Michael J. Fuzi

Today while walking on the Oceanside Pier, we looked down on the beach and discovered a work of art. Below the pier, carved into the sand, was an elephant and a lion... They were huge and very detailed. A beautiful surprise in an amazing setting. We met the artist, Michael Fuzi, as he ran up the ramp to check out his work. In his own words (and we also agree)... It was epic! Michael is an up and coming artist in north county San Diego... Look for him on Facebook or find him in the sand...

Look for Try Change in Vista at Decked Out Clothing!

Try Change is Now Bi-Coastal!

We have exciting news! Try Change is in our first store on the West Coast – Decked Out Clothing! Thank you Bobby and Omar for giving Try Change the opportunity to be in your new store!





Decked Out Clothing is located in the Vista Town Center at the corner of Hacienda and Melrose in Vista, CA (Hours are M-Sat. 10am - 8pm & Sun. 10am - 7pm). They carry brands like Zoo York, Levis, and Tap Out along with shoes and women’s clothing & accessories. Decked Out just had their grand opening so please go out and support them and Try Change!

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We also want to thank everyone that voted for us during the Pepsi Refresh Challenge! We truly appreciate all of your support! Though we didn't win the grant, we ended up #41 and made some great contacts!

Thanks again!
Vince & Chrissie

Pepsi Refresh Challenge - Refresh Everything! Vote for Try Change!

We have some exciting news here at Try Change…We have been accepted into the Pepsi Refresh Challenge Project! Pepsi is giving away grants to individuals and organizations that are striving to bring about positive change or fill a need in their communities.

As you may know, one of the main reasons why we started Try Change was to help bring about positive change and to encourage others to also make changes in their lives. Try Change has highlighted many personal and community causes but the one we have chosen to fight for personally, and as a business, has been to end homelessness. We participate in volunteer activities and donate a percentage of our t-shirt sales to programs that support ending homelessness. The goal – To End Homelessness One T-Shirt at a Time!

This grant from Pepsi Refresh would allow us to expand Try Change to our new home base in Southern California. But we need your help…The sheer number of homeless in the San Diego area has reawakened our passion to do something about it- not just encourage others but really do something about it…We cannot do this alone. We need your support. And we need your votes.

Please go to PepsiRefresh.com and vote for Try Change!

You can vote once a day every day until the end of July. You can also text your vote: Text* 107299 to Pepsi (73774) to vote from your mobile. (*Standard text messaging rates apply.)

Thank you everyone for your continued support!
Vince and Chrissie

http://www.refresheverything.com/tshirtstoendhomelessness#
http://pep.si/jCCL2o

http://www.trychange.org/

Nika Water - Bringing a Voice to the World's Poor

This spring we met Nika Water at the San Marcos Spring Festival. After talking with them, we found out a little about their goals and philosophies. One of the most unique being that they donate 100% of their profits to support clean water projects in impoverish countries as well as bring awareness to these issues.

From their website:
Our goal is to create awareness and knowledge to serve as a catalyst for thousands of youth to get involved in our quest to bring clean water to the impoverished world.

Mindful of our duties as stewards of the Earth, NIKA has been certified as CarbonFree® by Carbonfund.org through our investment in carbon offsetting programs such as a reforestation project in Nicaragua. In addition, NIKA has developed a very unique recycling program where we pay high schools around the country a small fee for each plastic bottle that the school collects and recycles. Through this "One-for-One Recycling Program," our aim is not only to be plastic bottle neutral but an advocate of the importance and simplicity of basic recycling as well.

Our founders are a group of seasoned business executives who have successfully built and expanded for-profit businesses and who now share a common focus of creating social and environmentally responsible businesses that can be used to help solve global problems. Our founders have funded all of NIKA's startup and launch/operating losses and will realize no compensation or economic benefit from NIKA's operations. We are committed to making NIKA truly the most ethical bottled water brand on the market.


We noticed that they had some pretty cool t-shirts too! And they were kind enough to offer us a referral for the screen printing company they use for these shirts, Forward Screen Printing in Vista! Now we are working with them on producing the Try Change line out here in SoCal! Stay tuned!

