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This is truly a weird & crazy experience for us all! But the show must go on, lol. We're fortunate that we can keep working even though the showroom is closed. This little video will explain how we're working it out. As a side note for those of you who are postponing your recognition ceremonies, it may be wise to order your awards now anyway. Once this is over, we'll have both the postponed events along with the regularly occurring events all at once, and we wouldn't want time or inventory restrictions to keep you from getting what you want. I'm here & working. You might as well take advantage of that :)

This is the time of year that many businesses reward the great events that their employees made happen last year. Unfortunately, this years banquets, celebrations and parties are not taking place. Let's come up with some ways to celebrate our workforce during this time that is COVID-19!

Theme: Vision Patty Donahue Owner of Image Awards, Engraving, & Creative Keepsakes Inc. Year Founded: 1994 Town: Geneva Company Backstory: An engraving shop. As a small child, Patty Donahue pulled a red wagon block after block, delivering newspapers. For her, life became a ticker tape of jobs: retail, chef, bill collector, logistics, concierge, accounting, sales ... Until one day, pursuit of purpose had given her everything she needed to be a business owner. The radio played Céline Dion’s The Power of Love. Bill Clinton was president. The year was 1994 when she saw THE prize. A 2-by-3 foot amalgam of metal and moving parts with a motherboard. She could engrave. She would be a maker. She could make something from it. A life. A business. A product. She could SEE it. She envisioned plaques, name plates and name tags, corporate awards, a string of them, a room full of them. Patty set the machine up in her sister’s garage and taught herself how to use it. Each step in her business was an intentional step forward. She says: “It’s purely intuition-driven. I’ve tried business plans, but I just know what’s going to be right and what’s going to work. I’ve followed my gut, and it has never failed me.” Aside from personal freedom, the vision for her business has allowed her to live in a comfortable lifestyle and has given her the space to volunteer, and donate goods and services. Her vision is to work until she can’t work anymore. One vision. Imprinted forever. ………………………. Epilogue: Patty just bought a building, her fifth location. She has four engraving machines now. She says she is “so excited” and adds that she plans on continuing to “make things and make people happy.” Want to find your story? Contact Michele below! MICHELE KELLY | Co-founder K+L Storytellers | 630.697.2652 be loved. tell your story.

We are pleased to announce our February 2020 Students of the Month! Maeve Petersen, Kate Aldridge, Babacar Ndiaye, Liam Jorgensen, Tommy Waldrop, Jared Obermeyer, Maddy Travieso, McKenna Mertes, Anna Crosby and Maddie Shick. “A Student of the Month award is earned by a student who stands apart, succeeds despite circumstances or contributes in some special way to our school.”

Luck. It’s little discussed in the business press & yet is one of the most important factors in the success of a company. Defined as being at the intersection of opportunity and skill, it allows any entrepreneur - if prepared - to take advantage of an opening in the market & turn that into something extraordinary. Read more ...

We are very honored to be selected for a 2019 Community Image Award from the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce for our new location! The improvements we have made have been significant, and we're proud to have contributed to the enhancement of our community! We have loved serving Kane and DuPage counties, and beyond, for over 25 years and are so pleased to have been able to find our forever home, and remain in the tri-cities! Our improvements here continue to evolve, so stay tuned, and a big thank you once again to the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce, of which we are very proud to be a member!

Do you host or attend an Oscar Party? Here's a fun list of party games to play while you're partying it up with the Stars! And what's a red carpet event without some amazing treats to eat ? AND (you knew I was getting to this :) ) you need look no further for your party favors and prizes for all of those fun games you're gonna play! We have all kinds of shapes & sizes of trophies and medals for you to decorate with, give as gifts or to use as prizes for guessing the category winners here at Image Awards, Engraving & Creative Keepsakes, Inc. Hope you have loads of fun at your party and your favorite movies take the Academy Award! PS: did you know that the original casting for the Academy award was created right here in our neck of the woods at Shumway Foundry in Batavia, IL? AND the trophies were made right here in Chicagoland at RS Owens. (You're welcome ... you might need that if you play a trivia game at your shindig!) Have fun & be safe! Patty

Please join me in congratulating our first group of Students of the Month for 2020 at Geneva High School! "A Student of the Month award is earned by a student who stands apart, succeeds despite circumstances or contributes in some special way to our school." Pictured left to right: Bradley Anderson, Genel Jaffer, Ohm Vyas, Collin Witt, Claire Jennings, Tessa Wagner, Gabby Fanella and Sophia Weber NOT PICTURED: J. T. Frieders & Pablo Zamora A big thank you to Jay Markuson and his Woods classes for creating the beautiful student of the month display case in the A Hallway (the background in the attached picture).

The new season is a great reason to make and keep resolutions. Whether it’s eating right or cleaning out the garage, here are some tips for making and keeping resolutions.