We are excited to introduce the American Licorice Co. product locator application for our 4 major brands on our home site.  The tool, now live on www.americanlicorice.com/shop, will help consumers find retail outlets in their area that sell Red Vines, Grape Vines, Sour Punch, or Natural Vines.  Over 52 individual national and regional retailers, with more than 17,800 stores across the nation, index in the tool, including Target, Walmart, Safeway, Genuardi’s and others.

As ALC’s distribution and customer-base continues to grow, so will the number of stores searchable in the product locator tool.  Just another way ALC is providing consumers with happy experiences in the digital age.

Congratulations to the Bend office for winning the companywide food drive competition among locations, collecting over 14 pounds of food per person to donate to Neighbor Impact.  In total, our associates donated 1,475 pounds of food to local food banks in the month of November.

We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Photography Credit:  Anne Hamersky

Pat Waldo is the Safety Director for American Licorice and is based out of La Porte, IN

The First Mesa

September 3, 2011 – Saturday

Wow, we are finally here 5:15 p.m. at the Hopi Nation.  The landscape is beautiful.  We have been traveling all day to get here  We had to hurry to get our tents set up before dark.  We are truly in the “middle of nowhere”.  One of the ladies that I meet on the road trip here is helping me put up my tent.  The tents are supposed to be a three person tent, but, by the time we get our air mattress and luggage in there it becomes a very small space.  The entire group ate dinner together, and then I went back to my tent.  I am trying to organize my little space, and  am really glad I brought a small lantern.  I hook it to the loop on the inside of the tent, and then I can write in my journal at night or read.  Really tired, sleep now.

September 4, 2011 – Sunday

I woke up really early so I went up on the ridge and did some yoga at sunrise.  Our day begins with breakfast every day at 7 a.m., the construction meeting at 8 a.m., and work until 4 p.m.  It was really hot today, 103 degrees fahrenheit, and Jill and I worked on scaffolding staining the soffits all day.  I am surprised at how fast my heart is beating today but the nurse on site told us that this is normal because of the elevation.  We are at about 6000 above sea level.

We all had our first experience of using a solar shower bag and showering under the stars.  I am surprised at how much water five gallons really is. My body is tired:  the work was harder than I had anticipated.

September 5, 2011 – Monday

What a beautiful place to wake up!  The stars seem to be right above you head.  The air is so clean here.  It seems very peaceful and not as hectic as life at home.  No television, no radio, just quiet.  I hear coyote pups howling in the night.

September 6, 2011 – Tuesday

It rained last night, but I stayed dry inside the tent.  Yesterday we applied stucco to the inside walls.  It was messy work.  I worked with one of the members of the Hopi Tribe who is a friend of the family receiving the house.    The family is all so grateful and seem to be very quiet people.  I watched the sun setting on the rocks tonight, and it just made me smile.  I love being here where it is quiet.

September 7, 2011 – Wednesday

I went for a walk at sunrise with Anne, the photographer that works with ClifBar.  We saw two red fox looking at us.  They did not seem to mind that we were in their space; they just looked at us,.  We went to Hotevilla, an old Hopi Indian village.  We were allowed to tour the village but not to take pictures.  Leeland, our tour guide shared Hopi culture with us.  He explained how the homes and gardens always belong to the women in the family.  In the village there is a natural spring that they use to water their terraced gardens.  It was so beautiful to see an oasis of green in the middle of the desert.    They work so hard to grow their food.  We are so spoiled.

September 8, 2011 – Thursday

Today I had kitchen duty which meant up at 5:30 a.m. to make coffee and prepare breakfast for thirty people.  Tonight is the first time we have left the build site.  We went to the Hopi Cultural Center for dinner at a restaurant.  They had real bathrooms YEAH!  It is really late and I am tired, and I miss my husband.

September 9, 2011 – Friday

Today was our last day on the reservation.  I am happy and sad. This week has made me think about my life and how blessed  I am, but also makes me realize that all this “stuff” that we seem to think is important is really not what makes me happy and feel fulfilled as a person.  We tend to live our lives so fast paced and so full of materialistic stuff that it makes us so out of touch about what really matters.

I am so grateful to have been able to be a part of this team and this experience. I have contributed to helping not only the Adam’s family have a home that is comfortable and adequate to live in but knowing that the next five generations will now have a place to live makes me feel good.

