I am absolutely thrilled to announce that They're Our Kids now has apparel available for purchase through A+ Images, Inc., and proceeds from these shirt sales will go directly to the TheyreOurKids.org Fund within the Hendricks County Community Foundation as the first step toward building a They're Our Kids scholarship fund.

A+ Images has been awesome about helping me out with this project. They are Villagers for sure!

I had a basic idea of what I wanted, and with A+ Images, we went from a basic idea to a fully functional website selling five custom designs on four different types of shirts in a multitude of color options. And we did this in one morning. Four hours, to be precise.

A+ Images is owned by an Avon family, Bob and Chris Straka, and the company's vice president is their son, Doug Straka. I just love locally-owned family businesses!

Bob is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Avon, and his company specializes in teacher apparel through their TeacherShirts.com line. The Straka family is very much into benefitting kids and helping out small organizations like They're Our Kids (or parent-teacher organizations or youth clubs or service clubs or youth sports leagues) who want to offer people a variety of apparel options but who don't want a several-thousand-dollar investment and their living room filled with a zillion t-shirts that they're desperately trying to sell before the mortgage payment is due.

Here's what they did for They're Our Kids.

I gave them the They're Our Kids logo and the Hendricks County Community Foundation logo and described the shirt I had in mind. The result is pictured above -- a small TOK logo on the left breast with "I'm a Villager!" underneath it, and a large TOK logo on the back. The sample is on a green shirt, but you can put it on any color shirt you want.

They designed the shirt based on my idea, and using their new Direct-to-Garment printer, I had a sample shirt in my lap less than 15 minutes later. It was incredible!

Then I wanted a shirt that OUR KIDS could wear. I thought it would be kind of fun seeing the kids in our community wearing TOK apparel, so in the blink of an eye, A+ Images had this design created and printed for me on a sample shirt.

Again, this is on a green sample shirt, but you can purchase the design on any color shirt you want. Perhaps a gold shirt with black print for OUR KIDS in Avon? A purple shirt with white print for OUR KIDS in Brownsburg? And so on?

We have this shirt available for purchase in both adult and youth sizes, so OUR KIDS of any size can proudly wear a TOK shirt.

Beyond that, however, I was drawing a blank on shirt ideas. The Strakas stepped up and created three custom designs for They're Our Kids!

For all of you fans of The Chive, Keep Calm and Village On in this awesome t-shirt design topped with the TOK logo.  

As with all of our shirts, this design is available in any color you want. It's simply pictured here in lime green with black ink (which really pops, by the way!).

A+ Images then came up with this cool design that incorporates Karen's Kids into a They're Our Kids shirt that proclaims the wearer's status as a Villager.

I'm getting repetitive here, but again, this is only pictured in pink. It's available in a wide assortment of colors.

Finally, we all know that being active, involved parents makes us superheroes to OUR KIDS, so why not announce to everyone that you're a Villager and ask them what their superpower is?

This sample shirt was printed on hunter green, but as with all the other designs, you can have it printed on any color shirt you want.

After A+ Images created all the designs and got all the sample shirts made, they photographed them for me, built a secure website for me, and placed all the shirts on the website for me. And they did it all for free. 

They're going to handle all of the orders, they're going to handle all the shipping, and every month, they're going to send all of the proceeds directly to the Hendricks County Community Foundation. I don't have to mess with money or inventory at all.

I'm telling you -- this is one outstanding company run by some truly special Villagers.

So there you have it! The first line of They're Our Kids apparel in the history of the entire galaxy! Pretty cool, huh?

All of the shirts are available in a variety of adult sizes on unisex short-sleeved t-shirts, long-sleeved shirts or ladies t-shirts. The "I'm one of OUR KIDS" design is also available in kids' sizes for the wee ones like my daughters.

The double-sided design (the first one shown in this post) is $20. The design with Karen's Kids on it is $17, and the other three are $16 a piece.

A+ Images priced everything so inexpensively that a full 30% of each shirt's sale price is going toward creating this new scholarship fund! Wow!

Shipping is a dirt-cheap $5.95 flat rate for orders under $99. Shipping becomes free on all orders $99 and up. You can also save yourself the shipping by stopping in at their shop (just be sure to call first to ensure that someone will be there).

I've ordered Kiwanis apparel through A+ Images in the past, and they are lightning quick on shipping, plus the apparel is high quality. My Kiwanis shirts have been through the wash more times than I can count, and they still look and feel great.

So now you can boast about being a Villager AND help build a scholarship fund through the Hendricks County Community Foundation for future graduating seniors in Hendricks County! It's a win-win, and A+ Images, Inc. made it happen. I can't thank them enough.

Click here to access the official They're Our Kids online apparel shop and order your shirts today, Villagers!

It's amazing what we can accomplish when Villagers work together. I wanted a new logo for They're Our Kids, and as I was researching a blog post, I stumbled across a logo designer. The result:  a fantastic new look for They're Our Kids.

I recently had a conversation with Joni Kisner about her new family-friendly urban fun run, CityQuest, and she happened to mention that she also dabbles in logo design. I described to her what I was looking for, she got right to work, and BLAMMO! Behold the new logos:

These logos not only look sharp, but they will also provide a huge boost to my upcoming marketing campaign for They're Our Kids! 

To top it all off, Joni DONATED the logos to They're Our Kids!  Thank you, Joni!! You are an awesome Villager!