The Last Word Blog of Gardner-White Furniture and Mattress Stores Detroit Michigan

Michigan Moms-We appreciate You

 

Moms. We appreciate you. We hope you know that. But did you know we also “get” you and what you care about? Not because you buy from us-or might buy from us- but because we are owned and operated-every day and on site- by a Moms. 

When we began doing business in Detroit 97 years ago, we were owned by a great team of men, and working side by side with those founding men were their wives –who were also Moms. Today, in 2010, things have changed a bit and now our stores are owned and managed by Barb.Working side by side with Barb is her husband, Steve, whom many of you know as the public face of our stores.

We also have many Moms in senior management positions within our stores and within our corporate offices. Our advertising is managed and purchased by a Mom, our customer service is managed by a Mom, one of our senior buyers is a Mom, our internet sales and special order purchasing is managed by a Mom and several of our stores are managed by Moms.

Having so many women in senior management positions gives us a unique advantage in understanding the needs of our customers-many of you whom are also Moms. Here in Detroit, we recognize that many of you are working within very tight budgets to furnish your homes -given our local economy.

We know, since many of us are Moms too, that the desire for warm, beautiful, comfortable furniture for our families to curl up together on, relax, and watch our local sports teams( Go Tigers!) take on the world- is always with us.

That’s why we strive to stay focused on bringing you the absolute best values we can find-wherever and whenever we find them and why we support local events like Bike Day at Beaumont Hospital with the Children’s Miracle Network. We care about what YOU, the Moms of Detroit- our core customers- care about: great values in furniture and electronics and then re-investing a portion of what you spend with us in the events and charities in the LOCAL communities we serve that support your families.

We know that when you buy from us, you have a choice. We appreciate it when you invest your hard earned dollars in Gardner White. As a local Detroit business run largely by Detroit moms, your support allows us to provide more jobs and to GROW our ability to re-invest in your communities on behalf of  your families -as we have been doing for the past 97 years. We have also, recently, started working with the local online community to seek out solutions to help rebuild Detroit into an even greater city than it was in the past because we want you to know this: we’re not going anywhere and we hope you’re not either.

 

Working together, we believe we can weave an even tighter fabric of support for what we all cherish so much –the ability to call Detroit “home.”

The Thrilling Taste of Freedom-Bike Day for Kids at Beaumont Hospital!

THE THRILLING TASTE OF FREEDOM- BIKE DAY FOR KIDS at BEAUMONT!

 

Do you remember that thrilling taste of freedom (and terror!) when you took off on your first bike ride on the new bicycle your parents bought for you? Away you went, teetering and unsteady, but with the wind blowing in your hair and the ability to explore your world in brand new ways-wasn’t it exciting?

Unfortunately, there are many physically challenged children here in Detroit with parents who cannot afford to give their children what their heart most desires to have-a chance to be a normal kid on a bike.

That’s why we are so happy here at Gardner White to be sponsoring Beaumont Hospital’s Pediatric Rehabilitation BIKE DAY this year in conjunction with Fox 2 News and the Children’s Miracle Network.

For every individual donation you make in our stores, we will match your donation up to $10,000.00 so special needs kids who might not otherwise ever have a chance to own a bike can experience the feeling of independence and delight that we had as kids!

A bit of background:

Our local Beaumont Hospital is the only hospital in Southeastern Michigan to be part of the nationwide Children’s Miracle Network. One of the many things that the Children’s Miracle Network supports is the purchase of specially adapted bikes for special needs children at Beaumont Pediatric Rehabilitation. The mission of this program is to provide every participating child with a free bike and a free helmet.  This year, Beaumont Hospital has identified 40 children who will benefit from attending Bike Day. Each bike costs an average of 1700.00 as they are specially fitted for each child.

Since 2004, when Beaumont Hospital initiated Bike Day, 218 bikes have been funded for children that have been referred for these special bikes through their physical therapist at Beaumont Hospital or, occasionally, through one of our local schools.

