24 Apr Everyone has Baggage. Click to keep reading…
Typically, each member of the Lupton Business Development team has the privilege of writing an article for this newsletter once a year. We generally focus on market trends, new technologies, etc., as it relates to the world of manufacturing. I originally set out to write about just that, something to do with the trends in air travel and the new hi-tech baggage handling systems that are out there. Interestingly, my due diligence lead me to a topic that I believe you will enjoy, a topic much bigger than I could have imagined. I’m compelled to share it with our readers. The article was titled “When Lost Luggage Is Reclaimed for Good”.
So, let’s talk about your “baggage” for a moment. Don’t worry, I’m referring to the baggage that just seems to disappear sometimes during air travel. Many, if not all of us have experienced it. You get up early to make it to the airport in plenty of time for your flight with those carefully packed bags that have everything you need to survive while on your journey. You get checked in, sit at the gate for a while and eventually, you are on your way to your destination. Maybe you’re headed out of town for a business trip, school, vacation, wedding, or for many other reasons, but the one thing you are counting on after landing safely at your destination is grabbing your bags and getting on with your day. Unfortunately, for many of us, our bag or bags get lost in the shuffle and are delayed for a while. For some, that luggage is never seen again.
The good news is that this traumatizing experience could turn out to be a life-changing blessing to a foster child someday. Stay with me for a moment and check out how these folks are taking an unlucky and sometimes infuriating, lost bag situation and doing good.
Love Luggage / Hope in a Suitcase – by Reclaimed for Good:
When Alabama children enter foster care, they often carry their belongings in trash bags, but Reclaimed for Good is hoping to change this. Throughout the year, Reclaimed for Good collects hard-sided suitcases that are then painted by volunteers and donated to foster children. “We host Love Luggage painting sessions for private groups who are visiting the Foundation, as well as sessions at a local arts festival, and invite guests to paint suitcases in our retail store during designated times,” Cantrell says. “It’s actually quite simple — and it brings out the artist in everyone.”
Cantrell goes on to say, “These unique suitcases let the children know that they are loved by people they have never met before. It’s a small ray of sunshine and hope during a difficult time in their lives — and it’s something to call their very own”.
Reclaimed for Good has processed and donated millions of dollars’ worth of clothes, medical supplies and equipment, supplied hundreds of thousands of people with eyeglasses, and helped rebuild thousands of damaged wheelchairs for disabled adults and children, according to Brenda Cantrell, Reclaimed for Good’s brand ambassador.
I sincerely hope you never have to experience a “lost forever” baggage situation, but if you do, remember that your lost baggage may be changing a child’s life forever! In the meantime, here’s a short behind the scenes video of what really happens to our baggage at an airport.
Thanks for your time and safe travels!–Commentary provided by Mike Laney, Lupton Associates Business Development team
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