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Purity Miss Martha's Ice Cream Crankin'

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Community & Neighborhood

June newsletter contents:
2011 summer camp Students Stay Sharp This Summer Through Martha O'Bryan Center
Adult Education Students Profit from Business Internship
crankin slideshow Another Successful Purity Miss Martha's Ice Cream Crankin' Is in the Books

Students Stay Sharp This Summer Through Martha O'Bryan Center

Directors from three Martha O'Bryan Center programs discuss the goals for youth in summer programming.

  • Kent Miller, Director of High School and Young Adults, shares goals of the ACT Prep Academy at Top Floor @ Stratford High School.
  • Misty Moody, Director of Youth Education, shares academic and enrichment goals for students in the Reading Achievement Program at Hattie Cotton Elementary and Bailey Middle.
  • Penny Blackwell-Howard, Middle School Coordinator for the Thrive Youth Program, shares the life skills and career training, integrated with a health focus, for youth this summer at Martha O'Bryan Center.

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Adult Education students profit from business internship

Four enterprising women have turned a business internship into a profitable venture, and they want to use what they’ve earned (and learned) to help their fellow Adult Education students at Martha O’Bryan Center.

The four women – Gail Cameron, Jean Coleman, Vernell McHenry and Ashlie Patnode – met each Monday morning for 12 weeks and learned to make bath and body products like soap, lip balm, facial scrub and lotion. They then packaged, marketed and sold their merchandise to customers at the Taste of Music City on June 4th, and again during a sale at Martha O’Bryan Center. They also received their first custom order – 45 heart-shaped, lavender-scented soaps for a bridal shower.

Piece of Love company members The Martha O'Bryan Center table at Taste of Music City included entrepreneurs from the Adult Education class. From left: Ashlie Patnode, Jean Coleman, Gail Cameron, Instructor Ruth Brown, Vernell McHenry and Martha O'Bryan Center Board Member John Folger.

After expenses, they have netted a profit of around $100, which they donated to a Martha O’Bryan Center fund that helps pay GED testing fees, which are $65 per test. There is also still some surplus merchandise to sell, said Ruth Brown, a Martha O’Bryan Center volunteer who facilitated the project.

Piece of Love logo

“I am completely blown away by the success of this program so far,” Brown said. “It has not turned out exactly as I had expected, but so much better.”
 
The project, which calls itself Piece of Love, is the first business venture for students in the Adult Education program. The women now want to help Brown teach another 12-week term, perhaps in the fall.
 
“All of us have learned and grown through this process of working and creating together,” Brown said. “This course is just as much about personal growth as about small businesses or bath & body products.”
 
Vernell McHenry said she was surprised at what she has learned to make, how she can create things for her own household and that people were willing to buy it. Ashlie Patnode said she wants to empower others by teaching them what she learned. 
 
“If you can make it yourself, you can make more quantity for the same price as you spend in the store,” said Patnode, who especially enjoyed making her own laundry powder. “It was an awesome experience for me, because I plan to definitely do it in the future.”
 
Prior to the Piece of Love project, Brown made a soap that was included in welcome baskets given to new residents at Cayce Place. Adult Education Teacher Judy Rye, who helped provide resources and support for the program, said Brown is a perfect blend of tutor and mentor.
 
“She sets an outstanding example for the students; she is detailed and creative,” Rye said. “She gives them the spotlight, watching carefully from the wings, ready to assist if necessary.”
 
For information about custom orders from Piece of Love, send an inquiry to pieceoflove@mail.com.

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Another Successful Purity Miss Martha's Ice Cream Crankin' Is in the Books

Now in its 26th year, Purity Miss Martha's Ice Cream Crankin' is the signature public fundraiser for the Martha O'Bryan Center. Proceeds provide services for families, youth and children living in Nashville's poorest neighborhoods. But it would be nothing without the generous and dedicated effort of sponsors, judges, volunteers, staff, Crankers and ice cream lovers.

 

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