15 Nov When Love Wins – Doing the Right Thing!

“The time is always right to do what is right. ”  – Martin Luther King, Jr

There are times in life when you just need to do the right thing. It won’t always replace the wrong that someone else did. But it may help the people affected by that wrong.

And that’s exactly what the Interior Design Community (IDC) did.

I won’t go into all the negative details of this man’s dishonest actions that left the Dorchester, Massachusetts non-profit organization, All Dorchester Sports & Leadership (ADSL), high and dry without any lightingfor which they had already paid in full. (You can view details in the TV link at end of this post, and I’ve included a couple other blog post links as well).

But actually, this person’s lack of integrity and downright fraudulent tactics also had a terrible domino effect for ADSL. Not only did they not receive outside lighting for their children in an unsafe neighborhood, but for lack of funds the director also had to lay off a homeless man who was helping the non-profit. So people’s actions DO affect others.

All Dorchester Sports League (ADSL), is a nonprofit that offers afters-school programs to low-income kids in Dorchester, one of the poorest areas of Boston.  I used to live in Boston, and went to undergrad and graduate school there too, so I know this community and these kids need all the love and support they can get to thrive. So this kind of behavior, from an interior designer in our design community whom we knew and trusted, was shocking and totally unacceptable!  The Interior Design Community felt very strongly that we had to do something!

So what I DO want to share with you, is how love wins out every time!  How doing the right thing (even when you didn’t want to bring more attention to the person responsible for the bad thing) IS the right thing to do.

As Martin Luther King said, “The time is always right to do the right thing” and that’s exactly why the IDC Community stepped in and took action.

Within a couple hours of learning the plight of this non-profit Laurie Laizure, founder of Interior Design Community (IDC), reached out on Facebook to all of us in the IDC community and started a Go-Fund-Me campaign that not only met the initial goal of $7,000 in the first 24 hours, but then, upon learning how much need ADSL had, upped the goal to $25,000 and now raised more than $20,000! It’s simply astounding the power of love!

And we all had input. We all made this decision together in our private Facebook Group and then five key interior designers, who we owe much thanks to, Vicki Gladle Bolick, Susan Serra, Nicole Dufour DuRocher, and Linda Merrill, were instrumental in organizing the campaign with Laurie. Linda even contacted the I-Team TV station and did a follow-up interview (which if you watch the full YouTube at end of this post, you will see the happy ending the IDC community made possible.)

It all happened so fast! Many of us donated, then all of a sudden Steve Sheinkopf, CEO of Yale Appliance and Lighting, surprised us all (even the lighting expert, Laura Van Zeyl, who initially reached out to him) by donating $4,615 which put us over the top of our initial goal of $7,000. So the whole thing took off really quickly and designers and the industry brands are now donating lighting, furniture, and anything else that will help this nonprofit.

So let me tell you a little about this wonderful group, Interior Design Community (IDC) of which I am so proud to be a member.  IDC is a free interior design/home decor professional Community and has over 90,000 members all over the U.S.A. and Canada.

Founded by Laurie Laizure, with the intent to pull together design industry professionals to network, collaborate and share, the Interior Design Community (IDC) was created:

“to provide a supportive environment for members to learn the latest industry news, seek out new colleagues, and engage collectively in a positive and productive way.”

As founder Laurie Laizure emphasizes,

“We know that we are stronger together than apart. Our mission is to provide a platform for the industry of design to inspire, teach, learn from, collaborate with, and grow by working together in a meaningful way. Our members get it! “

I’m so proud to say that the IDC community really came together quickly and were indeed “stronger together than apart”!  By giving to ADSL, All Dorchester Sports League (ADSL), trying to right a wrong, we wanted to show the world that the Interior Design profession is an honest and generous one. We care. We weren’t going to let the actions of  one bad apple hurt these children, or tarnish the whole design industry.

Laurie Laizure said after the GoFundMe campaign took off –

“It’s so gratifying to see the support of so many designers – almost $4000 raised in the first two hours! Praying that we far exceed our goal and make ADSL’s future a little brighter.  I am SO excited about all the momentum we have all created in this group!! Thank you to all those who have contacted brands or shared the fundraiser. I think we are going to turn something that was pretty ugly into something pretty beautiful. And that’s just what Designers do.

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far! Keep it coming!!”

I think what Susan Serra wrote for the GoFundMe sums it up best, so please read the link and donate if you can. – GoFundMe – Interior Designers for ADSL

“The lights went out in Dorchester. The lights that were promised over many, many months by an interior designer who received payment for light fixtures but which were never delivered……. Lights that would illuminate……” (Read more HERE).

You can also see the full story of the IDC group effort and hear the positive impact it had from the director herself, as this story unfolded on LIVE TV below.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and to watch the I-Team feature story below. We are very grateful they pursued it and included the help the IDC Community provided becaue the mission of the Interior Design Community is to help all people. Thousands of designers work so hard every day to make the quality of people live’s safe, comfortable, and aesthetically beautiful.

It gave us great joy to have a positive impact on the All Dorchester Sports League (ADSL)  and to do the right thing.

There’s still time to help us reach our goal, so please consider making a small donation to help ADSL. Till next time, bless you, and Happy Thanksgiving! XO PG

Additional blog posts:

“Designers Rally for Nonprofit Impacted by James Swan Scandal” by Editor at Large.

“Making Something Beautiful Out of Something Ugly“, by Linda Merrill.

CBS BOSTON STORY: