The Concept...
It all started as a team building exercise last winter on our staff planning retreat. Inspired by Kyle MacDonald’s Red Paperclip story (oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com), staff from Clean Air Foundation and Summerhill Group were split into two teams. Each team was given a paperclip and tasked with upgrading the paperclip through bartering and trade with the local community.
Even though there were only a few trading hours, the teams went nuts! Secret team meetings were called, spies were recruited, people from all over the community became involved; and in the end the winning team managed to secure a local musician's services. That spring, with our friends help, we cleaned up the Rosedale Valley for Earth Day with the musician from the trade playing the reception afterwards.
The group was so enthusiastic and energized by the game, that we decided to play again, this time bigger and better: the teams were given a much longer timeframe. And in the true spirit of Summerhill Group and the Clean Air Foundation, the teams went big. One of the teams created a strategy that floored the other team, so they decided to join in the efforts to pull it off.
The Challenge...
To trade the paperclip, through a series of trades for the materials and services required to support the building of a Habitat for Humanity house…and not just any Habitat for Humanity house – this one will be an eco-build with Habitat for Humanity Mississauga!
First Trading Partner:
Lorna Bulloch, Grand & Toy!
One Red Paperclip for a plethora of goodness!
Before the teams were merged, a secret meeting was held with our friend Lorna Bulloch from Grand & Toy (grandandtoy.ca). The team shared their strategy with Lorna, who loved the idea, and was able to secure a number of items so that the team could divide and conquer for the required items. Thanks to Lorna Bulloch and Grand & Toy for jump starting our game!
AVAILABLE: a number of fun trading items
From Tulips to Toilets
Beginning with part of the Grand & Toy package, a special addition from Account Manager, Lorna Bulloch, we traded an avocado gift set from Fruits and Passion, with our friend and neighbor up the street, George Theo, owner of Urban Eden, a fantastic flower shop located at 1230 Yonge Street (416-944-1010, urbaneden@bellnet.ca). From there, Summerhill Group Program Manager, Natasha Pratt, made a trade with American Standard (americanstandard.ca), who most graciously offered to supply the home with accessible bathroom fixtures and a kitchen sink!
THE TRADES:
Fruits and Passion avocado gift set (Lorna Bulloch, Grand & Toy)
$75 gift certificate (Urban Eden Flower Shop)
Accessible Bathroom fixtures: Toilet, Bathtub, Sink, Faucettes and Kitchen Sink (American Standard)
Fruits and Passion avocado gift set (Lorna Bulloch, Grand & Toy)
$75 gift certificate (Urban Eden Flower Shop)
Accessible Bathroom fixtures: Toilet, Bathtub, Sink, Faucettes and Kitchen Sink (American Standard)
Raising the Roof with Minister Smitherman!
A lovely donor, who chooses to remain anonymous, donated four HBC gift cards in exchange for a carrot peeler (part of the Grand & Toy kick off trade). One of these gift cards was traded with our long time friend and ally, Glenn Chisolm, owner of the fabulous promo company Promotion Works (promotionworks.ca) for two specially designed and hard hats.
THE TRADES:
Carrot peeler
(Lorna Bulloch, Grand & Toy)
HBC gift card
(Anonymous Donor)
Two personalized hard hats
(Glenn Chisolm, Promotion Works)
Appearance at a media event and
commitment to help out on the build
(Minister of Energy and Infrastructure,
The Honorable George Smitherman)
Crane services to raise the roof!
(Santo Dearcangelis, High Reach Inc.)
Carrot peeler
(Lorna Bulloch, Grand & Toy)
HBC gift card
(Anonymous Donor)
Two personalized hard hats
(Glenn Chisolm, Promotion Works)
Appearance at a media event and
commitment to help out on the build
(Minister of Energy and Infrastructure,
The Honorable George Smitherman)
Crane services to raise the roof!
(Santo Dearcangelis, High Reach Inc.)
The hard hats were part of a trade strategy, which Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, The Honorable George Smitherman, was gracious enough to become a part of. Minister Smitherman will make an appearance in order to complete a trade with friend of our Executive Director, Ersilia Serafini: Santo Dearcangelis at High Reach Inc. (highreachinc.com), a company specializing in crane rental services and sales. The trade will go down here at the CAF offices, and will bring together some of the folks that have been involved and have made contributions thus far.
