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(Copyright, The Times Mirror Company, Los Angeles
Times, 1993, All Rights Reserved)
When Patrick and Karen Tatone decided to reward kids who brought home
good report cards, the couple had no idea they were putting their new
business into a financial hole.
Now, two weeks and $75,000 worth of gift certificates later, the Glendora
clothiers say it will take months to overcome the losses from their
goodwill plan. Still, they're glad they did it.
"It was a fun thing," Patrick Tatone said. "We love Glendora,
and we don't want anyone to feel sorry for us."
It all started when the couple's two sons, Jonathan, 17, and Nicholas,
13, received good report cards from Glendora
High School and Goddard
Middle School. Their father was
eager to reward not only them, but other young scholars-including college
students-who earned good grades.
The Tatones had opened Street Rags, a tiny shop on North
Glendora Avenue that sells casual school
clothes, in March. To honor good grades and provide an incentive for future
achievement, the couple decided to offer $50 gift certificates to all
students-in or outside Glendora-who earned a 4.0 grade-point average during
the recent quarter, $25 certificates for a 3.5 to 3.99 GPA like their sons
had, and $15 certificates for a 3.0 to 3.49 GPA.
Tatone placed a notice announcing the offer in his shop window; he also
sent several notices to school with Nicholas. Tatone's plan was to spread
news of the offer primarily by word of mouth.
"My hope was to encourage kids to do well in school," Tatone
said. "I was upset with all the negative that you hear about
kids-gangs, drive-by shootings. You never hear about the good."
Two students showed up at his store with report cards in hand on April
25, followed by 12 more the next day. Then the roof fell in.
"There were 80 on Tuesday," he said. Then scores of students
started showing up every day. "I thought it would never end."
When it finally did end, an estimated 3,000 students-there are 6,866
students in the Glendora Unified
School District's 10
schools-had taken advantage of the Tatones' generosity and received free
clothing. A fifth were from outside Glendora,
Tatone said.
On Monday, the offer was discontinued because students began bringing in
report cards that had been photocopied, scribbled over and whited out,
Tatone said.
Nonetheless, he considers the program a success.
"I had no idea the response would be so overwhelming. One of the
teachers announced it at Sandburg
Middle School, and I thought,
`Oh, no.'
"I had little kids in here shaking my hand, saying, `How can you
afford to do this?' People were concerned about me and thankful as well.
Many said they would come back, not out of pity but because this was an
honest, no-gimmick, no-nonsense offer."
He added, "I had no idea there were so many smart kids in Glendora."
For awhile, Tatone said, he feared that the huge response would drive
him into insolvency. He had to borrow money to order enough merchandise for
all the kids who showed up. And he has a "fairly serious credit
problem now," he said, because he was forced to put off other
creditors. But he sees it as a temporary setback that he hopes to resolve
with about four months of good business.
One student who achieved perfect grades was Brendan Simon, a
sixth-grader at Sandburg. Simon brought in his report card and picked out a
pair of shorts and a cap.
"I try to get good grades because I want to do well later in
life," said Brendan, who heard about the offer from friends at school.
"But this really makes me want to do well."
Patrick Bushman, superintendent of the Glendora
Unified School District,
praised the Tatones' effort.
"This is an excellent expression of appreciation for our
schools," Bushman said, "It is great to see this type of
school-business partnership. It is certainly an outstanding positive
reinforcement for our students.
"We continue to encourage any local business to be involved with us
in recognizing student achievement."
The Tatones also can look at the gift certificates as the best public
relations they could have bought. The store's daily customer base has
increased from a handful to about 30.
So will they repeat the offer next quarter?
"I wouldn't do it the same way again," Tatone said.
"We'll do something, though. We may give a discount next time, like
30% off for a 4.0, 20% off for a 3.5 and so on. Thirty percent is still a
significant incentive."
Tatone added: "I had kids come in who just missed a 3.0. They told
me they would work harder next quarter. I really and truly think our
efforts will have an impact."
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Copyright
2005 Los Angeles Times
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