Family Matters - Meet Sarah Stone

As most of you know, family is extremely important to fundraising - not only for the school and the children participating, but for our team at Paragon Promotions. Today we would like to celebrate a member of the Paragon team that has grown up with fundraising in her blood!

Sarah is the daughter of Tom and Diane Stone, our President and founders. Graduated from Reitz Memorial High School in 2011, Sarah demonstrated her love for teamwork and staying active. In high school, Sarah took the ladies soccer and basketball teams to state - and brought home state titles for both! She is currently a second year senior at the University of Indiana (IU) studying Psychology. She represents IU by acting as the starting goalie on the women's soccer team for the upcoming season, and all through 2014.

Before Sarah became who she is today, she used to hang around Paragon Promotions quite frequently. Each and everyone of us are extremely proud of all Sarah has accomplished. Tom is especially proud and supports Sarah in everything she does. He attended every one of her soccer games in the 2014 season! Every employee who has worked with Paragon long enough remembers Sarah coming in as a little girl wanting to help out wherever she was allowed. Over the years, she has helped in numerous departments, such as the tally department assembling brochures, filing in the office, and more!

Nowadays, you may see Sarah helping out with some of our Kick-Offs and Open Houses at local schools. Since the University of Indiana is not far from Paragon's headquarters, she is able to participate in these events and loves every minute of it! She also helps her Aunt Chris Reitz Mcneely, our Project Consultant, around the Indianapolis area.

For many of us at Paragon Promotions, we see Sarah as one of our own. We have loved watching her become the smart and capable young woman she is today. Keep it up, Sarah!!

How to Get ALL Parents Involved in Fundraising

Family is an integral piece to a solid and successful fundraiser. As a family owned and operated business, we understand the support that family can provide when you are taking on a new endeavor - whether that be opening your own business or your child starting a new fundraiser with their school.

It is our prerogative to make every family feel involved in their school’s fundraiser. Schools in the United States are becoming increasingly diverse. While this provides children with great opportunities to learn about other cultures, it can be difficult for schools to get families of all cultures involved in fundraising because of language and cultural barriers.

Our dream is to make it easy for all parents to get involved with their child’s fundraiser.

To help reach this goal, we’ve hired José Lopez as a bilingual project consultant to bridge the gap. José’s roots in Mexico and US cities with cultural diversity aids in the fundraising process for families that are not native English speakers.

José pictured in the center with co-worker, Richie

José Lopez has been working with Paragon Promotions since July. Initially hired as a Spanish translator, José’s position quickly evolved into a bilingual project consultant. He works to get hispanic families, and families of all cultures, involved by reaching out and explaining the fundraising process on a more personal level. He loves “providing new and different perspectives” to Paragon’s methodology and “opening eyes to new initiatives.”

José has a passion for helping people and volunteering. He also works in the community to help people with immigration resources and has previously donated his time as a Spanish translator to low-income based clinics.

José is a long-time family friend of Tom and Diane Stone, Paragon’s founders. He works with the planning and execution of kick-off events and open houses, as well as sales. When asked what his favorite part about fundraising is, he said “going out and getting them excited!”

We are thrilled to have José on board. He brings positivity, fun, and most importantly, the kids love him!

José pictured left wearing the "Duck Dynasty" beard during our "Beard for a Day" fundraising contest.