Kids get entrepreneurial fever

February 13, 2004

It's never too early to become a successful entrepreneur. It is also never too early to learn about safety and supporting your community. Those are the lessons that two Oakley boys will get the chance to learn as they begin a new endeavor this week, according to their mother, Sandy Haas.

Matthew, 12, and Brandon, 13, made a presentation Tuesday evening to the Delta Vista Middle School PTSA that hopefully will start them on their way to developing a nice little business. The idea started when the boys' father, Bryan, and a friend of Haas had developed a new product called Rescue Facts LLC.

Rescue Facts is a embroidered card that is put on car seat belts. "It's an ID that wraps around the seat belt of the person who usually sits there," Sandy Haas said. "Then if there is an accident the ambulance drivers will be able to learn everything they can about the person so they can help them."

The card features a picture of the person, their name, address and phone number, date of birth, primary care physician, allergies, current medications, blood type donor preference, emergency contact information and a consent-to-treat signature in case there is no one available to give such authority in an emergency.

"When the emergency service providers arrive on the scene of a medical emergency to render aid, one of the first steps involves removing the victim's seat belt. The card is right there for them to see and use it to help," Haas said.

Haas said that the product can be sold to anyone, but the idea to sell it as a fund-raiser is new and different than the standard practice of selling cookie dough or the like. "This is something that is going to be useful for a lone time to come. Not like food that you eat and it's gone," she said.

The way the sales program works is that the product is sold to the group for a low price, depending on how many Rescue Facts are purchased. For instance, if 500 or more are purchased the price is $3.50 each. The group can choose to sell the product at any price they feel they can get. For example, one group is selling them for $4.99 each. That gives the group the chance to make $745 from the sale of the 500 items.

Of course the boys hope to sell more than 500 Rescue Facts to the PTSA. Haas said that she has made a deal with Matthew and Brandon. She will purchase the first 130 items for them to sell. After that they are on their own. The Haas family has no doubt that the product will sell. Since Rescue Facts was developed last year it has been approved by law enforcement agencies, firefighters, paramedics, hospitals, auto clubs and insurance companies.

The sky's the limit in selling this item for the boys, as well, since there is no limit on who would be interested in purchasing the items. Even though the item is primarily used in cars, it can also be used in buses, trucks, motorhomes, airplanes, on personal items like backpacks, canes and walkers. Rescue Facts is also available in a child's car seat size. The boys hope to use that information as a selling point.

Recently I read a column written by a woman who stated that people shouldn't be donating to organizations whose services already are paid for by the state. She used specific examples like schools, police departments and elderly groups. She simply said that since we already pay for these organizations through our taxes we shouldn't have to purchase raffle tickets or fund-raising merchandise, because if we show the government or the powers that be that we can fund-raise on our own to host afterschool programs, or buy fun books for kids to read in the classroom, they will take more and more money away from the programs. Interesting point. But in the meantime, there are no afterschool activities, no fun books for kids to read in the classroom and the only ones that suffer are the kids.

The Haas boys are an example of two children who are thinking about their school and learning a lesson at the same time. It's great to see that they are learning about the world of business and learning that schools need help funding projects.

Roni Gehlke's column on life in Oakley appears each week in the Brentwood News.

Distributed by the Contra Costa Times

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