Pass it On- helping others is one of our core beliefs

As we approach year-end at One Call Now, I’d like to steer you to our company holiday greeting video… posted here on You Tube

Our growing group (approaching 50) has been working all year to grow our Raving Fans base of loyal clients knowing that we all have a simple mantra…  when messages matter- we deliver

But outside the office is just as important. Our company has a record of giving and volunteerism that we enthusiastically encourage and support.
Although many of our clients are non-profit groups who receive substantial discounts on our services already,
this year, we donated over $150,000 in cash, time and services to dozens of groups and organizations around the world; I’d like to list a few…

• Romania Lonely Voices Gypsy mission – kept sponsors and neighbors informed everyday
• Church Mission trips in Brazil, Ghana, Rwanda, Costa Rica and 150 others…  – helped raise funds and inform sponsors with daily messages
• United jewish Appeal- telethon alerts
• Dayton Philharmonic – Season ticket holder reminders –  Concert sponsor and Trustee
• Miami County Parks District- Support for successful levy campaign
• Miami County Library- Support for successful funding levy
• Loft Theatre- Season ticket holder reminders and show sponsor
• Troy Civic Theatre – Upcoming show and audition reminders and corporate season sponsor
• First Night Troy– Executive director and event sponsor (alcohol free, family friendly celebration New Years’ eve)
• Destination Imagination: Advisor sponsor – creative program for students age 6 to 18
• Troy City Schools: Work with Hook Elementary  to promote learning and business skills – Business Partner
• Urbana University- Donates Troy area campus classroom center for MBA and MeD programs
• Back Pack Lunch Program- provides weekend lunches to poor students throughout city- corporate sponsor
• Junior Statesman of America –  Exposes high school students to legislative process including week in D.C. -advisor sponsor
• 241Energy – Donated weatherization audits for 10 homes and donating technology to help speed the process of affordable weatherization
• Waco Air Museum and Learning Center – corporate donor and event sponsor for family kite fly
• Ohio Safe Teen Driving Program – cooperative effort with Ohio State Patrol. Texts safety reminders to teens – communications corporate sponsor
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children – no charge amber alert calls for our K-12 and sports league clients
• Kiva micro loan program – funding for cell phones used by farmers in developing world to get better prices selling crops
• Heiffer International – Funding to provide farm animals to families in developing world
• Bruckner Nature Center- 5K run and corporate communications sponsor
• Hayner Cultural Center – art exhibitions sponsor, Communications sponsor and web hosting
• Project Velo Racing– youth team to teach life skills through bicycle competition (and National Placing winner)- corporate sponsor
• 48 in 48- Phil Nagle’s successful one man bicycle trip through all 48 states in less than 60 days; creating a new Guinness record category while raising money for Lymphoma Society. One Call Now was trip corporate sponsor.
• Dayton Peace Museum- energy weatherization audit and communications services

• United Way of Miami County- 90% company employee participation with 100% matching

• Plus dozens of school levies- where we donate calls to every voter to help pass essential school funding issues across the country

• and not least… every One Call Now associate gets 3 paid days off each year – in addition to holidays, vacation and personal days, to donate volunteer time in their community; this added up to over $45,000 in paid time we were able to donate to have them available to work for their favorite charity, church, synagogue, school or youth group.

We are pleased to be able to give back so much, and I  encourage everyone to do whatever they can in these endeavors, as we plan to do even better ourselves next year!

May you and yours have a great Holiday season and a safe New Year!

Your comments and feedback are welcome- To learn more about how your mission trip or sschool levy can get help from us, please click on LEAVE A COMMENT below!

Leib  Lurie, CEO
One Call Now

Junior National Championships a big-hot win for One Call Now

Our One Call Now sponsored bike team – Project Velo – coordinated the logistics to fly and trek 14 people to Bend Oregon from Southwest Ohio to compete in the Junior National Champoinship bike races this week.

Battling 98 degree temperatures- a new record- they nonetheless set records themselves.

Fourteen year old Hannah Mossman came in third in her age bracket in a grueling effort. Congratulatioins!

One Call Now is proud to sponsor dozens of events and organizations every year to help kids grow and spread good work around the world.

Go Team!

Mission Trip Communications- lonely voices are not alone

This time of year thousands of churches and organizations are planning mission trips around the globe to help the poor, build infrastructure, teach, pray and work with – to make life better for those in need.

My good friend Bill is getting ready to take another two trips this June, one to Romania – for his “Lonely Voices” Mission aimed at helping the Gypsy children who are treated as lower than dirt by the general population of Romania. These children get no education, medical care or other social services. Last Year, his mission was able to help a girl unable to walk for years regain her mobility by paying for an operation she desperately needed but was completely unavailable to her and ‘her kind’.

He returns this year with joy and gifts and help of all kinds- physically, monetarily, morally and with a strong Christian focus of love and charity, they continue to make a significant difference for the Gypsy boys and girls in Romania. After an exhausting ten days there, after 3 days rest, he jumps on a plane to Brazil for a 2nd mission trip filming Indian projects. Bill, by the way, will be 76 this summer.

My dentist will once again trek to the mountains of Jamaica where he has built what passes for a dental clinic; a beat up dental chair under a single light bulb under a grass thatch roof hut; where he says, the best I can do is extract the teeth that they will lose, because after years of poverty and neglect, there’s usually nothing left to repair; and no one to look after them after I leave. Triage dentistry – 10 hours a day.

Our new office building is shared with a church busy raising funds for a trip to Guatemala to build a safe drinking well and church & classroom where none existed before.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans will make trips like this and more this summer, their work, dedication and focus will truly make a difference across the globe.