NIKA has been attending alot of local events in San Diego lately; spreading the word about their cause and their water. Today they will be at Fiesta Del Sol in Solana Beach so if you're in the area come check them out!

Help us pass along the Try Change message by joining one of our online communities!

Facebook
Twitter

Thank you!
Vince & Chrissie

Homes For Heroes

In keeping with our (Try Change) goal of highlighting organizations and companies that are making a difference we like to bring you Homes For Heroes. Born from the horrific attack on 9/11 Homes For Heroes was a program designed to say "Thank You" to all those that risked their lives to save lives on the day and the days, months and years afterwards.


How does the program work?

Per the website

Homes for Heroes San Diego is a company that affiliates with Realtors, lenders and other real estate related service providers who provide substantial rebates and discounts to the heroes who serve our nation and its communities every day. Heroes include military personnel, firefighters, law enforcement officers, nurses, teachers, border patrol agents, coast guard and others who make our communities a better place to live.


In addition to the 25% savings that your HfH REALTOR will provide to you in closing costs we have lenders, escrow and title companies, home inspectors, termite companies and many more local business you also want to give back to our HERO'S!


To learn more about Homes For Heroes San Diego go to http://oursandiegoheroes.com/

Help us pass along the Try Change message by joining one of our blog communities and asking your blog community members to visit our blog.


Also please "like" us at our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Try-Change/58336331771

Thank you,
Vince & Chrissie

One Day Without Shoes - Making a difference one step at a time

Are you up to the Challenge?

Founded by Blade Mycoskie of TOMS Shoewear, One Day Without Shoes challenges everyone to spend one day without shoes to bring awareness that in many developing countries children must walk barefoot just to get basics like schooling, clean water, food and medical supplies. This increases the risk of injury, infection and diseases. Raising awareness will lead to action that can bring about real change.

On April 5th events will take place throughout the world. One Day Without Shoes you can find the locations of events near you as well as learn more on how this movement is making a difference.

At Try Change we feel we can all make a difference. For us, we donate 10% of all our profits to Volunteers of America which serves the homeless in the DC,VA & MD areas. We also adopt a homeless family during the holiday season, donate clothes as well as hold an annual Charity yard sale for VOA. Help us pass along the Try Change message by joining one of our blog communities and asking your blog community members to visit our blog.

ISS Show

A few weeks ago, Try Change, make the trip up to Long Beach for the ISS Show. The annual ISS shows are a great way to reach professionals in the apparel industry. At the show you can find the latest in equipment, supplies, inks, apparel and digital art.

We made some good contacts and got to enjoy some great weather!

Below are our pre and post videos:

before

after

We are in the process of growing our contacts here in SoCal and hope to have the new Try Change line ready to go soon! Stay tuned!

At Try Change we feel we can all make a difference. For us, we donate 10% of all our profits to Volunteers of America which serves the homeless in the DC,VA & MD areas. We also adopt a homeless family during the holiday season, donate clothes as well as hold an annual Charity yard sale for VOA.

You can find our shirts at:

Fashion Mechanics in the Springfield and Manassas Mall

Evado in the Fair Oaks Mall

Shadows in the Forestville Centre

SWANK in the Pentagon City Mall

Millennium in Georgetown

Sport Zone- Selected locations

D-Block-Lakeforest Mall,Gaithersburg MD

First Thangs First- Waldorf MD

Next Level Clothing- Ellicott City MD

Turning Point- Laurel Centre Mall, Laurel MD

New York Fashions- Charlottesville VA

Fashion Kings- Bridgeport WV

Hot Stepper -Martinsburg WV

Urban Flavor- Old Town, Manassas, VA

Heartbeat- Lake Forest Mall, Gaithersburg MD

Fashion World- Hurlock MD

City Wear- Farmville, VA

Help us pass along the Try Change message by joining one of our blog communities and asking your blog community members to visit our blog.
My Space
Razoo
Idealist
Change.org
MyBlogLog
BlogCatalog
Twitter

Thank you,
Vince & Chrissie