Monthly Archives: October 2012

Events, Mity Nice news

Circling in on our Mysterious Sunday event

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The last Second Sunday of the season is fast approaching and there’s still so much you don’t know about it.

That, my friends, is because it’s called All Things Mysterious.

And so there are mystery guests aplenty, some of them may even show up magically and entertain us. Others may want you to guess their identity.

We expect some seasonal circles to show up too – some orange ones and some red and organic. Can you figure out what they are?

We know there will be a lot of surprises and some mysteries to solve, but there are a few facts you want to know:

  • All Things Mysterious runs 11:30 to 3 p.m., with most activities and guests from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Sunday Artisan Market and the Mity Nice cart on Detroit Street. First games commence at 11:30 and the Arts & Crafts Table opens at noon.
  • Our charity is the Leslie Science & Nature Center, a good friend and a great place to learn about Michigan creatures and take a nature walk. Francie will bring a few birds, including an owl, to Mysterious Day.
  • Mity Nice will offer a variety of  “sweet treats from the streets” – well, our cart really is on the sidewalk just outside the Farmers Market.  We’ll have cookies and muffins and some banana bread; Mindo Chocolates and Tea Haus tea as well as our Italian ice and lemonade, so please bring your appetite and a few dollars.  (We donate a percent of sales to Leslie Science Center, so the treats are doubly sweet.)
  • Our main sponsor is Second to None, a Kerrytown business that provides mystery shopping for many retailers.
  • Almost all or fun family activities are free, but we do ask for donations at the Arts & Crafts Table this month so we can replenish our supplies. (Half of the donations will go directly to Leslie.)

This event is coming up fast, and we don’t want it to be so mysterious that people miss out on it. So please share with a friend or neighbor or Tweet about the birds and fun! See you Sunday.

Mity Nice news

Tipping in favor of a good cause

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The tip jar has become a staple at restaurants and cafes and food trucks, as common as hot sauce at a Mexican restaurant or waffle cone at an ice cream shop.

Yet for a long time, the owners of Mity Nice resisted having one out. It seemed too much like like begging. For perhaps two years, the only tips we received were handed directly to the staffer or given to management after a large party or event.

Then for Art Fair a couple of years ago, we agreed to set out a tip jar, in part because we were collaborating with Tea Haus and their staff expected one. It also was an experiment to see how it felt.

Our staff liked it, and we decided to embrace it, by adding our Mity Nice approach: Half the tips collected each month go to a local charity.  We’ve given them to Food Gatherers during September’s Hunger Awareness Month and The Breakfast at St. Andrews.

This year, we decided to allow our staff to select the charities, as long as they are within our cause areas of concentration.

Half of the cash in the tip jar goes to local charities

So for May and June, Nia has chosen to donate tips to Growing Hope. Growing Hope creates and supports neighborhood community gardens in Ypsilanti, and has developed a new farmers market for that city too.  (For a few years, Mity Nice has been one of the “restaurants” and donors to a beautiful fall fundraiser called Hopes Harvest that supports Growing Hope. That’s where we first met Nia.)  July’s tip jar – a big one because of Art Fair – went to Groundcover News, which helps housing challenged by creating sales and writing opportunities.  In August, David chose Ozone House, which works with youth.

And in September and October, we’re giving the money to the Breakfast program, which serves a free hot meal every day just a few blocks from our Detroit Street location.

Someday we’ll put up a sign on our tip jar – the 50/50 approach is worth a shout-out, so everyone knows that the quarters and dollars deposited there are enriching our staff and our community too.