metro area, both well-stocked with products that help generate funds to support its own mission to build houses.

The first ReStore opened in St. Louis proper in the summer of 1997 and quickly outgrew its space. Five years later, the store reopened at 3763 Forest Park Ave., where it’s been operating since. Another location, behind a Sam’s Club off Manchester Road in Des Peres, opened in 2013. This location measures 48,000 square feet and houses building materials – from doors to cabinets to lamps to couches.

ReStore general manager Josh Vaughn says ReStore accepts “anything you could find in a big-box home improvement store,” plus new and gently used furniture and home décor. “We then resell the products to the public and use the funds we generate to help build Habitat for Humanity homes in St. Louis city and county,” he says of the nonprofit organization that builds and provides safe and affordable houses in communities across the nation.

In addition to accepting and selling these products, ReStore offers a deconstruction service for homeowners or businesses planning a large-scale remodel or demolition. A team of ReStore employees will come and carefully uninstall things the owner is having replaced, like kitchen cabinets, countertops and light fixtures.

“We’ll pick them up the same day [we uninstall them], and you’ll have a donation receipt within 48 hours,” Vaughn says.

He calls the deconstruction service a “win-win-win” because clients can have a space like a kitchen taken apart without generating waste or associated contractor fees, plus receive a tax write-off for the donation. Individuals may choose to make a monetary donation to Habitat, but there is no mandatory fee to perform a deconstruction.

“It’s popular because it’s such a deal,” he says. “We do one project per week and are usually scheduled four to six weeks out.”

Vaughn has been with ReStore since 2009 and has seen exponential growth since then. From 2013 to 2017, it has grossed more than $1 million, and the business continues to grow. The Des Peres location has been hugely successful, raking in about four times the amount of donation drop-offs as the St. Louis location. Vaughn attributes the success of the Des Peres operation to being near a customer and donor base – something its St. Louis sibling has been lacking in recent years in the largely commercial zone where it’s located.

For that reason, the Forest Park ReStore will be relocating to 3830 S. Grand Blvd. in late April. The new site will offer 25,000 square feet in a vibrant community that is buzzing with excitement about ReStore’s arrival. Vaughn says the South Grand neighborhood has been “awesome” and has even offered to put up yard signs welcoming the business to the area.

A typical day at the ReStore is anything but typical, Vaughn says. Since the store’s inventory changes each day, there’s no knowing what will be dropped off or sold. It’s developed a loyal customer base whose members want to see what will show up at ReStore every day. When the store opens at 10 a.m., Vaughn says there’s usually half a dozen people waiting to get in, along with a few people waiting to drop off donations.

Throughout a “typical” day at the ReStore, trucks come and go from the facility, dropping off new items and going to pick up donations.

“We do between 150 and 200 [donation] pickups per month, and that’s reserved for larger donations like cabinets,” Vaughn says.

Because kitchens are a popular remodeling project for homeowners, the ReStore typically has a steady supply of cabinets, which make up a huge part of ReStore’s donations and profits. Vaughn says the facility’s staffers price their gently used cabinetry at half of what other brick-and-mortar home improvement stores would.

“It’s a great deal, because cabinetry can get expensive,” he says.

Funds from efforts like the ReStore are crucial to the continued success of Habitat, and Vaughn says he’s looking forward to how the new location and continued growth of the Des Peres facility can contribute to Habitat’s progress. The organization will be building its 400th home this year – a huge milestone for the group and for the St. Louis community.

“If you want to help build a Habitat home without swinging a hammer, come check us out and shop the ReStore,” Vaughn says. “You never know what you’re going to find, but it’s always going to be a great deal when you find it.”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

Ladue News Feature Stories

Remediation With a Leash

robyndexter

Dogs have a unique ability to comfort and heal in a way that most other animals can’t.

Nicole Lanahan knows this. She’s been a dog trainer for 20 years and seen firsthand the effect four-legged friends can have on the people around them. For the last two decades, Lanahan has trained service dogs, police dogs and military dogs alike – but in the last five years, began receiving inquiries about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) service dogs specifically.

“I was doing my best to refer them to other local organizations, but I’d hear back from [the caller] saying there was a five-year waiting list or [the organization] wanted to charge $20,000,” Lanahan recalls.

Lanahan’s final straw fell when a veteran called her crying, asking why Lanahan couldn’t help her.

“The next day, I went to my accountant and filed a 501(c)(3),” she says.

Thus, Got Your Six Support Dogs was born. Lanahan took a two-week workshop from This Able Veteran in Carbondale, Illinois. She was greatly “impressed and in awe” of its program and knew it was what she wanted to model Got Your Six after. (Incidentally, the name Got Your Six gives a nod to the military: It’s a phrase that was first used among fighter pilots in World War II. When airborne, they talked about where they were in relation to the hands of an analog clock, so “got your six” means “got your back.”)

Got Your Six’s mission is to provide specialized service dogs to veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD and/or sexual trauma. With roughly 22 veterans nationwide committing suicide every day, according to a 2013 study by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, organizations like Got Your Six can help veterans relearn the basic human feelings they might have had to suppress in their time of service.

The nonprofit started with just Lanahan and a few volunteers and now has more than 100 volunteers. They currently place six dogs with veterans per year, with preference to local applicants – last year was 50 percent local, 50 percent elsewhere – and with a long-term goal to double that number to two classes of six dogs per year. Since its inception in 2015, Got Your Six has been able to place approximately 20 dogs with veterans and first responders.

To be considered for a support dog through Got Your Six, interested and eligible individuals are asked to fill out an extensive application that allows the group to get to know a given candidate. On the other end of the program, the organization’s dogs are trained for an entire year leading up to a possible pairing.