One Call Now is pleased to help these mission trips – as we have helped hundreds last year.In fact, we donated more than $50,000 in no-charge message notification services for school voter calls, Special Olympic programs, Sports Tournaments and Mission Trips last year.

We donate our telephone messaging service – with no fee and no catch – our services for any mission or youth education trip, regardless of destination, religion, or purpose.

Groups use our service to call volunteers, donors, family and friends before the trip to build excitement and momentum for the funds needed.

They use it every day, in country – to record a message and send it to their family, friends, donors and community back home – keeping everyone here in the loop about the trip, their successes, joys, sorrows, frustrations, and to share the sweat, love and purpose these trips serve. Listen Lonely Voices Daily Message From Romanian Gypsy village

Those of us here at home appreciate their daily calls (well maybe the retelling of the dire effects of local water on one member were a bit graphical for my taste), but to hear the weary, yet joyful emotion pour across in their message makes us appreciate all the more what we have here at home- even in what we might call tough times, and appreciate the work and dedication of these mission trips.

Members report that the daily messages were not only appreciated greatly, but in many cases responsible for dramatic increases in support received for future trips from those who participated vicariously by listening to the daily update.

To arrange for a no-charge Mission Trip Notification Plan- just ask us for one by clicking here

Swine Flu Emergency Notification now available at no cost

One Call Now Offers Notification Service at NO CHARGE for Governments, Schools, Businesses, Religious Organizations and Others in Response to Swine Flu Outbreak.

In response to outbreaks of swine flu across North America, One Call Now, America’s leading emergency notification service, has issued professionally-written influenza notification scripts for use by its 35,000 clients to inform and protect the millions of families currently receiving One Call Now Notification Messages.

The company has also announced a NO-Charge, proactive emergency calling plan for any government emergency management agency, school district, business, religious or community organization that lacks an emergency communication system but will find it essential to inform their citizens, families, staff and congregations should the situation change.

One Call Now’s various comprehensive service plans include clear voice, SMS text and email messages, enabling you to reach tens of thousands of recipients a minute to protect lives and keep people informed.

For Government Agencies, the NO-charge service will provide a database of all published and unpublished numbers for every household to be used by government emergency agencies to immediately send a clear, digitally recorded voice message to an entire town, city or county.

For Schools, the NO-Charge service will dial every family in the school’s student database in moments with updates, instructions and details to keep children safe and parents informed.

For Businesses, the NO-charge business continuity plan will allow company management to reach every employee, stakeholder and customer with emergency communications and plans for staff and clients alike.

For Churches, Youth Sports Leagues and Community Organizations, instant communications to keep families safe and informed is vital; and now easy, and at NO charge.

“We have been providing emergency services to tens of thousands of organizations nationwide for eight years, and reach millions of people every day with voice or text messages that inform and protect. In this uncertain time, with the World Health Organization issuing an unprecedented Phase IV pandemic alert, it is incumbent upon every organization to have the ability to contact their people immediately; even if there is no budget or funds available. That’s why we are offering a no-strings, no-charge emergency communications plan for any organization. Our company mission statement, ‘When messages matter, we deliver’ is not just a phrase, it is part of our DNA, and why this no-charge service is so vital for any organization to have in place if the worst should happen. ” said Leib Lurie, CEO of One Call Now.

“The company can have most new clients ready to send their first test message in a matter of hours, and our 24/7 support team is always ready to train and assist with fast, professional implementation. This includes scripts issued to all clients to be used to inform and help keep every family safer from this lethal form of Influenza. ” said company President Angela Kirchner.

For details and immediate implementation for your emergency communications plan, organization administrators are urged to call 877-698-3262.

Free Energy is not a myth – One Call Now donates $7,500 for weatherization project

Weatherization is more than the latest buzzword. It can create jobs, stimulate the economy, reduce our dependency on foreign energy sources and reduce our carbon footprint. One Call Now is proud to be the cornerstone sponsor of a groundbreaking project starting here in Miami County Ohio to create 850 jobs by weatherizing 100 homes per week. (Current state, county and local projects aimed at the poor do about 150 homes per year in the county).

Earlier this week, fifty people, including elected officials, contractors, homeowners, landlords, tenants, utility companies, technology firms, universities, green certified professionals, job creation specialists, and concerned citizens from across Miami County gathered for a kick-off meeting for MiamiCountyFreeEnergy.org

We presented a ‘straw-man plan to create 150 jobs within a few months by rapidly ramping up a weatherization program that will cut $50 per month off the average home owner’s utility bill. The PowerPoint is available here…miami-county-free-energy-community-kick-off-meeting-2009-3-31

This program, made possible with a $7,500 kick-start grant by One Call Now to do the initial groundwork and weatherize five homes for free is intended to be a cornerstone piece for making a greener community, saving $50.00 per home – per month in energy costs, and create 200 jobs over the next year, and more than 800 jobs created within  five years.

In doing the research for the program, it was also fascinating to understand the environmental impact weatherization has. By reducing home energy costs by $600 per year, we will have reduce carbon emissions by 20 tons of CO2- equivalent to taking an SUV off the road, and getting the carbon absorption of 4 full grown trees!

The weatherization project itself is intended to make use of what we, as a company, have learned about making technology widely available at an affordable cost. By using technology, large scale infrastructure, standardization, and large commitments, we will drive the cost of doing a weather audit and actually weatherizing a home from an average of $2,000 to less than $600 per home.

The announced approach still has wrinkles and crinkles to be worked out, but the 50 people who came this week were involved, engaged and excited about what we can accomplish together moving forward, and so am I.

We welcome your comments and ideas here- Just click on comment link on this page and let us know what you think!