Springfield Business Journal_2020-09-28

SPRINGFIELD BUSINESS JOURNAL · 45 SEPT. 28-OCT. 4, 2020 I t’s time to speak out, take action and unite! Domestic violence didn’t take a seven-month hiatus when COVID came to town, and neither should we. In early November 2019, Harmony House of Springfield was just wrapping up a suc- cessful iCare campaign in which hundreds of area businesses participated in awareness efforts and fundraising to bring an end to domestic violence locally. I cut my teeth last year as the campaign chair and could not have been more eager to ac- cept the challenge again when asked to co-chair the 2020 campaign. I was still feeling the momen- tum of the progress that we had made and couldn’t wait to be a part of something even bigger and bet- ter. My Springfield Business Journal colleagues and I gained so much through our involvement with iCare and felt that we had played some small part in spreading the word that would help even more victims find a helping hand and a way to es- cape dire circumstances. Little did any of us know that the perfect storm would present itself just ahead of the 2020 kickoff. As we are all aware, domestic violence plagued the world long before COVID-19 was discov- ered, and will not be quelled with the emergence of a vaccine or treatment. It impacts every cor- ner of the world and cuts across all socioeconomic groups in all communities, families and workplac- es. In an effort to protect the public from further spread of COVID-19, we have been asked to isolate with our families and retreat to the one place that a victim of domestic violence is most likely to be abused – home. According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline: “We know that any external factors that add stress, isolation and financial strain can create circumstances where a survivor’s safety is further compromised. The COVID-19 pandemic has ele- ments of all three of these external factors.” Our best and only real defense lies in educa- tion, awareness, protection and advocacy for vic- tims and survivors. So, pandemic or not, SBJ will once again join hundreds of area businesses speaking in a unified voice about domes- tic violence in the month of October. In commemoration of Na- tional Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Harmo- ny House of Springfield will launch their 2020 iCare campaign at Oasis Ho- tel and Convention Center from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Sept. 29. On this day, company representatives of area businesses willing to take a stand can liter- ally drive through a demonstration of solidarity against domestic violence. Beginning at the en- trance to the Oasis property, guests will be greeted by me, Miss Missouri Megan Kelly, Randy Bacon of Randy Bacon Photography and 7Billion Ones, Harmony House staff and iCare awareness lead- ers and advocates. We will all be on-site wear- ing the black eye sticker (and a mask, of course) to show our appreciation to our community for standing with victims this October. Southwest Au- dio/Visual will be parking a 20-foot LED screen in the parking lot that will be showing iCare testimo- nials, survivor stories and “How to iCare” slides that attendees can view while enjoying a breakfast sandwich and coffee provided by Oasis, all from the comfort of their car. So, here’s what I’m asking of you. Please start by making your iCare pledge. Go to MyHarmony- House.org/icare to register your business as a 2020 participant. Then join me and others at the Oasis for the drive-thru breakfast. Just let us know how many are coming by registering at the follow- ing link: bit.ly/icarekickoff. From there, Harmony House staff and iCare ambas- sadors will help you and your colleagues find your own unique way of advocating for victims and survivors and/ or raising funds through the month of October. If you are open to an on-site visit from staff, we will be mak- ing the rounds on Oct. 30 to thank you personally for your efforts. Whatever you decide to do, please don’t be silent. It’s time to speak up! Springfield Business Journal Publisher Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@sbj.net. Editor’s note: This column marks the final Opin- ion piece by Springfield Business Journal’s longest- running current columnist. Ellen Rohr has written a regular column tailored to the self-employed and small-business owners since 1998. She and her family are returning to Salt Lake City. I n 1995, my husband, “Hotrod,” and I sold our plumbing, heating and solar company in Park City, Utah. We bought a farm in Rogersville and moved to the Ozarks. We fell in love with the area on a business trip, when we connected with good friends and took a Buffalo River float trip. Classic midlife change of course. My folks were looking to retire and downsize, and we sold them on moving out to the Ozarks, to live with us. My mom flew out from Salt Lake City to survey their options. I saw her eyes fill with tears as Hotrod laid out remodeling ideas using bright orange spray paint on the dirt floor of an old barn. “This could be the bedroom, and over here the kitchen,” he encouraged enthusiastically. In spite of a rough first impression, they moved out, and stayed in our house while Hotrod worked on the build-out. It’s pretty motivating to get your folks’ house done when they are living with you. Putting the second home on the driveway official- ly turned it into a lane. When you do that in Greene County, you get to name it. Considering his bossy wife, and even more opinionated in-laws, Hotrod chose the name Know It All Lane. It was then our life started to take shape in Rogersville. My sister and brother and their fam- ilies moved to the area. My parents’ place became the family and social hub. At Christmas, my sister from Salt Lake, and other friends and family, would descend on Know It All Lane. We hosted major family reunions in the summertime and used every bit of our acreage for croquet and four-wheeling and scavenger hunts and makeshift golf. Our son Max settled in at school and in sports. He connect- ed with funny, loveable, interesting kids, who have become lifelong friends. Our neighbors out in Rogersville are love- ly. Thank you, Maryann, for organizing our year- ly progressive dinner and causing the sometimes hermit-like Rohrs to mingle. Hotrod made so many friends because of shared interests – mostly me- chanical. Funnily, my social life evolved around Springfield media. I made friends with Spring- field Business Journal’s founding publisher, Dianne Elizabeth Osis, and her daughter, current publish- er Jennifer Jackson. I was in the meeting when Dianne and the team settled in on the mission state- ment Pride In Publishing, which had flown on the masthead for years. Goosebumps. I’ve had the priv- ilege of working with Eric Olson as editor and the fine SBJ editorial crew for many, many years. They have taught me a thing or two about journalistic in- tegrity: “Ellen, do you have a real source for this sta- tistic?” I’ve also made amazing friends at KOLR 10. What a joy and honor to write about and share what I’ve learned in life and business. Hopefully, I’ve been of service to you, my Springfield community. What do I love about life in the Ozarks? So many things. Certainly, the weather. The multicolor trees cast lacy silhouettes at sunrise and sunset through- out the year. Storms that wheel across the Plains and swirl up during tornado season. Breezy days bearing the tail of a Gulf of Mexico hurricane. The unique sweetness of a spring day and the just- crispy rattle of early fall leaves. And the lazy hot and humid summer days that stick around just long enough to ripen the tomatoes. I’ve planted a garden almost every year and got humbled by weeds and bugs. Still, one sun-warmed Roma eaten fresh off the vine makes it all worthwhile. All this to say, the time has come to downsize and move on. Our family is moving and changing, and we are following our son and his family back to Salt Lake City. I am going to miss life here. It’s been wonderful. Mostly, we are going to miss you, dear ones. See you in Utah? Ellen Rohr is an author and business consultant offering profit-building tips, trending business blogs and online workshops at EllenRohr.com. Her books include “Where Did the Money Go?” and “The Bare Bones Weekend Biz Plan.” She can be reached at ellen@ellenrohr.com. OPINION Crisis shouldn’t stop work against domestic violence Farewell SBJ, life’s not all about business Send letters and comments to sbj@sbj.net BARE BONES BUSINESS Ellen Rohr PUBLISHER’S PERSPECTIVE Jennifer Jackson Campaign Kickoff Our best and only real defense lies in education, awareness, protection and advocacy.