Finding Time to Make a Difference —Cagle

Bits and Pieces

OK, BE honest. It’s not out of the ordinary for industry conferences, seminars, open houses, etc., to be conveniently scheduled in a warm, scenic locale not far from a golf course or other recreational venue. And it’s quite natural for printers to avail themselves of opportunities to relax and have fun during—excuse me, after—the scheduled business events.

Well, are you ready to feel guilty?

This past spring, 14 members of the Print Services & Distribution Association (PSDA) participated in a volunteer work day in the St. Bernard Parish of New Orleans. The event, organized in conjunction with the St. Bernard Project, allowed PSDA members to volunteer their time to help rebuild one of the many homes ravaged by Hurricane Katrina nearly four years ago.

According to PSDA marketing guru Stacey Gallagher, the experience was both vivid and memorable. A 7 a.m. departure for the work site and an hour-long orientation set the stage for seven hours of insulating the walls and ceilings of a freshly framed home, just in time for the drywall that was to be hung the next day.

“With 14 people that had never worked together, it took a little while to find our way around and understand the art of hanging insulation,” said volunteer Joe Webb, president of Formsystems Inc. “Measuring, cutting, stapling, reloading staple guns and working at breakneck pace. We wanted to get the job done, and we only had one day to complete the task.

“But, what really made this day special was a little, gracious lady standing in the middle of the room—Ms. D., the owner of the property. In very painful and heartfelt words, she shared with us that she was born in the home 76 years ago and would die in the home. Soon everyone in our small working party had swarmed around her to get to know her, hear her story and offer some words of encouragement.”

A hearty handshake goes out to those who volunteered their time and sweat: Amy Clark, Gina Holt, Kim Mesplay and Jessica Werner of Ward/Kraft; Joe and Karen Webb, Formsystems Inc.; Denny Pottebaum and Robin Robertson of Quality Resource Group; Al Pipkins, ATPCO; Nathan Goldberg and Susan Abramson of Specialized Office Systems; and Gallagher, Dave Merli and Mike Pramstaller from PSDA.

To date, St. Bernard Project has rebuilt more than 200 homes but, even four years later, many thousands still don’t have a place to call home. To learn more, visit www.stbernardproject.org.

MMM...SELF-ADHESIVE: The greatest show in the history of television has been immortalized on postage stamps in honor of its 20th year on the boob tube. Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie—a.k.a. The Simpsons—landed at a post office near you in May.

It marked a rare honor indeed, since only 20 subjects are selected for immortalization each year out of 50,000 suggestions. But all five of America’s Favorite Family can boast of owning a spot alongside the nation’s most historical figures; imaginary though they may be, but real and really funny to those who tune in each week.

MACtac, an industry supplier of pressure-sensitive adhesives, provided label materials for the one billion stamps produced. That’s a staggering figure, and the U.S. Postal Service is banking on the colorful, original artwork by creator Matt Groening to help draw younger generations back into stamp collecting.

Kudos to the USPS for having a sense of humor, as well. Several years ago, an episode of The Simpsons focused on the family’s battle to prevent a stamp museum from being built near their home. The museum was forced to another part of town, and a graveyard went next door instead. D’oh!

FONTASTIC NEWS: China Type Design, a global provider of text imaging solutions, has licensed two Chinese fonts that were customized for the Oxford University Press China, the Hong Kong-based branch of the Oxford University Press. The fonts, which together comprise about 35,000 characters, were included in the Simplified Chinese version of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, Seventh Edition. The dictionary was released in Mainland China in the second quarter.

The publication is the second of a pair of advanced learner’s English-Chinese dictionaries from the Oxford University Press. The first volume, published in April 2008, is the Orthodox Chinese version, which is used mainly in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Orthodox Chinese version also uses fonts customized by China Type. Together, the dictionaries represent one of the latest projects from a relationship between the two companies that has spanned more than 20 years. PI

—Erik Cagle