ALL HAIL THE PILLOW QUEEN
Many of you, if you know me at all, know that I am The Pillow Queen. It is a title I wear very proudly. When I asked for blog suggestions, a couple people mentioned The Pillow Fight. Oh Lord; did you open up a box of happy for Miss Sara. In case you didn't know, the Pillow Fight gives me LIFE!
How did this all start?
Back in 2012, our company was looking for a fun way to collect items for Bridging which is an organization that helps those transitioning out of homelessness. Bridging collects gently used or new household items such as furniture, towels, tables, bedding and, of course, PILLOWS. People come in to "shop" at Bridging for their items to furnish their new residence. The organization is amazing and the founder, Fran, is in his 90's and is one of my very favorite people in this whole wide world and I tell him I want to be just like him when I grow up! (Whew! That was a long run-on sentence). So someone in the company came up with the Pillow Fight for Bridging where each office would collect brand new bed pillows that would be donated to Bridging. Now bear in mind that at the time, Bridging only had enough pillows to donate 1 for every 2 people and many times, those were used pillows.
Say it with me: YUCK!
Our Hudson office is the smallest in the company and we are the only Wisconsin office and we will some times refer to ourselves as the redheaded stepchild of CBB; we feel sometimes like we are the forgotten ones. So in 2012, our then manager comes to me and asks me to spearhead the fight in our office. Apparently, I am the go to sucker I mean person for anything charity-related in the CBB Hudson office (I used to plan our Christmas deal but no more YAY ME!). Okay, so I'll take on the challenge. Did I mention this is a friendly competition between offices? We collected 222 pillows in year one and were sure we'd be the winners. At that time, there was only one category and that was Most Pillows Per Office. We came in second and I was pissed. That wasn't going to happen again.
Year two they add most pillows per agent. Ok, liking this new category. We collect 375 and won most per agent. YAY HUDSON! This "most per agent " trend continues. Thing is, that's not enough even though it's been 7 consecutive years. I wanted MORE!
I mentioned we are the smallest office in the company. We have some offices that have over 10 times as many people as we do so you would think they'd kick ass in the "most per office" category, right? Oh you would be so wrong! One year, they collected like 13 pillows and the excuse was "they're remodeling their office". Gimme a break. Our office is small and we have no extra storage space so we haul our pillows to my parent's house and take up one of their garage stalls. THERE ARE NO EXCUSES IN PILLOW FIGHTING!
Fast forward to 2015. Eden Prairie wins most per office and we again win most per agent. I'm at the Foundation golf tournament and I see the BVP from Eden Prairie and I tell her I'm from Hudson and I proceed to talk smack.
"You know Hudson is going to collect most pillows per office next year," I tell her. "So be prepared to lose your title."
She gave me a look like "you Hudson hick" and says, "Not a chance."
2016 was the first year we won most per office and retained our title of most per agent. Suck it, Eden Prairie. This was also the year I was dubbed The Pillow Queen by a guy in the office. And it stuck.
2017, the goal was 2000 pillows. One day, I had this wild idea and I messaged my friend who used to work for a local tv station (local meaning Minneapolis/St. Paul) and asked if there would be anyone who might be interested in a story about the Pillow Fight and Bridging so she reached out to one of the reporters and next thing you know, said reporter and a camera man are coming over to Dad's garage to interview me. Even better, they interviewed Diana at Bridging and made a connection there and are now more involved with Bridging which was pretty much the whole point. We surpassed the 2000 pillow goal with 2457 and once again took the top categories.
I could go on year to year but you get the gist. We're still crushing the other offices. Someone from the largest office said to me back at the golf tourney in August "We're going to beat you one day!" and I laughed and laughed. BRING. IT.
To date, the Hudson office has collected 12,903 pillows which is AMAZING and INSANE. We have helped that many people get brand new pillows to sleep on which is what it's always been about. I'm not going to lie: when this all started, I wanted to win to show the other offices what small but mighty Hudson could do but then when you see a truck full of pillows and hear the stories of how what we've done has helped so many, you realize it's about much more than the competition.
I must add that my friends have been an integral part in our huge pillow collection. I have some of the most generous friends on the planet and some I've never even met in person (you know who you are) donate from all over the country. Their generosity is so humbling.
Being a part of the Pillow Fight made me realize I have a passion for helping people. I believe that if you have the ability to help people, you do, and it doesn't have to be a monetary deal. Hold the door for someone, help out at a homeless shelter or animal shelter, work at a soup kitchen...just do something. I guarantee that you'll get more out of it than you put into it.
