probably stupid but worth a try

this is probably a waste of time but i’m going to try it anyway. so here goes.

stevens point has a large “green” (i.e. eco) community. this is just fine with pam and i because over the past few years we have been dealing with how to reduce out impact on the environment (anyone who ever looked under my desk at parkview and saw all the recyclables i was keeping under there could speak to this). so the idea jumped into my head of using paper grocery bags (the stores up here still use them) for at least part of our promotional items. i’ve been working on it today. i’ve been needing to have some basic info on something i could give to people who ask questions about tapestry and i thought the grocery bag paper would make a nice sturdy cover for this info thingy. i’ve been goofing off with the idea little today and it turns out that the ink jet printer works great on the grocery bags – it has a real “gritty” look to it that i like. i’ll put this together with white paper for the actual info and stitch them together for a nice little hand made info thingy (i have lots of time and very little money – a good combination for this type of thing). i’ll post a photo when i finish the first non-sample one.

so here’s the part that is probably stupid but maybe worth a try. i went by staples today to buy some paper for producing the inside of the info thingy (recycled paper of course). when i went to check out the clerk asked me if i wanted a “rewards” card. the “rewards” card is basically a marketing gimmick where every 3 months i get a coupon for 10% of the amount i have spent on paper and copying. the goal is to get me to come back to staples all the time. that’s fine with me since i don’t know where the local office supply place is yet and i would prefer not to use walmart for my paper needs. so i got one. the cashier also said anyone else who used my rewards number would have their transactions contributed to the total my coupon would be based on. i’m all for getting a coupon for free stuff for tapestry. in my book, free stuff for the church is great (as long as there aren’t strings attached).

here’s my request – if you use or your company uses staples would you mind entering my rewards number when you buy paper products or copying? i’m not asking you to use staples. in fact, i would prefer that you use a local company. yet, if you absolutely have to use staples (for example, your boss will fire you if you use something other than staples, you live next door to a staples and don’t have transportation anywhere else, or perhaps you are deathly afraid of all office supply stores other than staples) and you wouldn’t mind giving them the number i am using for tapestry i would certainly appreciate it.

so here’s my rewards number:

5606759016

SIDE NOTE – j.t. has become a youth ministry god because marko pointed to one of his posts today (a post that i would agree was excellent). it is now my goal to quote j.t. as much as possible within my posts and thereby raise my ministry street cred. of course, if he was so inclined marko could point to one of my posts and thereby raise me to j.t.’s level so i would no longer have to grovel beneath j.t.’s ministerial feet. in fact, marko if you wanted to encourage all your readers, friends, family, and neighbors to enter my staples reward number when they buy paper and printing from staples i would appreciate that also.