“The rare therapy llama helps children learn to trust ... - OregonLive.com” plus 3 more |
- The rare therapy llama helps children learn to trust ... - OregonLive.com
- Social Media Drives New Sales For Veteran Web Firm - Earthtimes (press release)
- U.S. Social Forum 2010 - In These Times
- Keurig deepens customer relationships through blogs and ... - InternetRetailer.com
| The rare therapy llama helps children learn to trust ... - OregonLive.com Posted: 13 Apr 2010 04:53 AM PDT By Jacques Von Lunen, Special to The Oregon...April 13, 2010, 4:54AM View full sizeStudent Tyler Rice visits with Rojo, one of just 14 certified therapy llamas in the country.A llama is more than just a pretty face. If you attended the Boutiques Unleashed fashion show Friday -- or in the last couple of years, for that matter -- you'd be forgiven for thinking llamas just strut the runway in designer clothes. But Smokey, who hobnobbed with the glitterati last week, and Rojo, his pasture mate and star of past years' runway shows, have serious day jobs. They are certified therapy llamas. Camelids -- llamas are cousins of the humpbacked desert beasts -- are rare in the therapy business. The occasional cat notwithstanding, most therapy animals are of the species Canis lupus familiaris (dogs to you). Nationwide, only 14 llamas are registered with the Delta Society, a Washington nonprofit that certifies therapy animals around the country. That number includes Rojo and Smokey, which are card-carrying members of Delta and the DoveLewis Animal Assisted Therapy and Education program. There's a reason so few of the estimated 100,000 llamas living in the U.S. are in this field. The right llama, however, is in a unique position to reach out to humans in need of positive reinforcement. Especially when it's wearing bunny ears. Last Wednesday, Lori Gregory and her daughter, Shannon, readied Rojo for his bimonthly visit to the Serendipity Center, a school in Southeast Portland that provides specialized education and treatment services for children. They slipped a floral garland around his neck, fastened an oversized cottontail on his rump and, yes, attached bunny ears to his halter. "DoveLewis does not encourage decorating the therapy animals," Lori Gregory said, with an apologetic nod toward Rojo. "But we find the kids are less afraid to approach him this way." That strategy bore out a few minutes later when Rojo, in the school's courtyard, received his first students of the day. Some of them had met him many times before. They nestled their faces in his wooly hair and slung their arms around his long neck without hesitation. But one little girl entered the area with uncertainty. This was her first time coming face to face with a llama. After a slow introduction by Gregory and a teacher, she agreed to let Rojo pick a baby carrot out of her palm with his soft lips. Moments later, the little girl in the pink jacket was leading the gentle giant around the yard on a leash, laughing, talking to her new friend. That scene repeated in different versions over the next two hours A shy, serious boy, who averted his gaze when spoken to and made nervous little motions with his hands when not spoken to, broke out in a smile while circling the yard with leash in hand. The smile faded as he passed the leash. Another boy commented on the warmth of Rojo's body and then said: "You make my heart warm." After several rounds of students visited Rojo in the courtyard, Gregory led him inside the building, to the "communication room." The children waiting for him there were classified as having trouble communicating or being on the autism spectrum. Several of the kids cleared out quickly, but one little girl stuck around. She dug her hands into Rojo's fur and hugged the animal towering over her. Her verbal skills appeared to be far below those of other children her size. But she did say, "You're funny" to Rojo, although she didn't need to. The huge smile on her face expressed her feelings perfectly. A few months earlier, that same girl hid behind a chair when she first saw Rojo. This evolution of trust is the key benefit of having such a big therapy animal come to the school, says the school's treatment director, Jackie Trussell. "The idea is that the children develop a relationship by offering care and nurture," she says. "Now the kids say, 'Rojo knows when I'm sad.'" There are advantages to having a llama come to the school, rather than a dog. Some children are afraid of dogs because of bad experiences. A llama, while strange and large, is a blank slate. Many of the children here have gone through trauma such as abuse, neglect or domestic violence, Trussell says. "They have a lot of anxiety. A lot of anxiety." To have this 380-pound animal come to them on a consistent basis, and to realize that he's just "a big shlub, a gentle giant," Trussell says, builds trust, a rare commodity for these children. The impact is visible, says Meghan Gipson, a teacher at the school. The children's behavior changes, at least on the days they know he's coming to visit. "The hyperactive kids have to be calm around this huge animal," she says. Around humans, hyperactive children might not be able to rein themselves in, even if asked or encouraged to do so. But Rojo's looming presence, combined with their desire to make the experience enjoyable for him so that he'll return, calms them. And for children on the autism spectrum or others who don't incorporate much verbal communication into their days, Rojo has been a great help, Gipson says. "They got really excited when Rojo started coming, and they started talking about Rojo," she says. Very few llamas are as patient and calm as Rojo. Most llamas would jump and kick if a person -- let alone a group of excited children -- touched their legs or their sides, Gregory says. But Rojo was different, even at an early age. Lori Gregory was basically looking for an animal to keep the grass short on her property in 2002. Soon, she realized that Rojo was following her daughter, Shannon, around the pasture, looking for her company. Shannon Gregory entered 4-H competitions with the llama, where someone noticed Rojo's demeanor and suggested getting him certified as a therapy animal. After going through the same tests and training as dogs, mother, daughter and llama became a certified team in 2007. They've added one more therapy llama since and are training a third. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| Social Media Drives New Sales For Veteran Web Firm - Earthtimes (press release) Posted: 13 Apr 2010 06:55 AM PDT CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- News Highlights:
