A-Plus Printing & Graphic Center printed and distributed full-color memorial and prayer cards in memory of the victims of the Feb. 14, 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.
Thomas Horne calls a print job his company executed this past Valentine’s Day “the hardest day for me as a printer.”
It wasn’t the technical aspect of the job that challenged the employees of A-Plus Printing & Graphic Center, located in Plantation, Fla. It was the emotional aspect. On that day, 17 students and teachers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., were killed in a mass shooting.
Upon hearing the news, Horne waited to hear from his two brothers, both of whom are police officers and are among the first responders. “The rule in our family is to text everyone and let them know that they’re safe,” Horne says of major local crime events.
(From left) Pressman Manny Ruiz and Thomas Horne stand with the memorial and prayer cards.
Assured of his brothers’ safety, Horne’s next action was to memorialize the deceased through a quick-turnaround print job of memorial and prayer cards for each student and staff member who perished.
“I’ve been through losses in my family and know how hard it is. This was a terrible tragedy,” notes Horne, whose father was also a law enforcement officer.
Within a day of the shooting, A-Plus Printing & Graphic Center employees came in at 6 a.m. to work on the job, spending hours trying to source the best photos and information about each of the deceased individuals in an effort led by Horne, business partner Rick Erens, and a company graphic designer.
The employees ran the full-color, 12-pt. memorial and prayer cards with UV lamination on the shop’s KBA sheetfed offset presses. After the project was completed, Horne and Sergeant Ana Murillo from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office traveled to the doorsteps of each of the impacted families to deliver the cards for their use.
The company also printed up an additional 5,000 cards for the city of Parkland to distribute throughout the local community. There were some inherent challenges. Horne was operating on scant information and had to reprint some of the cards to correct some religious information. Horne says the day of the mass school shooting was his hardest day because of seeing the reactions of his staff.
“We’re a large family business and never had to do a print job for so many people that had passed,” points out Horne, adding that everyone who touched the job – staff members like the graphic designer and the printing press and cutter operators – found it to be a gut-wrenching experience.
Horne’s advice to other printing operations that might find themselves in a similar position is for management to “be strong for your employees” at a time like that. “Employees are like family members,” he adds. “This becomes a team effort. That’s how we got these cards printed, boxed and delivered.”
Ultimately, the company’s work and efforts garnered accolades.
“I got a lot of phone calls from the families thanking me and our team members,” notes Horne, saying that it was “pretty awesome” to see the positive responses of various family members who he was able to greet at their doorsteps as he offered them the cards and his condolences.
Horne didn’t take a dime for the work.
“It was the right thing to do,” he stresses. “We were happy that we could help out.”
Quad/Graphics, Inc. and the Quadracci family’s Windhover Foundation are announcing a three-year, $1 million commitment to The BrandLab, a non-profit dedicated to changing the face and voice of the marketing industry by creating opportunities for young people from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. This new partnership will enable The BrandLab to expand into the Milwaukee community and bring together local agencies, corporations and student interns who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), or who come from low-income families. Already operational in Kansas City and Minneapolis, The BrandLab’s success in bringing young, diverse voices into the creative profession directly aligns with Quad’s decades-long dedication to creating a better way. “The BrandLab starts by exposing students to creative and viable careers before they graduate from high school and then we stay with them on their journey to their first full-time role,” said Ellen Walthour, Chief Executive Officer of The BrandLab. “This is a long-term solution that requires long-range vision from the industry’s top leaders. Quad understands that our work not only advances racial equity, but it makes the creative field so much stronger.”
Siegwerk Druckfarben AG & Co. KGaA, one of the leading international suppliers of printing inks for packaging applications and labels, has signed a contract to purchase the Italian ink manufacturer La Sorgente Spa. The family-owned company is located in Poppi (Arezzo), Italy, and manufactures high-quality water-based flexographic inks for paper & board applications as well as solvent-based inks for flexible packaging. Founded in 1929, the company is one of the most important ink suppliers for flexographic printing in Italy today. With this acquisition, Siegwerk further expands its product portfolio for packaging printers while concretely strengthening its local footprint in the Italian market. “La Sorgente Spa is a well-established ink expert for paper & board as well as flexible packaging applications with a strong reputation in Italy. Its ink solutions fit perfectly into our product portfolio,” says Dirk Weißenfeldt, Vice President Flexible Packaging EMEA at Siegwerk. The purchase will enable Siegwerk to significantly expand its presence while building up its infrastructure and workforce to further grow in Italy.
LSC Communications announced that it has acquired the Quality Park envelope business from Cenveo. Quality Park is a leading producer of quality envelopes, mailing supplies and assorted packaging items. Jim Ellward, President of the TOPS Products division of LSC Communications, commented, “We're excited to bring the strong Quality Park brand into our stable of well respected and widely known brands such as Adams, Ampad, Cardinal, Oxford, Pendaflex and TOPS. Taking advantage of the synergies between TOPS Products and Quality Park will enable us to enhance our office solutions offering to extend deeper into new and existing relationships.”