The Minister has also agreed to come out to the build and lend a hand!
From Baseball to Engineering Design
These bad boys were traded with ARUP (arup.com), an engineering and design firm. The folks at the ARUP Toronto office, have generously offered their engineering services to complete the Habitat for Humanity Sustainable Build. ARUP has a major influence on the built environment, creating some of the most sustainable designs in the world.
THE TRADE:
Two Jays Tickets (Grand & Toy)
Engineering Design (ARUP)
Two Jays Tickets (Grand & Toy)
Engineering Design (ARUP)
Notepad Becomes Modern Media
This series of trades started with a notepad, from the Grand & Toy base trade. This notepad was traded by Clean Air Foundation program manager Megan Bennett with her friend Tiiu for two tickets to her CD release party at the Cameron House, a night of fantastic folk! Take a listen to Tiiu at her MySpace page: (myspace.com/tiiuland).
These tickets were traded (and enjoyed) for a battery charger that can recharge AA or AAA batteries, and included two of each. This charger was then traded for an in-the-box MC Hammer doll, wearing shimmering purple parachute pants!
The Hammer Man was traded to a good friend of CAF program coordinator Janet Taylor, Michael Dellios, Co-Owner of Optiamedia (optiadmedia.com), an innovative marketing company that specializes in projection media.
Michael and his company have donated a projection media package, and the Hammer has found a wonderful new home at Michael’s new art space called the Akin Collective (akincollective.com) artist’s studio in Queen West, dedicated to helping artists grow, show and develop their works. A couple of other fun facts about our trading friend include the fact that his transport of choice is a biodiesel van, and he plays bass the band: “Make Your Exit”.
We are currently looking for the perfect trade for the Optiamedia package, with an estimated value of over $1000.00, this innovative media medium is perfect for events, or an organization that wants to appeal to an urban crowd. If you have interest in trading for this package, please contact Meghan: mreid@cleanairfoundation.org
THE TRADES:
Animal print notepad (Lorna Bulloch, Grand & Toy)
Tickets to see Tiiu (Tiiu)
Battery charger (Rosalie Sawrie and Jennifer Jeffery)
MC Hammer doll (Meghan Reid)
Projection media package (Optiamedia)
Animal print notepad (Lorna Bulloch, Grand & Toy)
Tickets to see Tiiu (Tiiu)
Battery charger (Rosalie Sawrie and Jennifer Jeffery)
MC Hammer doll (Meghan Reid)
Projection media package (Optiamedia)
AVAILABLE: very cool marketing package
Notepad #2 Meets The Man Behind The Paperclip
THE TRADE:
Animal print notepad
(Grand & Toy)
Autographed copy of the book
"One Red Paperclip"
(Kyle MacDonald)
Animal print notepad
(Grand & Toy)
Autographed copy of the book
"One Red Paperclip"
(Kyle MacDonald)
As part of a team challenge, our Marketing and Communications guru Anahita Belanger, got in touch with Kyle MacDonald (oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com), the man who is the inspiration behind our game. The man who traded a paperclip for a house! After explaining our project here, Kyle graciously offered to make a trade with us, taking one of our Grand & Toy notebooks in exchange for a signed copy of his book.
AVAILABLE: Autographed copy of the book "One Red Paperclip" (must go to a really good owner)
Photos with Zest!
The Grand & Toy basket just keeps on giving! Our friends at Parachute Software (parachutesoftware.com) happily handed over two awesome tickets to a Raptors vs. Pacers game, in exchange for a very cute lemon-shaped lemon zester (which hopefully finds a lot of use!). Our fine friends at Parachute, David Linton and Elvin Sotto, provide air-tight software solutions which can vastly improve the efficiency of any organization or project. They specialize in software designed to support environmental organizations and projects.
THE TRADES:
Lemon-shaped lemon zester
(Grand & Toy)
Two tickets to a Toronto Raptors game
(Parachute Software)
Photography services
(Gavin Morganthal)
Lemon-shaped lemon zester
(Grand & Toy)
Two tickets to a Toronto Raptors game
(Parachute Software)
Photography services
(Gavin Morganthal)
Because of the time-sensitive nature of the tickets, we had to act fast to find a trading partner who could offer us something of value, and who would have a great time at the game. Luckily Gavin Morganthal, a wonderful photographer and friend of Summerhill Group’s President Corey Diamond, stepped in to save the trade. With several years of experience as a professional photographer, Gavin has offered two hours of his services to the Habitat cause.
