How Stan H has been using Acknowledgment to create Prosperous Make A Difference Businesses for 7 years:

First of all, I use your movies as inspiration everywhere I go.

As far as using the Blue Ribbons (and Wristbands) in a business setting, it is not rocket science.

We set aside an all staff/employee meeting for the business. The initial phase is to show the Blue Ribbon movie from your DVD as an introduction as to what is possible when people choose love over blame.

The owner sets the "safe place" tone and commits to maintaining this safe place from here on as the authentic heart of the kind of environment he desires to provide for his business. He has chosen to establish love and acknowledgment as the foundation. Often this has not been the case, so this serves as a tremendous healing and new beginning opportunity.

Next the Doctor, Lawyer, Real Estate business owner, etc. takes the time to acknowledge his employees and or other members of his staff or organization. In many instances the spouse of the business owner is invited to this meeting as well.

What miracles I have witnessed. That's another story.

He then opens the opportunity for the staff to recognize one another. These meetings on average shift from a 30-minute information meeting to many hours of appreciation and healing.

To end the meeting we, reconfirm the business owner's resolve that we will recognize one another daily and acknowledge one another, and this is now our foundation.

Collateral "Make A Difference" material such as signs and posters claiming that we are not here just make a living, we are here to make a difference, are created in a manner that support the environment and our new foundation of love.

Each day 5 minutes is set aside for employees/staff to recognize one another for what might have taken place the previous day.

At each monthly staff meeting a recognition opportunity is provided.

After the first month, WE GO QUANTUM.

Now that the staff is fully engaged, as a client, patient, customer comes into the office, they are greeted and acknowledged. In many instances even before they have signed in at the front desk. They are given a blue ribbon and two more to pass on the love and acknowledgment to someone important to them.

While in the waiting room Who You Are Makes A Difference collateral material surrounds them. Posters, books and stories. I have even had the DVD movies playing on the office television for those in the waiting room.

When they go in to see the Dr. or professional they see Make A Difference collateral material on the wall.

They are immersed in love and the reality and authenticity of the acknowledgment and this office's dedication to making a difference.

In many instances reports have come back from referring doctors, family members, co-workers and on and on about the significant shift our Blue Ribbon provided and continued to provide.

It then becomes the cause marketing opportunity for that business. They have the opportunity to create a Blue Ribbon cross marketing campaign with others who serve the community and share their goal of acknowledgment.

My goal is to create Blue Ribbon Business Communities that embrace the acknowledgment and loving aspect of making a difference to their clients and patrons and that they in turn would commit a percentage of profitability each month into a pool that would serve as the funding mechanism to launch the Blue Ribbon program at their local school.

Helice is Being that vibrant wonderful spirit as she trains more trainers and makes a difference in the lives of others.

I have done this on a small scale but the concept can be taken world wide.

Thank you for letting me share.

Thank you, Mary, for being such a beacon of light, hope and inspiration, to me and to the world.

How are people using the I Make A Difference wristbands as "in the moment" Acknowledgments to make a world of difference in people's lives?

Whenever you are out and about, doing your life, and you come across an individual who has been of service, who is making a difference that you've observed, take your wristband off your wrist and let the person know what a difference they make. Ask them if they will accept your acknowledgement of them with this wristband.

It will have a profound and immediate affect on you both!

Another Story from Stan H:

I went to sleep last night embracing and recalling the various Blue Ribbon opportunities in my life.

This one comes to mind because business is not always business as we would perceive it to be.
God's business is always present and available, as long as we are open to realizing He has set our appointments.

I sat in my seat on a cross country flight. As always, I was buried deep in my work in order to distract myself from the boring drone of the engines and to take me mentally away from the mundane nature of yet another air plane trip.

As I sat there I could not help but over hear the conversation taking place behind me between a father and his son. What a beautiful exchange. The father was explaining the wing of the air craft and the physics of lift. The conversation continued for almost the entire flight. What struck me was not the content of the conversation but the fact that this father was actively participating in the experience of life with his son. What a beautiful relationship and expression of a fathers love. Moreover, the distinction within me, that such a conversation was an exception and not the rule.

