Today I saw a giant raccoon throw light bulbs to people at Space Camp. That’s a real sentence. Sprocket, loveable mascot of the Rocket City Trash Pandas, threw Horizon Point stress balls – made to look like light bulbs – to attendees of the 2024 Launch Tank Competition. It was a wild and wonderful moment. But let’s back up. John Kvach and his Singing River Trail team partner with LAUNCH and Innovate Alabama to host a business pitch competition for entrepreneurs in North Alabama, known as Launch Tank. “Our vision goes beyond the competition,” Kvach says. “We want to connect
It is 5:34 in the morning, and I am opening my front door to welcome a 17-year-old from Costa Rica. She’s seen her parents and brother off at the airport to return home, but she is staying. She will be living with us for almost three months. We first met her when she was a sweet seven-year-old who spoke better English than I will ever speak Spanish. Over the course of ten years, we’ve grown to love her family and the prison ministry work they do in Costa Rica. On our trip to Costa Rica last summer to visit, she
At Horizon Point we are big on giving. We give throughout the year to causes that are near and dear to our hearts, we give our clients a Book of the Year at the holidays, we adopt a family for Christmas, and we give to each other – our time, our gratitude, and of course, gifts. Some of our favorite gifts have come from each other, and we always try to personalize our gifts, both for the occasion and the individual. One way we are able to do this is through the help of a Favorite Things questionnaire that we
Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to lead volunteers as a staff member as well as a chair of an all-volunteer board. It can certainly be a challenge, but it is also a great privilege and offers surprising rewards! I remember planning an awards event several years ago that went awry. We had more than a dozen people show up that did not RSVP. My first thoughts were: where will we seat them & will there be enough food? As I look back, I am so thankful for the volunteers who jumped in to help. That was one of
I think it was his eyes that got me. Deep brown, wide and curious with one a little lazy, I noticed he seemed a little lost in the mix. Or maybe what got me was that he was wearing the same Hulk Smash Halloween costume my kindergartener was wearing during their Halloween class party over two years ago. I was there as a mom trying to help with the chaos of five and six-year-olds amped up on candy and holiday excitement when I noticed him. The teacher had a neat pumpkin game where each child was given a small plastic