“We know a [support dog] alone isn’t going to cure someone from PTSD,” Lanahan says. “They’re getting a whole toolbox to combat PTSD, not just a dog.”

Over a 10-day period, dogs are matched with individual applicants. The veterans attend a daily trauma resiliency/suicide prevention course during this 10-day period, led by a licensed therapist.

Pairing a candidate with a dog is a case-by-case matchmaking process. Lanahan says if an applicant is antisocial, he or she will be paired with an outgoing dog. If someone is considered rough around the edges, he or she will be paired with a more affectionate dog. If someone is fearful, he or she will be paired with a more confident dog.

“Opposites really do attract in this case,” Lanahan says.

Got Your Six mainly uses Labradors and golden retrievers as support dogs. The organization primarily works with breeders who have a history of breeding service dogs, but occasionally will work with and train rescue retrievers, too.

The group’s dogs are trained to help break down the barriers the veterans and first responders might have built over time. They have learned to perform medical tasks, awaken their owners during night terrors, do compression therapy, retrieve items like cellphones and remain alert to anxiety. Their training is tailored to their individual owners’ needs, so a dog will learn what the beginning of a particular person’s anxiety looks like to help recognize and de-escalate it.

This extensive training comes at a price, though. Each dog costs the organization approximately $20,000 to train, and Got Your Six relies on fundraisers, donations and grants to cover these hefty costs. One such fundraiser is its upcoming trivia night on Feb. 24. Although it’s sold out, Lanahan says the organization is always looking for silent auction items and donations to help cover the cost of providing dogs to veterans and first responders free of charge.

The 2018 pairing program will take place July 29 through Aug. 7, and applications must be received by June 15.

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

Ladue News Feature Stories

Helping the Community Rise

robyndexter

For more than 20 years, Rise has worked to revitalize communities and neighborhoods across the St. Louis region, partnering with nonprofits, financial institutions and government entities to bring change.

Since its creation in 1989, the organization has helped develop more than 5,000 homes and 100,000 square feet of commercial space, helping communities as a consultant, lender and community developer. With a comprehensive approach that envelopes all stages of neighborhood development, Rise can help breathe life back into areas of the city that have seen disinvestment (defined as “a diminution or expenditure of capital investment, as in the failure to replenish inventories or in the sale of a capital item”).

Stephen Acree, the organization’s executive director and president, has been with Rise since 1999 and has worked in community development for more than 30 years. He says seeing a community rejuvenated, as well as knowing Rise played a part in that rejuvenation, is rewarding.

“We tend to work in parts of the region that have seen disinvestment and need some help to come back,” he says. “We do a substantial amount of real estate development. We’ll work with a neighborhood and an organization to help them do organizational planning and community neighborhood planning.”

From there, Rise might be a first-end developer. If an area has been suffering from disinvestment and isn’t seen as profitable, Rise often takes the first step to do development in the area.

“The notion is to catalyze [the area] so other investment will follow,” Acree says.

Rise started working on development on a small scale, partnering with neighborhood organizations to do a few buildings at a time. They would provide investment in an early phase of development, leading to an “extremely active and very effective” predevelopment loan fund.

“[The fund] provided a source of financing early on that organizations could use to get their project to a bank for financing,” Acree says.

He uses St. Louis’ Forest Park South East neighborhood as an example. Rise started working in the area in the early 2000s to “prime the pump.” There was neighborhood planning in the area, but a lot of nuisance behavior and crime was emanating from the poorly managed rental properties there.

“It was a bad time for that neighborhood,” Acree recalls.

Rise put together a package and bought 36 of the buildings in a three- by four-block area. The organization did historic rehabilitation, put the buildings under professional property management and converted 12 of them to single-family homes.

“That was very intentionally designed to be a substantial enough intervention to try to catalyze additional investment,” Acree says. “That’s been more of our model since: to try to do things that are a little more impactful.”

Rehabilitation of entire neighborhoods takes a lot of work. Residents want to keep the historic context of their neighborhood intact. They don’t want to see demolition, Acree says. These properties are often scattered throughout an area, making them a challenge for a typical developer.

That’s why we have a place in fulfilling that role,” Acree says. “One of the difficulties we have in the work that we do is that these [projects] don’t happen in short time frames. These are projects that can take three or four years to get going, and the life cycle of turning around a neighborhood can be a decade-long process,” Acree says.

Rise partners with community development nonprofits all over the St. Louis area, providing them with the financial backing and expertise they need to make an impact on their neighborhood.

In 2018, Rise is working toward closing on a historic rehabilitation development in St. Louis’ Dutchtown neighborhood. The project includes 46 apartments and an area of Chippewa Street’s former commercial district that will feature a restaurant incubator and space for retailers and services.

Rise also found an opportunity to work with St. Louis’ youth while doing planning for the Gravois/Jefferson area. The team discovered a surge of interest from young people in the community, wanting to be involved in their evolving environs.

“We made a big effort to do youth engagement there and found that a lot of the youth population would like to be involved in the change they want to see in their community, but they didn’t know how to be connected,” Acree says. “We’re entering into a partnership with the St. Louis Internship Program to have a youth-employment program that’s focused on planning and community development.”

Over the years, Rise has built a reputation as a professional organization that’s committed to its mission, backed by a team of people who are a part of that team because “this is truly what they want to do,” according to Acree.

“We’ve built and sustained a reputation as being an organization that gets things done,” he says. “I get to run an organization where people want to come to work and really believe in the work we do.”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.