I was moved by the love in the fathers voice and the excitement in the voice of his son as they shared and exchanged the learning opportunity of this travel experience.

I buried myself in my work and continued to my destination.

The conference that weekend was wonderful and I found it necessary to cancel my return flight and spend an extra night providing mentoring for one of the conference participants.

Monday morning found me once again settling in, in preparing for yet anther cross country flight to my next conference.

As I placed my bag in the overhead compartment I glanced behind me and low and behold, a few rows back sat the same father and son duo. At that point I experienced that inner twinge, that prompt of the innate, that this was not just a coincidental happenstance.

Once air born and in a position to "move about the cabin" I took three Blue Ribbons from my brief case and moved from my seat and introduced myself to the father and his son. I explained how I had been sitting in front of them on the previous Thursday and how moved I was by the love and obvious connectivity between a father and a son.

I acknowledged the father for his attentive and loving leadership and dedication to his son. I then presented him with a Blue Ribbon and gave him two more and encouraged him to pass on this acknowledgement to two others who made a difference in his life.

A part of me wanted to acknowledge his son as well, yet that inner prompting within, told me no.

I returned to my seat and 'hunkered down" for the remainder of the flight.

A few minutes later I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder. I looked up from my laptop to see the brimming face of the young boy whose father I had acknowledged. He stood there before me wearing a Blue Ribbon placed proudly over his heart.

His eyes were moist yet the beam on his face told me that the moisture was representative of an expression of joy and happiness.

"Mr." he asked, "do you have any more of those Blue Ribbons? You see, my dad gave me a Blue Ribbon and told me how much he loved me and how proud he is of me. He told me how brave I am and how much I mean to him and how my being with him has made him strong. Then he gave me this Blue Ribbon." He pointed proudly to his heart and his Blue Ribbon.

"Then he gave me the other Ribbon," he said, "and told me to give it to someone who has made a difference in my life."

"Well Mr." he continued, "you see back there in the seats in front of my dad, the lady and the girl next to her? That's my mom and my sister. You see, a while back my dad and my mom decided to separate and were thinking about getting a divorce. My mom and sister went to live with my grandma and grandpa and me and my dad stayed back home. We came out here last week to ask my mom to come home and see if we can make our family 'work' again."

"They said yes, and now we are going back home together as a family."

"You see Mr., I only have one Blue Ribbon left to give away. I can't decide if I should give it to my mom or my sister. I have missed them so much, and I am so happy that they are coming back home with us. I sure would like to give them both a Blue Ribbon. Do you have one more?"

I could hardly contain my tears. I reached into my brief case and took out the remainder of the package of 100 Blue Ribbons I had with me. I handed them to the young man and asked him to make sure that he made sure to spread his love to all those who made a difference to him.

He graciously accepted these ribbons and returned to acknowledge his mother and sister.

A little while later as I glanced up from my work, I noticed the flight attendant moving past me, with a Blue Ribbon placed over her heart and saw protruding from the pocket of her uniform vest, two more Blue Ribbons. I knew then that the rest of the Ribbons were in good hands.

As I turned around to find the young boy, I discovered him sitting between his father and his mother and his little sister sitting on daddy's lap. All of them were wearing Blue Ribbons.

As our eyes met, there was a most loving and gracious nod of love and appreciation.

The enigmatic nature of this simple Blue Ribbon, once again promoting love and all that is pure and wonderful. At that point I realized that the success of the conference wasn't the only Business God had planned for this trip.

