The financial planning firm of Kirkland, Turnbo & Associates fits the classic definition of a small business.
“We’ve got one employee,” James Turnbo said. That’s Donna, the secretary who answers the phone by asking, “How can I make your day better?”
This 23-year-old Matteson company is only one of hundreds of similar ventures in the south suburbs. Some are well-known, some are trying to get more recognition, some are old-time mom-and-pop operations, and sad to say, a few qualify as “here today, gone tomorrow.”
You don’t punch time clocks if you own this kind of enterprise. There is no overtime pay if you need to work a 12-hour day, and in most cases, your job is the only benefit you have. Making ends meet is more important than making business meetings.
Those difficulties are among the reasons that, for nearly 20 years, the South Suburban Small Business Association, covering nearly 80 communities from Evergreen Park to Peotone and from Joliet to Gary, has hosted an annual Christmas party for the small business owner.
“It is an opportunity for the people we work with to have some sort of holiday celebration,” said Angela Wiggins, association treasurer. “They don’t have a chance to have a holiday party for themselves. This is the only way they can have such an event.”
More than that, the annual affair, at Balagio Ristorante & Banquets in Homewood, is a chance to make things better for others. Everyone is asked to bring children’s hats, mittens, gloves and scarves so that Aunt Martha’s Youth Service Center can make winter warmer for children in the area. Keeping a child clothed in winter is a noble thing to do.
“We don’t participate in expensive parties at Christmas,” Turnbo said, “and I think one of the best things about this is to see the collection of hats and gloves piled on tables that will go to children.”
Wiggins expects some 25 to 30 small businesses to take part in the event at noon on Dec. 2.
For those who have small businesses and can find the time, you can get more information by calling 708-596-2000, Ext. 3267.
Christmas cheer
The next time we meet will be the week after Thanksgiving. That’s the holiday that interferes with Christmas shopping and the seven or eight Black Fridays that come between Halloween and Dec. 25. Even Thanksgiving Day is part of Christmas with people urged to spend money at stores open around the clock.
In our enlightened country, Christmas is the only day of the year that is a religious observance celebrating the birthday of Jesus, a celebration of commerce and a national holiday.
From September until the day after Christmas, when we return gifts we don’t like or don’t want, Christmas rules the nation, despite the pompous mouthing of a “war” against the holiday. This year, such oratory concerns red coffee cups that do not have appropriate decorations or complaints that we must say “merry Christmas” and call decorated trees “Christmas trees.”
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The truth is, we can celebrate holidays in any lawful manner we want. Some do a special thing on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. They add the cost of food on their table, divide it by the number of people served, and give that sum to a food pantry that feeds the hungry.
It’s a good way to say “happy holidays” — oops, “merry Christmas.”
Jerry Shnay is a freelance reporter who covers Park Forest and the surrounding communities. He can be emailed at [email protected]