For these special needs kids bike riding offers numerous physical and social benefits they would otherwise never get to experience as most insurance companies will not cover a specially fitted bike and many parents cannot afford the high cost of these bikes.

We hope you will join us in helping to get these kids these special bikes by coming into our stores and making a donation- we welcome one quarter as much as we welcome 25.00! Every donation will be matched by us up to 10,000 and given to Beaumont to help these kids locked in by their physical limitations get a feeling of freedom they’ve never experienced before.

If you have a few minutes, watch this short video clip http://home.comcast.net/~wjbkpromo/spotapproval/CMN_BikeDay.mpg to see what it means to this young Mom and her son to have one of these bikes .We’d love for you to share what it meant for YOU to have your first bike-can you please leave a comment here or share that feeling with us over on our Facebook Page at http://facebook.com/GardnerWhiteFurniture  or on our Twitter feed @GardnerWhite ?

We hope we’ll see you in our stores this weekend to help make these kids dreams come true-we’re open Mon-Saturday 10-9 and Sunday 12-6!

 

 

Gardner-White to host tryouts for the Biggest Loser-Saturday March 13th at

NOW CASTING THE BIGGEST LOSER SEASON 10. APPLY TODAY!!!

Biggest Loser Tryouts on Saturday at Gardner-White!

'Biggest Loser' Holds Detroit-Area Casting Call

Ruth Spencer Consumer Investigator

POSTED: Thursday, February 18, 2010

UPDATED: 1:57 pm EST February 18, 2010

Do you have at least 100 pounds to lose and want to win big by being the biggest loser?

Then you should go to an open casting call for the popular NBC show, "The Biggest Loser."

The Detroit-area casting call will be held at the Gardner White Furniture Store located at 45300 Hayes Rd. in Macomb On March 13.

The casting call will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The winner of "The Biggest Loser" season will receive $250,000.

For more information, visit "The Biggest Loser" casting call Web site.

Copyright 2010 by ClickOnDetroit.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

How I Spent My Winter Break!

I hope you all had a great break, I sure did. I entered a contest at Gardner White and won!!  I won a room full of furniture and tickets to go see Oprah.  It was a great time.  I was also on the news.  Hopefully the video will play below.

http://www.wxyz.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?articleID=26260

Original link: http://mrsproper5.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-i-spent-my-winter-break.html

Gardner-White to host tryouts for the Biggest Loser

He has kept the weight off, developed his own 10-week life transformation class (Lose It Fast, Lose It Forever) and touched thousands of lives as a motivational speaker. 

Sterling Heights’ Helen Phillips just graced the cover of Good Housekeeping and continues to wow the world with her weight loss of 140 pounds. She won $250,000 on the seventh season of “Loser” and hopes to open a spinning and wellness center in Macomb County.

Now “Loser” representatives have lined up a March 13 date at Gardner White Furniture in Macomb to find contestants for an upcoming season of the show. 

The open casting call runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Those who show up must be at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen They should have 100 pounds or more of weight to lose and should bring along a photo. The store is at 45300 Hayes Road in Macomb. 

For more, go to htp://www.thebiggestlosercasting.com.

WXYZ- Announces the Winner of the Oprah No Zone-Gardner-White Contest

(WXYZ)- The No Phone Zone pledge is gaining support across the country.

The pledge was made popular on the Oprah Winfrey show. Gardner White took the on line initiative one step further and held a contest to get more folks to sign-up and to reward one customer who already did.

Michelle Proper was the big winner of the contest. She received a big surprise for pledging not to text and drive, talk on the phone while driving or pull over to use a cell phone.

It's estimated that 6,000 people have died in distracted driving accidents, and a recent survey suggests that 71% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 admit to texting and talking on cell phones while driving.

Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel Believes this is an epidemic that needs to be addressed.

19 states including the district of Columbia have bans on texting while driving, however Michigan isn't one of them.

