Chicago Bears spotlight ‘That’s Caring’ in Small Business All-Pros campaign

Oh, Chicago Bears. The Chicago Bears highlighting MVPs in the community with their small business all pros. And this year, the campaign features That's Caring, which creates curated gift boxes for companies looking to recognize its workers and its clients. And those gift boxes then give back to the community. Joining us now is That's Caring CEO, Jamie Pritchard-Tamano and Sherry Jerza, PNC Regional Business Banking Executive. Thank you both so much for coming in. And I was telling Jamie, Sherry, that I was just gifted one of these boxes, and I thought it was so special. So, Jamie, tell me what makes your business so unique. So, for every gift that you purchase from That's Caring, we give back to one of our 26 partner food banks throughout the U.S. Right here, we give back to Northern Illinois Food Bank in Chicago. It probably goes without saying, Sherry, but why did Jamie's business stand out to the Chicago Bears? Yeah. So PNC and the Bears are focused on celebrating and uplifting small businesses across the Chicagoland community. And it's so fun to celebrate That's Caring because small businesses make an impact both economically, but they're also really important to the social foundation that really makes our communities thrive. And Jamie is just a fierce business owner. So she has an amazing product and service that an amazing delivery, you know, networks for her clients, but also every purchase that clients make, she gives back. And that's something that for small businesses, we want to celebrate and we want to recognize that they're out there doing their thing. They're in the grind every day. They're making business happen, but they're also giving back and just really playing an important role in helping our community be healthy and thrive. I just thought, what a great idea. I mean, you buy this gift box and you can buy it for yourself or maybe your family and friends. And then a portion of that goes to help feed children in the community. How did you come up with this concept, Jamie? So we knew we wanted to build giving back into our business model. That was very important to us. And once we started talking to teachers, I have a ton in my family, started talking to some food banks, it was just really startling how many children receive free meals during the week for school. and then they go home and they may not know where their meals are coming from on the weekend and so once i heard that um i knew we had to make that kind of that our mission right and so and the holidays are just around the corner so what a great opportunity to take advantage you i see that you brought in a box so open it up and tell us what's inside well so we do have our that's caring bakery collection we have something from our holiday collection and we have all different sorts of gifts ranging in price from $19 up to $200. Plenty of baked goods, yummy treats, muffins. That one just has some other, I think, holiday themed ones. You know, the one that I was gifted, which I thought, this is perfect for me. It was a thank you gift because I helped emcee an event and they gave me, it was a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers and some chocolate. I thought, this is great. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I did. The other thing that I liked about it is these items are coming from our community as well, right? So yes, all of our bakery goods, all of our sweets and snacks come from local suppliers. We also work with some local nonprofits, Bright Endeavors here in Chicago. And yes, so we try to work with as many local companies as we can. Yeah, I think there was a candle inside made by Bright Endeavors, which helps single moms here in the Chicago area. So it's really like giving, giving, giving, giving times three. I love it. Talk about how getting this award, this MVP recognition will really highlight and uplift your business. So sitting here right now is obviously awesome. And the big thing is just getting our name out there more, getting our name out there, getting people to understand our mission and what we do obviously means more gifts sold for the business, but it also means more meals to children in need. And that's really important. And the fact that PNC and the Bears have chosen to help amplify that message truly means a lot. Yeah. And Sherry, to that point, why is it important for the Bears and PNC to not only highlight these local businesses, but also to explain how these businesses are giving back? Yeah, it's actually the point of the program is to provide really meaningful visibility for business owners. Small businesses need the support. And especially when we're entering the gift-giving season right and everyone's out shopping this time of the year it's important to remember that we have small business owners who are part of our everyday community and they're not always you know as widely advertised so through the small business all pros program we offer that platform and that opportunity to just really highlight and celebrate business owners like Jamie and the amazing products and services that they have so it's a great time of the year to remind everyone to shop local, to make sure that you know your local business owner. And for the Bears and for PNC, that's the point of the Small Business All Pros program, just to give this kind of visibility and platform. So Jamie will receive recognition on the Bears social media page, on their newsletter. They'll receive visibility within Soldier Field and continue to get these opportunities to tell her story and really amplify the business. Yeah. And again, it's called That's Caring. So look it up online. They have got, as Jamie explained, a wide variety of gift boxes at a number of price points. Jamie, we'll end on this for other small business owners who want to find it within themselves to give back. What is the first step? How did you decide to do that? And was it an easy decision to make? Giving back was easy. Where we gave back was not easy. There are so many great causes out there, but I think it is start small, um, start with something you truly care about and stay consistent. We're here and it didn't happen overnight. This has been years of hard work and, and through that hard work, we've been able to supply 538,000, um, weekend meals through our partner food banks, but it's yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a lot, I'm sure. And congratulations. And I hope I wish you so much success. I'll be singing your praises. I know that. Jamie and Sherry, thanks for stopping by.