Peter Romando is the "local" sales rep for Vmeals online catering service (www.vmeals.com) in three far-flung territories: Philadelphia, central and northern New Jersey and Boston. Thanks to social media and networking sites on the web, Romando can be in all three territories at the same time while he's working from his home office ? in Charlottesville, Va. On any given day Romando might chat with customers in Philadelphia, call on restaurant and catering suppliers in New Jersey to check on special promotions, and email prospective customers about an event in Boston. In the old days, Romando would have burned a lot of gas and lost hours in the car on the road from Philadelphia to Boston. Now, he covers all three markets from his home office or anywhere he can connect to the internet. Just as new technologies have liberated where and when people work, social media offers sales people a way to dramatically expand their reach and networking opportunities beyond the limits of drive time, cold-calling and monthly networking group meetings. Like many businesses, Vmeals has been using social media marketing as a way to promote their brand, but they have also discovered a way to do more. By enabling and encouraging their sales force to connect and engage prospects on these platforms, they are actually driving sales. Customers as Friends Starting in 1999 as an offshoot of a college student meal card program, Vmeals has been on the leading edge of web-based business for over ten years. The Vmeals plan for business growth, however, had relied on a more traditional sales model: local, feet-on-the-street sales reps in each of its geographic markets to acquire customers and grow its business. These local sales reps prospected for customers in local offices, brokerage firms, doctors' offices, and colleges. They cultivated partnerships with local restaurants and caterers to supply its online catering network. Social media is dramatically changing that sales model. Vmeals sales reps who used to spend their days driving around a local market to call on customers now focus their efforts on reaching as many customers and prospects as possible through a variety of web-based marketing tools. With low to no-cost barriers to entry, this strategy makes excellent use of limited resources. Romando finds Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to be effective customer sales tools. "It's much more than just email now. By connecting with and following my customers and local suppliers, I've developed many more personal relationships than I ever could have by trying to email them or call on them all in person," Romando said. "They feel they know me better so there's more trust in me and my company's service." Social marketing efforts are paying off for Vmeals. Sales in Romando's three markets are up 75% over the prior year, even in the current challenging economy. "It takes a lot of effort to get started, and there's an art to being personal and professional at the same time with social marketing, but there's no question that it works," he adds. "Social marketing is a big win-win for us," says W. Carter Hoerr, chief executive of Vmeals. "We're proving that we can acquire new customers at 25% lower cost of sales than before. That's huge in a high volume, low margin business like ours. Peter is a good example of our sales reps leveraging social marketing to develop local relationships and drive growth in multiple territories." About Vmeals: Vmeals (www.vmeals.com) is an online service for business people who order group meals for meetings and events. The Vmeals website features menus and delivered meals from more than 1,400 local restaurants and caterers in more than 30 metropolitan East Coast and Midwest markets. Vmeals customers include Fortune 1000 offices, professional services firms (investment banking, law, accounting, technology, consulting, and training), pharmaceutical sales reps, colleges, non-profits, and medical centers. Vmeals customers have an easy-to-use catering service that allows them to customize menus and business meal services with a variety of quality local and national restaurants and food services. Vmeals customers can place a single group order or allow meeting participants to order from a selected menu. The web-based Vmeals system handles all aspects of the delivered meal transaction ? marketing, customer acquisition, menu presentation, pricing, order processing, payment, and customer service ? except the actual preparation and presentation of the food. SOURCE Vmeals Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| U.S. Social Forum 2010 - In These Times Posted: 13 Apr 2010 03:06 AM PDT Home » About Us » Events Tuesday, June 22, 1:00 PM The United States Social Forum (USSF) takes place June 22-26, at the Cobo Center and Hart Plaza and various venues throughout Detroit. The USSF provides a space to build relationships, learn from each others' experiences, share our analysis of the problems our communities face, and bring renewed insight and inspiration to social movement organizations. Through the USSF process, grassroots groups, coalitions and networks build leadership and develop the collective consciousness, vision and strategies needed to realize another world. We must declare what we want our world to look like and begin planning the path to get there. A global movement is rising. The USSF is our opportunity to demonstrate to the world that Another World is Possible! The USSF is a mass movement convergence where we produce our own agenda, our own program, and our own solutions to change. 2010 USSF Goals: *Create a space for social movement convergence and strategic discussion *Advance social movements agenda for action and transformation *Build stronger relationships and collaboration between movements *Deepen our commitment to international solidarity and common struggle *Strengthen local capacity to improve social conditions, organizing and movement building in Detroit For more information and to register, go here. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| Keurig deepens customer relationships through blogs and ... - InternetRetailer.com Posted: 08 Apr 2010 11:33 AM PDT  Some of the most persuasive advertising manufacturers can have are online product ratings and customer reviews, says David Manly, vice president and general manager for Keurig Direct and Keurig Away From Home. Keurig Inc. is a coffee brewer manufacturer and subsidiary of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. In order to make the most from ratings and reviews, and to build relationships with consumers, Keurig employees go online to check blogs dedicated to coffee drinking and coffee equipment. A blog posting about Keurig or Green Mountain Coffee products could earn the blogger an offer for membership in Keurigs online loyalty program or free product samples. Manly will share details about the coffee companys online engagement strategy in a session at the Internet Retailer Conference entitled Guiding the online conversation. 80% of consumers who buy hard goods at retail check them out first online, he says. Consumers prefer using the Internet to talk directly with manufacturers of products they buy at retail, rather than having a dialog with the retailer about it.
Why the editors asked David Manly to speak:
Full details about the conference and registration information are available at IRCE2010.com. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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