Laurel is the Corporable Social Responsibility Manager at American Licorice, out of Bend, Oregon.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

We’re working with ClifBar, United Natural Foods, Eileen Fisher, States Logistics, Quality Bicycle Products, Klean Kanteen, and New Belgium Brewing, as part of the In Good Company initiative, to help the Red Feather Development organization build a house for a family of the Hopi Nation, during week three of a five week build.  Our build site is right below the first mesa (of three mesas) in the Hopi Nation, in North Central Arizona.  According to Judy Nichols of the Arizona Republic, 300,000 families on tribal reservations are homeless or living in life-threatening conditions.   Median income in the Hopi nation is at about half of the statewide average.

Red Feather uses straw-bale construction for the homes they build on the Hopi and Cheyenne nations.  Straw-bale construction is sustainable:  it has a very high insulation value and reduces energy consumption in the home.  Straw-bale also reuses an agricultural waste product.  Read more about straw-bale construction here.

On Saturday, we arrived at the build site near the town of Polacca, Arizona in the afternoon and set up our tents.

Sunday-Tuesday, September 4-6, 2011

Staining rafters in the hot sun, sanding boards, getting the interior of the home ready for stuccoing, and then, stuccoing.  Stuccoing involves picking up globs of something that looks like mud and plastering it on the straw bales that make up the walls of the home.  According to Red Feather, this is actually a building method that is well suited for volunteers whom may have limited skills in home building.  The actual stuccoing was hard work, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that Susan from LaPorte spent the entire day in the sun shoveling cement to create the stucco mix.  Here are more pictures of our group working on the house.

After a long day of work, we could look forward to solar showers and sleeping in a tent (it can be windy out there).  On Monday morning, I did have the amazing opportunity to go running in the morning by the beautiful first mesa with a view of the ancient village on top.

On Tuesday, we visited the old section of village of Hotevilla on the third mesa.  The village was established in 1905 when a group called the Traditionalists broke off from the Progressives.  The village looks much older than 100 years old.  There are dirt paths between houses that are close together.  Some houses are made of stone.  The old section of the village does not have electricity but many homes had a few solar panels and satellite dishes.  Below the village, which is on a cliff of the mesa, there’s a beautiful, lush terraced garden that looks like an oasis in the desert.  Women are in charge of the garden—one plot per family—growing peppers, corn, and squash interspersed with fruit trees.  Above the terrace is a spring which waters the gardens and which we were offered a taste of.  The Hopi are a matriarchal society—the women are in charge.

Wednesday-Friday, September  7-9, 2011

Another run on Wednesday morning to the top of the mesa where we found a great view and lots and lots of small pieces of beautiful pottery.  The theory is that villagers destroy them when they move.  I discovered that running is very popular in the Hopi nation–some members of the group suggested that I participate in a couple of races when I was there.  The races are reported to be quite an experience, with lots of positive support from the community for the runners.  Timing did not work out, but there is always next year…

In addition to work on the house, we had the opportunity to see a basket weaving demonstration.  The baskets that the Hopis create are works of art, made of dried yucca leaves.  The ring support of the basket is made with natural materials such as rose hips.

We also toured the ancient village of Walpi on top of the first mesa, established in 900 A.D.  The village of Walpi is like an ancient fortress with very old stone or adobe homes, kivas, the sacred places where the katsinas live, and no electricity or running water.  Katsinas are supernatural beings who serve as divine messengers and play an important role in making sure growing seasons are successful.

The guide tells us only one person lives in the village year round; however, many families stay in the village during the summer.  There are two villages that are inhabited year round right next to it, which do have electricity and water.   We ended a wonderful day with another unique experience:  on our last evening at the build site, we had the great fortune to see three Hopi children perform a very well choreographed, enchanting dance.

Final Thoughts

On our last day together, our entire group was asked to share our most challenging and rewarding experiences with each other. 

By the end of the week, I’d adapted to living in a tent–even overcoming some claustrophobia, and I saw this as both challenging and rewarding.  Also in both categories were days of hard, physical labor, and the solar showers that I looked forward to at the end of the day (this takes careful attention to use of time).  I enjoyed the daily camaraderie and teamwork of a group, had no cell phone service, and could not check email.  The experience took me very much out of my everyday life.  I really enjoyed having the opportunity to work on a house for the family and the appreciation expressed by people we met in the Hopi nation.  As if all that is not enough, we had the amazing opportunity of seeing places that not many see, including a village that is more than a century old.

