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Christy Schutz

Advertising Director

As Director at a niche, advertising, marketing, communications and specialty services firm, I develop customized, innovative strategies for my clients that help them stay ahead of the pack. I've held a couple of other gigs over the past 16+ years too... in settings like corporate internal marke...

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Finding "Girl Power"

Christy

On many weekends, the estrogen levels reach an all time high at my house, and the three boys (my husband, my son and my dog) quickly find themselves most decidedly outnumbered. They have to contend with the strong personalities of my teen daughter, tween daughter, elementary-aged little puddin (the youngest), and of course, me. This is, as you can imagine, no small undertaking!

The girls all stay active, with their myriad of activities like gymnastics, acting classes or music. All three girls have also played softball. As a kid, I never really explored any athletic endeavors, so, this part of my daughters’ lives is really foreign to me.

As I would encounter the dusty fields (always located, incidentally, near a city’s railroad tracks or their solid waste dumping center), the hot stagnant Florida air, shoddy concession stands (with droopy hotdogs and overpriced M&Ms), and metal benches (can you say “NOT COMFORTABLE??”), I must admit that sometimes I HATED that they played softball. In fact, since we are having somewhat of a “confessional moment” together, I have to tell you that there were times I would secretly pray that they would hurry up and lose the game so we could be eliminated from the tournament and go the heck home. Intellectually, of course, I wanted them to experience the sweet taste of victory. Emotionally, I was hot, tired, and dirty and I wanted to literally kill someone.

As I started to accept that softball might be a permanent fixture in our lives, I realized I had better find some positive aspects in the experience or I was destined to be utterly miserable (or quite possibly homicidal) every weekend.

One thing that I immediately observed is what I will call “Girl Power.” These girls possessed a degree of confidence, determination, strength, and the will to win that was literally palpable. They would play so hard, diving headfirst to catch a line drive, or bruising and scraping their thighs as they slid to base, or just cracking the ball over the fence for a home run. As I got to know the players better, I would imagine them as grown women— Mothers, doctors, lawyers, and CEOs— and it was not hard to imagine these girls kicking some serious “you-know-what” in the future. From that point forward, I made a pledge to point out examples of “Girl Power” to the whole family (my teen son and husband included) whenever I saw it.

“Girl Power” was obvious in a female soldier or policewoman. But I would also point out the “Girl Power” as we observed a Mom, still donned in her suit from a day’s work at the office, making her way through the grocery store while also successfully wrangling a wiggling toddler. Or perhaps it was the “Girl Power” portrayed in a woman on the demonstration lines, tears streaming down her face, strong enough to take a stand on an issue and bold enough to let the world see how she feels. We could see that obstinate “Girl Power” on the face of a 90-year old woman who was gingerly navigating her way through a public place, demonstrating her will to stay active and independent. There was “Girl Power” abound in acts of tenderness and generosity, “Girl Power” in moments of calculated defiance, and even “Girl Power” in moments of prayerful acceptance or submission.

As I flipped on my computer this morning and fired up the Internet, I saw an example of “Girl Power” on my favorite news-centered home page. The story immediately caught my eyes because the article centered on a young girl who is about the same age as my daughters.

Mimi Ausland, a 12-year old living in Bend, Oregon has a love for animals. She volunteers at the local animal shelter and spends her time feeding and playing with the strays. With the economic down-turn and foreclosures running rampant, more and more animals were being abandoned and eventually ending up in the shelters. Mimi soon noticed that it was becoming more difficult than ever for the shelter to provide food and supplies.

Mimi recalled hearing about a site that helps to feed the needy, with sponsors donating rice every time a user visits the page. She worked with her parents, landed some sponsors, and launched www.freekibble.com. Users visit the site, take a shot at the ‘Bow Wow” daily trivia quiz, and the participating sponsors donate 20 pieces of doggie kibble to the Central Oregon Humane Society. So far, Mimi’s efforts have provided over 5.5 million pieces of dog food. She even took it a step further and launched www.freekibblecat.com, which is quickly catching up with over 3.1 million pieces of kibble going to cats at the shelter. Mimi has recently partnered with ZooToo.com, and is working to distribute food for shelters across the nation.

Not only are Mimi’s efforts, from a professional standpoint, incredibly enterprising, but, this is also just GOOD STUFF! She saw a need and took action. And kudos to her parents for helping her to make it happen.  

Mimi, you have hit the ball out of the park! And you should be proud to be a stellar example of “Girl Power.”