AVAILABLE: Personal photographer
Oven Mitts Produce Light!
Summerhill Group Program Manager Caryn Levin, traded with Toronto Hydro (torontohydro.com): oven mitts from the Grand & Toy cash, for energy efficient LED Christmas lights and night lights for the family to enjoy!
THE TRADE:
Oven mitts (Grand & Toy)
Assortment of LED Christmas lights
and night lights (Toronto Hydro)
Oven mitts (Grand & Toy)
Assortment of LED Christmas lights
and night lights (Toronto Hydro)
Other Notable Trades
All of these trades have end products that are available for further trade – if you would like to be involved in this game, and have interest in offering a trade for any of these items, please let us know!
THE TRADES:
Ball cap (Grand & Toy)
Five DVDs and a $25 Roots gift card (The Kearn Family)
Two sets of chopsticks (Grand & Toy)
Movie pass for two, complete with popcorn and beverages (Lovely Anonymous Donor)
Bottle of ice wine (Grand & Toy)
Private individual or group ballet or movement class (Caroline Niklas-Gordon)
Two silver fridge magnets (Grand & Toy)
Case of Domtar Earthchoice FSC certified paper (Dennis Colivas, Unisource, unisource.ca)
Two silver fridge magnets (Grand & Toy)
Private individual or small group yoga session (Megan Swan, swanyoga@yahoo.ca)
Carrot peeler (Grand & Toy)
Four HBC gift certificates (Lovely Anonymous Donor)
Ball cap (Grand & Toy)
Five DVDs and a $25 Roots gift card (The Kearn Family)
Two sets of chopsticks (Grand & Toy)
Movie pass for two, complete with popcorn and beverages (Lovely Anonymous Donor)
Bottle of ice wine (Grand & Toy)
Private individual or group ballet or movement class (Caroline Niklas-Gordon)
Two silver fridge magnets (Grand & Toy)
Case of Domtar Earthchoice FSC certified paper (Dennis Colivas, Unisource, unisource.ca)
Two silver fridge magnets (Grand & Toy)
Private individual or small group yoga session (Megan Swan, swanyoga@yahoo.ca)
Carrot peeler (Grand & Toy)
Four HBC gift certificates (Lovely Anonymous Donor)
Special Thanks...
Grand & Toy • HOK • ARUP • Cossette • Optimum Public Relations • High Reach Inc. • American Standard • Optiamedia • The Honorable George Smitherman • Parachute Software • Gavin Morgenthal • Promotion Works • Kyle Macdonald • Urban Eden • The Global Swarmers • Weapons of Mass Reduction • The Carbon Outlaws • Rebels Without a Footprint
Let's Make a Deal – 350KB PDF
Toronto Sun – March 6, 2009
Green deal first step to new house
Mississauga News – February 4, 2009
Teaming up and trading up for green goal
CNW Group – February 4, 2009
Trading a paperclip for a house
Mississauga News – February 4, 2009
Media Advisory/Photo Opportunity - Minister Smitherman and Clean Air Foundation join forces in support of a green Habitat for Humanity build
CNW Group – February 2, 2009
Clean Air Foundation
201-1216 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M4T 1W1 Canada
Phone: (416) 922-9038 ext 260
Fax: (416) 922-1028
E-mail: mreid@cleanairfoundation.org
Web: www.cleanairfoundation.org
201-1216 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M4T 1W1 Canada
Phone: (416) 922-9038 ext 260
Fax: (416) 922-1028
E-mail: mreid@cleanairfoundation.org
Web: www.cleanairfoundation.org
Summerhill Group
201-1216 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M4T 1W1 Canada
Phone: (416) 922-2448 ext 260
Fax: (416) 922-1028
E-mail: mreid@summerhillgroup.ca
Web: www.summerhillgroup.ca
201-1216 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M4T 1W1 Canada
Phone: (416) 922-2448 ext 260
Fax: (416) 922-1028
E-mail: mreid@summerhillgroup.ca
Web: www.summerhillgroup.ca