In Good Company  is unique as a community effort as it involves collaboration not only with a non-profit but with other businesses to provide service to a community in need. 

Corporate social responsibility is often defined to include taking a stakeholder perspective—business stakeholders are impacted by business activities and include employees, communities, and the environment.  Businesses that decide to embrace social responsibility often go through different stages of development starting with an internal focus and broadening as it develops to an external focus.  In Good Company is a great example of an initiative that involves truly integrating social responsibility into a business so that it becomes the model of how a business operates.  We look forward to working with this group in the future and are inspired to expand our own community efforts at American Licorice.

Jill is an associate at our LaPorte, Indiana manufacturing plant…

Sept. 2,2011- The big day is finally here.  We will fly out of Midway airport for our trip to Polacca, Arizona.  I feel some uncertainty about our journey; meeting new people and the hard work we will do can be quite overwhelming but exciting at the same time.  The temperatures is 103 degrees upon landing in Phoenix. This is paradise:  the skies are blue, and the clouds are crisp.  My co-workers and I roam the city of Phoenix to take in the local flair. I can see Camelback Mountains from my hotel room window.

Sept. 3,2011- I grab some coffee and a local newspaper to catch up on my reading while I wait for the rest of the group to come to the lobby so we can load up our luggage, and drive to the Hopi Nation. The drive is long,but truly worth the wait. As we drive. the group gets acquainted with one another.

Sept 4,2011 I awake in the morning after a long trip yesterday and setting up camp late to see Jen standing on the hill, staring into the distance. As I walk by she says, “look at the sky behind you”.  The sky is the beautiful colors of a rainbow. I have never seen a sky look like that before, not in Indiana!  This place is heaven on earth, and we had not seen anything yet.

Sept 5, 2011- After the first day of the build is complete, we will all be stuccoing the inside of the house today.  I was not sure what to expect for I knew how to drywall but have never stuccoed.  After staining the eaves yesterday, stuccoing will be a welcome change. 

I found it to be hard work, but we finished like troopers.  After the day was done, everyone ran for the solar showers.

Sept 6, 2011- It rained most of the night here, and I am quite surprised the tents are still standing.  Our assignment for the day is another day of stuccoing the final coat.  In the evening, we will be visiting an old village on the mesa that has a garden fed by a natural spring.  We arrive at the village and walk down this cobblestone walkway on the side of the mesa to this beautiful garden and spring where children are washing clothes. The view was spectacular, and we see all the women working in the garden as the narrator gives us some history about the village.

Sept 7,2011- It is morning here, and I have lots of thoughts in the back of my mind about the village we visited yesterday–on how the Hopi Indians are trying to preserve their culture through music, food, and telling stories about their heritage.  They want to preserve it for the generations who follow them.  This is becoming a challenge for them with the influence of the outside world.

We had company when returning to camp after work today; a woman from the community brought by some jewelry to sell.  Another woman came by to demonstrate basket weaving which seems like a very time consuming task.

Sept. 8, 2011-  After our work is complete, we will head to the Hopi Cultural Center for dinner.  We stopped at a small gift shop to look around before dinner.  At our dinner, the group surprised Sonia with a cake.  It is her birthday today!  Sonia is one of the family members that will live in the house we are working on with Red Feather.   

Sept 9, 2011- Today is our final day in Polacca, and the weather is cool. In the morning, we walked over by the mesa.  We will be going to visit another village this morning called Walpi.  Walpi is on the mesa right behind our campsite. The village is old and has partial electricity.  Later that evening we had a bonfire, and some Hopi dancers came to dance for us.

 Sept 10-11,2011- We are leaving Polacca today after dissassembling camp.  I’m leaving with many thoughts. This place is truly remarkable:  a hidden diamond in the rough. The mountains change colors as the sun shines down on them and the bright blue skies surround us.  We are leaving behind a magical place that holds different memories to each of us.

We arrive in Sedona later that day to take hot showers and clean up for our Pink Jeep Tour.  At the top of a red rock mesa we talk about our most challeging and most rewarding times.  Honestly the challenge was stuccoing for me, and the reward was coming to Polacca to build a home for this needy family as well as meeting all the wonderful people on my trip.  I will be forever grateful that I was chosen to participate in this adventure.  I miss everyone I came into contact with their in Polacca, and I hope I can do this again in the future.

We all can truly make a difference in the world and it starts here!