Welcome to the Furnace

Finely roasted musings. Burnt offerings.

Archive for Good For You

April 29th, 2015

Rollin’ in the Dough

Last Thursday, Firehouse hosted its Fifth Annual April Foos Tournament, and we’re thrilled to report that it was our most successful foos tournament yet. With over 28 2-on-2 teams, we rolled our way into more than $3,400 in funds that benefitted an amazing organization called Free to Breathe. When we learned that a former Firehouse colleague and long-time friend, Diane Testa, was diagnosed with lung cancer, we knew immediately that we wanted to help. And it was for that reason, we decided to contribute all proceeds from this year’s tournament to the charity of her choice: Free to Breathe. The organization is united in the belief that every person with lung cancer deserves a cure. And we’re absolutely aligned with that thinking. So keeping that mission in mind, we let the games begin. Yes, there may have been some dirty looks and some elbows thrown, but hey – we play to win. But in the end, no one was really injured Read More

November 13th, 2013

Make a Difference Day 2013

With another fall comes another Make A Difference Day here at Firehouse. This year, we took a bit of a different approach. Instead of having one larger, daylong project, we decided to spread the wealth around Dallas and tackle several smaller tasks. In the morning, the whole group packed up our paintbrushes and gardening tools and headed to JJ Rhoads Elementary for an outdoor facelift. With an all Michael Jackson playlist to add a little hop in our step, we were able to touch up railings with paint, fill the garden with plants and flowers, and lay down some mulch. We capped it all off with our very own pizza party in one of the classrooms. Next, half of the Firehouse team headed to Anne Frank Elementary for some more garden work, and the other half headed over to an apartment complex to make two gentlemen’s homes feel more home-y by partnering with CitySquare. CitySquare is an organization dedicated to Read More

September 18th, 2013

Givemas Is Coming! Really. It’s Tomorrow.

Maybe you’ve heard of a day called North Texas Giving Day. If not, certainly you’ve heard of Givemas. No? Well, here’s the download: North Texas Giving Day is an annual online giving day powered by DonorBridge. This year, North Texas Giving day takes place tomorrow, September 19, from 7 a.m. to midnight. On this day, any contribution of $25 or more will be amplified with an additional contribution. With that, came the natural partnering of Firehouse and Taylor’s Gift Foundation. We wanted North Texas Giving Day to be marked on everyone’s calendars, ringing alerts on smart phones and iCals all over the metroplex. Thus, we created Givemas Is Coming, an integrated marketing campaign that encourages people to contribute on the most wonderful day of our year. The campaign includes posters for partnering businesses and info cards to be handed out at local events. In addition, we designed a Givemas Is Coming page on Taylor’s Gift website, sent out multiple e-blasts and scripted Facebook and Twitter posts that will create Read More

August 6th, 2013

Join Us

More often than not, the advertising profession seems to have little redeeming value beyond hawking wares. Important for business and industry, less so for humanity. But here at Firehouse, we’ve elected to use our collective talents to try and give back and perhaps leave the world a little better off than we found it. Earlier this year, we announced our relationship with The St. Lucia Project. This demonstration project on the island of St. Lucia has the audacious goal of proving that short term volunteers, working with local leaders, can raise the IQ of a single village’s children. If successful, this effort could quite literally change the world. How so? Well the two videos we produced below, combined with the information found at TheStLuciaProject.org, can tell you that. So please, take a moment to watch the videos and visit the site. And if you feel so inclined, we humbly ask you to share them with your friends, family, social networks and anyone else who might Read More

May 28th, 2010

Firehouse celebrates a graduation

Congratulations Jan Norton — a part of our extended Firehouse family. Jan graduated with Honors from Tarrant County College on May 18, with a degree of Associate of Applied Science in Mental Health Social Work and Chemical Dependency Counselor. We met Jan back in December of 2008 through the KLTY Christmas Wish program. Jan has battled serious health issues and financial setbacks, all while working on a social degree so that she could share her life’s experience and make a difference in the lives of others. Jan did not stop — she persevered through it all and graduated with Honors. We are so proud of Jan and her tremendous accomplishment, and pleased that we could play a small part.

April 29th, 2010

On a mission II

I was able to take my second mission trip a bit sooner than expected (or desired by my wife). Four members of our church, including our senior pastor, left on April 16th for an eight-day trip to Bolaven Farms in Laos. Bolaven Farms is a Fair Trade Organic coffee farm founded by Sam Say, a Lao native now living in Hong Kong. About four years ago Sam was moved to do something for his native homeland. Laos is a very poor country with 85% of the residents being rural farmers. When Sam wanted to make a difference in the lives of the Lao people, he knew where he would have to go. So he decided to provide the farmers on the Bolaven Plateau with training in organic farming techniques and financial assistance. At the end of a two-year training program, resident farmers are eligible for loans to purchase seven-acre family farms and become self-sustaining. It is an inspiring vision that Read More

April 26th, 2010

1,426 prayers and climbing

Last Thursday, something bigger than words can describe started here at Firehouse. It’s an initiative born out of Mark’s belief that big ideas can make a difference, and that the power of prayer is, well, powerful – and can be life changing. Anna Basso is a 16-year-old girl who lives in Dallas and whose family also lives next door to Mark – they have been neighbors for 10 years. She’s been battling Stage 4 Ewing’s Sarcoma (a rare type of bone cancer) since November 2009 and has a tough fight ahead. Anna has become an inspiration to us all, and while she is getting terrific medical care, it’s going to take more than that to help her win this fight. To encourage Anna in her battle against cancer, the agency set a lofty goal of getting one million prayers for her. It all comes together at http://www.1millionprayers.com, where friends, family and even strangers are pledging to pray for Anna and Read More

January 25th, 2010

110%

Numbers are funny. You see one and it communicates something right away—long before you learn the context of how it is being used. Like the number at the top there. It means effort, right? Well, not so fast. Today I sat down at my computer to attack another week here in 2010, and 110% came to mind. Not due to effort, but because it represents my confidence level. I am 110% confident that 2010 will be our best year yet here at Firehouse. Despite the economic and geopolitical headlines, we will achieve great things in 2010. I’m certain of it. That’s because in times like this the safe thing is often times the wrong thing. The status quo is death. And while we’d been doing a good job of pushing our clients to do new things, we also saw an opportunity to take a fresh look at our own brand. We forced ourselves to rethink who we really are and Read More

January 11th, 2010

Lunch lady land

The Sunday before the agency closed for Christmas, the Firehouse account team served lunch at Dallas Life Foundation (DLF), a local homeless shelter for the less fortunate. DLF has been organized for over 50 years, providing its beneficiaries a place to do laundry, sleep and gain exposure to the Christian faith. Working closely with DLF’s cooks (many of which were once on the other side of the serving lines), we each manned a station. I served the corn bread, which was a very popular item—when seconds were served, we were out of corn bread since no one had passed it up the first time around! But the hour ended well and the diners left full. We were impressed at how efficient that hour was—DLF’s cooks prepared (and Firehouse helped serve) food for over 200 people! Hairnets aside, the Firehouse account team left in good spirits as well. We may have even found a new side dish for the next agency Read More

Firehouse Agency