NWH-2-3-2013 by Shaw Media

INSIDE TODAY BUSINESS 2 BUSINESS Vintage campers pay off D3 • Faces & Places D2 • Chamber Calendar D2

Michael Flood ‘Kiddie tax’ laws offer potential tax savings. Page D2

M CHENRY COUNTY

EVERY WEEK IN THE BUSINESS SECTION

Business editor: Chris Cashman • ccashman@shawmedia.com

Sunday, February 3, 2013 Northwest Herald

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Setting up the kids’ auto insurance. Page D2

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Business

SECTION D

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Dave Ramsey

Breaking news @ www.NWHerald.com

VIEWS Chris Cashman

Realtors give back with program Realtors work hard to improve communities. For the past five years, Realtor Magazine’s Good Neighbor Society has helped Realtors grow and develop their charitable efforts through the Volunteering Works program. The program, which matches Realtors who want to expand their community service outreach with a mentor, is now seeking entries. “Realtors value service and will go the extra mile to improve lives by devoting volunteer hours in the communities where they live,” said National Association of Realtors President Gary Thomas. “The Volunteering Works program gives Realtors the opportunity to help other Realtors make a difference in the lives of those in need.” The Good Neighbor Society is seeking applications from Realtors who work on small-scale charitable efforts that have potential for growth. Five Volunteering Works applicants will be selected to receive a year of one-on-one mentoring from a member of the Good Neighbor Society and a $1,000 grant as seed money to help implement improvements to their community program. The Good Neighbor Society is comprised of past recipients of Realtor Magazine’s Good Neighbor Award. Thomas said recipients will be selected based on their dedication to the community through volunteer work and the potential for their charitable work to be expanded or improved with the help of an expert mentor. Ideal candidates have been active in charity work, can identify specific challenges they would like to address with a mentor’s help and have specific goals for the future of their community service project. Applicants must be NAR members. Last year’s Volunteering Works recipient, Jennifer D. Wiles of Real Estate Showcase in Wooster, Ohio, said the grant and mentoring has helped her charity, Golden Bear Brigade, support more soldiers stationed overseas. “My mentors ... showed me a costeffective way of mailing care packages to the troops that stretched our $1,000 grant even further,” Wiles said in a news release. “Volunteering Works enabled me to send more packages to the troops, bring in a speaker to meet with families on coping with deployment and invest in our annual fundraiser to create even more income.” The Realtor Magazine Good Neighbor Award winners, who mentor the Volunteering Works recipients, on average spend more than 20 hours a week on volunteer work and have built and led some of the most effective charitable organizations in the country. Since 2000, there have been more than 130 winners and honorable mentions of the Good Neighbor Award. Volunteering Works is funded by The Stuart & Jill Siegel Charitable Foundation. For a Volunteering Works entry form, go to www.Realtor.org/gna and click on “Volunteering Works.” The entry deadline is Feb. 22, 2013. Recipients will be notified in April.

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Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com

Lori McConville (left) and her daughter, Kate McConville, flip through their business binders in front of the empty storefront in downtown Crystal Lake where they will open Marvin’s Toy Store in April.

Mother, daughter bring toy store to Crystal Lake By BRETT ROWLAND browland@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – A mother and daughter are teaming up to bring an imaginative new toy store to downtown Crystal Lake. Marvin’s Toy Store will feature high-quality toys designed to encourage children to use their imagination, owner Lori McConville said. She is working with her daughter, Kate, on the passion project. The store will take up about 1,350 square feet of space at 64-A N. Williams St. The space formerly was occupied by the Downtown Emporium. Marvin’s Toy Store is scheduled to open in April. Lori McConville, a 51-year-old former teacher, dreamed up the store several years ago, but then the recession hit. When plans and financing for the venture came together last summer, she bowed out of the race for a seat on the McHenry County Board. “I knew I couldn’t do both jobs,” she said. “And the prospects for the store kept getting better, so I chose this.” Working with the Small Business Administration, Lori McConville came up with a business plan and her daughter started researching products. Kate McConville, 27, delved into the work. She started with the kinds of toys she would buy her 7-year-old son, Riley. She then researched toymakers, looking for environmentally-friendly companies that produced safe, sustainable toys. Lori McConville said they initially will invest about $60,000 in the store. “With a conservative plan and good products, it can really work,” she said. Marvin’s Toy Store will serve a growing niche of parents and children who want something different. It won’t carry battery-operated toys or play things found at big-box retailers and chain stores. Rather than focus on purely educational toys, Lori McConville will stock

Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com

Marvin, an original character made by Lori McConville (reflection), is the namesake for the upcoming Marvin’s Toy Store, where child-powered toys will be sold. imaginative toys. “Imaginative toys are open-ended,” she said. “These toys allow children to use what they already know and explore what they don’t know.” Offerings will include play kitchen sets and toy trucks from Green Toys Inc. The company’s products are made entirely from recycled plastic – mostly milk jugs – and don’t contain BPA and other chemicals. The store will also sell games, art and science products, and puzzles, building blocks and other toys for children of all ages. Before opening in April, the store will host

several focus groups, made up of children and parents, to try out the toys, Lori McConville said. The store takes its name from Marvin, an elephant character Lori McConville created to welcome young students to school for the first time. In January, the Crystal Lake City Council approved a $10,000 grant for Marvin’s Toy Store as part of its Retailer and Manufacturer Job Creation and Investment programs. Marvin’s Toy Store will have one full-time employee and two part-time employees.