FRANKLIN, Ind. (WTHR) — Spotlight Strategies is making yards signs and filling orders as fast as the Franklin small business can. The signs read “A Hero Lives Here” and are meant to honor front line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. After delivering 1,000 of the signs for free in Johnson County, more than 2,500 more were ordered for $2 each for pickup.
"What these folks are doing is amazing,” said Brian Avery, who picked up a sign to recognize his daughter, who is an emergency department nurse at Franciscan Health. “That they're only charging the cost, I was willing and expecting to pay more."
The yard signs include icons representing health care workers, first responders, truck drivers, retail workers, and teachers and are designed to honor anyone working on the front line while most people stay home.
"Everyone is kind of tired,” said Spotlight Strategies co-owner Erin Smith. “This is a nice pick me up and a boost for them a lot of times, as they're continuing to trudge into work every day doing what it is we all need them to do to serve us."
Brandy Smith picked up a sign Monday morning for her husband, a firefighter.
"I started crying because I was like, 'you know what, we don't say thank you enough,'” Smith said. “I mean it's just not to the policeman and the firemen. I work for a produce company. Thank you to my drivers who get out here and deliver to all the restaurants and schools and everyone who still has to be out here working in this time of unknown."
"These are such strange times,” said Jenni Agramonte, who ordered signs to place in the yards of several friends. “I'm such a socially extroverted person. You see these people all the time and you thank them all the time and now it's just kind of like, okay, I want everyone else to know what they do and that they're friends of mine."
The hero yard sign project has grown beyond what the small business owned by two women in Franklin ever imagined.
"We have a lot of negativity out there in a lot of other places and so to be able to be a part of joy in the giver and the receiver, that's special," said Susan McCarty, co-owner.
Signs can still be ordered online through this week. The price has increased to $5 per sign to meet production costs. All orders must be picked up at Spotlight Strategies (170 Commerce Drive, Franklin, IN 46131). Buyers will be notified by email when signs are ready for pickup. Signs may not be purchased at the office without an order.