The state House passed a ban last year and now the state Senate is deliberating a 2-bill package which could make texting or talking while driving against the law.

Sign the No Phone Zone pledge at Gardner-White and Enter to win a Big Picture Package

 

 

 

 

Gardner-White Room Full of Furniture Contest

Official Rules Contest List

Visit any of the 7 Gardner-White Furniture locations and enter for a chance to win a 50-inch High-Def TV, a room FULL of furniture, PLUS two tickets to see a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show, courtesy of Gardner-White Furniture.

Take the Oprah No Phone Zone Challenge !! Sunday is the Final Day to Enter to Win Oprah ticket and a Big Picture Package at Gardner-White

It affects YOU, your kids, your family, and it COULD BE deadly!

If you think you’ve got the cell phone texting and driving thing down – you don’t!

Watch this Channel 7 special presentation of Oprah's No Phone Zone Special on Saturday, February 6 at 7pm.

NOW – here’s your chance to change!

Click here to take Oprah’s No Phone Zone pledge!

Presented locally by Gardner-White Furniture

Take the Oprah NO-Phone Zone Pledge at Gardner-White

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

February 4, 2010-Detroit, Michigan

 

Gardner White Furniture, WXYZ-TV-Detroit, The Oprah Show Partnering to help end

Distracted Driving

 

Gardner White Furniture, Warren, Michigan (http://gardner-white.com) has teamed up with WXYZ-TV (Channel 7 in Detroit) to further Oprah Winfrey’s initiative against Distracted Driving.

On Saturday, February 6, at 7pm, Gardner-White will sponsor Channel 7’s re-broadcast of Oprah’s No Phone Zone Show (originally aired on Monday, January 18, 2010). The re-broadcast will reach viewers in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Livingston, Monroe, Lapeer, St. Clair and Sanilac Counties.

 

Oprah’s No Phone Zone Show has helped spark a nation-wide movement against distracted Driving. Bob Sliva, Channel 7 Vice President and General Manager commented that, “distracted driving is a dangerous, life-threatening practice that has become all too commonplace.  That’s why we are proud to have joined forces with The Oprah Winfrey Show and Gardner White Furniture to address this problem and the significance of the No Phone Zone pledge to our viewers”.

 

In 2008, distracted driving caused 16% of all highway fatalities and over 515,000 accidents. 19 states and the District of Columbia now have laws preventing texting while driving and 23 more are considering them. Six states and the District of Columbia now ban handheld cell phones while driving.

 

Ray LaHood, US Secretary of Transportation has made banning texting one of the main priorities of his department. Recently, the DOT launched the federal site http://distraction.gov as a resource for concerned citizens.

 

Following the re-broadcast, viewers will be asked to take Oprah’s NO-Phone Zone Pledge at Gardner-White Stores, where they can register to win a Big Picture Furniture Package, as well as tickets to an Oprah taping in her Chicago Studio.

 

Gardner White is also using social media to get local residents to take the “pledge”.

Leslie Carothers, of the Kaleidoscope Partnership, comments that, “The interaction of a Broadcast Television Network, a Local Business leader, and the Social Media communities

Is an ideal way to get the word out. Parents connected to our communities are now reaching out to their own communities for participation. Distracted Driving affects everyone.”

Carothers, who has been building Communities for Gardner-White on Twitter and Facebook futher comments that Ray LaHood himself has responded to Gardner-White Twitter messages on the subject.

 

 

Barb Tronstein, owner of Gardner White, says, “We want to use our media presence to help save lives. We are grateful to Channel 7 and Oprah Winfrey for allowing us to help. Leslie has done a great job online.

If you look on our Facebook page http://facebook.com/GardnerWhiteFurniture you will see photos of distracted driving accidents. The larger tragedy is that these accidents are 100% preventable.”

 

 

For more information:

 

Tina Noor

TVWorks, Inc.

248.248.882.0059