How did this all start?
Back in 2012, our company was looking for a fun way to collect items for Bridging which is an organization that helps those transitioning out of homelessness. Bridging collects gently used or new household items such as furniture, towels, tables, bedding and, of course, PILLOWS. People come in to "shop" at Bridging for their items to furnish their new residence. The organization is amazing and the founder, Fran, is in his 90's and is one of my very favorite people in this whole wide world and I tell him I want to be just like him when I grow up! (Whew! That was a long run-on sentence). So someone in the company came up with the Pillow Fight for Bridging where each office would collect brand new bed pillows that would be donated to Bridging. Now bear in mind that at the time, Bridging only had enough pillows to donate 1 for every 2 people and many times, those were used pillows.
Say it with me: YUCK!
Our Hudson office is the smallest in the company and we are the only Wisconsin office and we will some times refer to ourselves as the redheaded stepchild of CBB; we feel sometimes like we are the forgotten ones. So in 2012, our then manager comes to me and asks me to spearhead the fight in our office. Apparently, I am the go to sucker I mean person for anything charity-related in the CBB Hudson office (I used to plan our Christmas deal but no more YAY ME!). Okay, so I'll take on the challenge. Did I mention this is a friendly competition between offices? We collected 222 pillows in year one and were sure we'd be the winners. At that time, there was only one category and that was Most Pillows Per Office. We came in second and I was pissed. That wasn't going to happen again.
Year two they add most pillows per agent. Ok, liking this new category. We collect 375 and won most per agent. YAY HUDSON! This "most per agent " trend continues. Thing is, that's not enough even though it's been 7 consecutive years. I wanted MORE!
I mentioned we are the smallest office in the company. We have some offices that have over 10 times as many people as we do so you would think they'd kick ass in the "most per office" category, right? Oh you would be so wrong! One year, they collected like 13 pillows and the excuse was "they're remodeling their office". Gimme a break. Our office is small and we have no extra storage space so we haul our pillows to my parent's house and take up one of their garage stalls. THERE ARE NO EXCUSES IN PILLOW FIGHTING!
Fast forward to 2015. Eden Prairie wins most per office and we again win most per agent. I'm at the Foundation golf tournament and I see the BVP from Eden Prairie and I tell her I'm from Hudson and I proceed to talk smack.
"You know Hudson is going to collect most pillows per office next year," I tell her. "So be prepared to lose your title."
She gave me a look like "you Hudson hick" and says, "Not a chance."
2016 was the first year we won most per office and retained our title of most per agent. Suck it, Eden Prairie. This was also the year I was dubbed The Pillow Queen by a guy in the office. And it stuck.
2017, the goal was 2000 pillows. One day, I had this wild idea and I messaged my friend who used to work for a local tv station (local meaning Minneapolis/St. Paul) and asked if there would be anyone who might be interested in a story about the Pillow Fight and Bridging so she reached out to one of the reporters and next thing you know, said reporter and a camera man are coming over to Dad's garage to interview me. Even better, they interviewed Diana at Bridging and made a connection there and are now more involved with Bridging which was pretty much the whole point. We surpassed the 2000 pillow goal with 2457 and once again took the top categories.
I could go on year to year but you get the gist. We're still crushing the other offices. Someone from the largest office said to me back at the golf tourney in August "We're going to beat you one day!" and I laughed and laughed. BRING. IT.
To date, the Hudson office has collected 12,903 pillows which is AMAZING and INSANE. We have helped that many people get brand new pillows to sleep on which is what it's always been about. I'm not going to lie: when this all started, I wanted to win to show the other offices what small but mighty Hudson could do but then when you see a truck full of pillows and hear the stories of how what we've done has helped so many, you realize it's about much more than the competition.
I must add that my friends have been an integral part in our huge pillow collection. I have some of the most generous friends on the planet and some I've never even met in person (you know who you are) donate from all over the country. Their generosity is so humbling.
Being a part of the Pillow Fight made me realize I have a passion for helping people. I believe that if you have the ability to help people, you do, and it doesn't have to be a monetary deal. Hold the door for someone, help out at a homeless shelter or animal shelter, work at a soup kitchen...just do something. I guarantee that you'll get more out of it than you put into it.
Give it away, give it away, darling
Don't hold on tight when we can
Give it away on every corner
Try to make this world much warmer
Give it away, give it away, turn that
Great ship around, sail it shoreward
Just stand your ground and pay it forward
"Pay It Forward"
from the album "Rocket Science"
Rick Springfield
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