Robert Thornton was sitting in his mom's kitchen in Chico, California, feeling discarded. He had lived and breathed baseball his whole life--even playing professionally in Mexico--but multiple injuries, including one to his elbow that required surgery, had derailed his playing career.
It was 2006, and the 28-year-old didn't have a clue what to do next. Then he noticed a picture on his mom's refrigerator: a drawing that a little girl gave to Mrs. Thornton--a bus driver for children with special needs--as a gift. He couldn't stop staring at it.
"I was mezmerized by this child's imagination," Thornton says. "I know it was just a kid's drawing with made-up characters, but something about it was different."
The next morning, Thornton decided to put the image on a T-shirt--and realized he had found his new passion.
"These individuals with special needs have been treated like they can't contribute, like they don't have value," says Thornton. "I wanted these artists to feel like they are talented, appreciated, and important. I wanted to give them that self-esteem boost and sense of pride that they probably have never had."
So Thornton spent the next 7 years building up Paper Clouds Apparel, which made its debut in January. Every 2 weeks, Paper Clouds teams up with a different charity, enlists special needs kids from that organization to create original designs, prints and sells their tees online, and cuts the charity a check for 50 percent of the profits. In one year, Thornton has already raised more than $14,000 for 21 charities.
"The best part is when parents tell us their kids, who used to be disruptive, come home and want to draw. We gave them hope," says Thornton, who's now 35 and splits his time between Paper Clouds and bartending in Phoenix.
And he's not just helping children. Thornton also pays adults with special needs--about 75 percent of whom are unemployed--to package all the shirts. His dream is to one day open a facility to hire them full-time.
Want to help Thornton get one step closer? Vote for Paper Clouds Apparel to win $10,000 in KIND's "Do the KIND Thing" monthly competition. The winner will be named December 1.
Click here to meet the rest of our Every Day Heroes.
Powered by WPeMatico
No comments:
Post a Comment