"I was touched by your movie. We all know that good teachers make a positive difference each day. Sometimes we just need to be reminded."
- Doris Voitier, Superintendent, St. Bernard Parish Schools and recipient of the JFK Profile in Courage Award

"I have read this story before but still had to use my shirt sleeve while watching it. In a high school, compassion for others is huge, for both staff and students. I have seen the power of compassion come alive and change a whole culture of a high school. 'The key is sustaining it.' In regard to your book, I have really discovered that kindness and compassion are closely linked to school culture and student success. Much of my work with kids has been about tapping into school's greatest and most under-utilized resource (kids) 'coaching' kids. I have witnessed first hand incredible transformation when the compassion you refer to in your book is extended in the form of 'giving' to others. It becomes a win-win for all, and this is the school culture shift I'm referring to. This is not new news to you, I'm sure"
- Jim Lekas, Counseling Department Head and Boys Varsity Soccer Coach
WestView High School, Portland, OR

Testimonial for Make a Difference book
from Peggy M. Bryan, Mentor Program Coordinator Wilkes County Schools, North Wilkesboro, NC

The Mentor Program in our county sponsored a meeting for first, second, and third year beginning teachers. It was a late afternoon meeting so we made sure we had a variety of good refreshments for our teachers.

Teachers were then given the opportunity to network with teachers who taught in the same subject area. They also had time to share teaching strategies and techniques with their networking group.

Teachers had been asked ahead of time to share a success story with their mentor. Mentors read several stories aloud to emphasize teaching with compassion, persistence, being a cheerleader, high expectations, being consistent, being creative, encouraging students, the importance of parental involvement, diversity, motivating students and so on.

The theme throughout the meeting was making a difference and using compassion to understand the students in their classes. So our next activity was to share the video from the "Make a Difference Movie" featuring Teddy Stallard. There were about 200 people in the room, yet everyone was silent and mesmerized as the movie unfolded. Though the "Teddy Stallard Story" movie is less than 10 minutes, it teaches such a valuable lesson to beginning teachers... that their actions make such a difference in the lives of their students. Needless to say, many of the teachers were reaching for a Kleenex when the movie finished.

Finally, I shared with them that it was evident from their success stories that they are making a difference and that they truly care about their students and are teaching with compassion. I shared with them several qualities I believe every successful educator needs. I also asked them to look for "Teddy's" in their classrooms and to know that each of them had within them that spark of compassion and concern and love that drove them into education in the first place. I challenged them to fan that spark into a flame that will warm their schools and their classrooms and nurture their students now and in the future.

Since our overall theme had been "Making a Difference and Compassion in the Classroom," we concluded our meeting by presenting all our beginning teachers with a copy of the book Make a Difference by Mary Robinson Reynolds. We also got the DVD of the "Make a Difference Movie," which they had just seen. The group applauded and expressed thanks for the meeting and the book.

Mentors received a lot of feedback from the teachers as they visited them during the next week. They loved the book and DVD and many expressed that they could use the information from the meeting and the book to help make their classrooms an even better place for students to learn.

Ms. Reynolds,

I just want to say I have benefited greatly by your teachings. One of my girlfriends emailed me your link a couple of years ago around the holiday’s season to help me to focus on the more important things in life.

Your teachings have helped me in a way that I cannot explain and it is like fire spreading. I was promoted to a client service training position and your teachings helped me in lining up the goals that I wanted to accomplish in the organization, and that was to make an impact in training since we did not have a formal training program.

I have developed the curriculum that our call center is being trained by and it has assisted in exactly what I set out to do. Make an impact!

With you providing uplifting, up building, empowering useful information this has developed me to reach more people with a positive message  not just about processes and procedure this is only one part but it is connecting with people and their concerns as well. I come in contact with people from all walks of life and the message is all the same how we are down trodden with anxieties about family, money, work and life that effects everyone but the key to gaining any lei way is by conditioning our mindset.

The facts are that I teach process and procedures however I still contribute to peoples well being by conditioning their mindset. To develop an industrious person starts first with the mindset.

I was so excited to read your message about your free 9 week curriculum because I really feel this can make a difference especially if it gets in the right hands. I will surely do my part.

You have a phenomenal spirit and I just wanted you to know you do “Make a Difference."

Sincerely,
Toni Mander
Client Service Department Trainer