On Thursday Jasper Junction celebrated its fourth birthday with a big sale. The radio station set up a tent and broadcast from it for several hours.
It is good to see Jasper Junction, which earns money for CDC to help fund its programs for the developmentally disabled, use old media. I have suggested that they venture into new media, such as using Facebook to highlight promotions and events. (CDC also operates another thrift store, one in Monticello.)
There were a lot of people, many with full shopping carts, in the store or out back when we arrived, which was a couple hours after the sale began. Kids enjoyed the toys. Inside the store I found a snow globe and asked a couple of boys playing with the toys if they knew what it was. They knew it was a snow globe because they had seen one in a movie, but confessed that they had never seen a real one before. I wondered how often that is happening these days--kids getting their first exposure to ordinary objects not in the real world but from a computer or television screen.
CDC serves Jasper, Newton, White, Benton, and Carroll counties. In Rensselaer they operate Jasper Village and a center at the east end of Anglica Street.
JJ is a good example of social enterprise, which is becoming increasingly popular for non profits. It's a way for these non profits to use profit-making businesses to fund their other community activities.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_enterprise