The how and WHY The Obsession Box Company was started

Pauline Yore had a successful career for years before having her two sons. She raised her two sons while holding down a career and, being a full time mom as well. She was fortunate enough to be in a sales career where she could schedule by appointment, so she was there to drop her boys off at school and pick them up every day, very rarely missing a Soccer, Baseball or Basketball game. During this time, she has involved her boys in philanthropic activities and the giving of donations, which is where her heart and passion are. They started as Secret Santa�s for a few families. "We had so much fun leaving the gifts on the doorstep and running away! One Thanksgiving when we left a full dinner in a box for a single mother with four small children, the woman who received it just sat down and cried, it was very moving for all three of us. We learned to be sneaky and charitable, and my boys learned what was really important in life." Now they provide all of the holiday necessities and gifts for 48 children from state sponsored preschools and 10 families as well as the multiple contributions of gifts and funds to charities and foundations that focus on underprivileged children. As much as she was enjoying all of this philanthropy, she was running low on contribution funds, their donations were exceeding $50,000 a year with plans of expanding. Her boys contributed from the money they received from relatives for their birthday and holidays, and Pauline saved for it throughout the year; but it was starting to get too expensive and she had to start saying "no." This is when she started The Obsession Box Company. It was an idea that she had been thinking about for quite some time but never quite had the time to get started. "I had made some very good contacts and secured distributors for high quality products over the years when buying in large quantities for the children, we were sponsoring." Hallmark, Consolidated International, Starbucks & Blockbuster to name a few. She would use the items and create a theme so the recipients would be given a lot of items instead of one gift. Before starting The Obsession Box Company in February of 2001, she decided to give one of her new gift ideas a "test-drive" on Ebay. She listed her "Sweetheart Obsession," which includes a teddy bear, truffles, a heart shaped candle and a heart shaped box filled with red foil covered hearts . These items are all packed with tissue in a white two piece set up box (rigid lid) and are tied up with beautiful wire edged ribbon. A card is added with the senders sentiments, and the package is then shipped to the recipient. The �Sweetheart Obsession� was listed for $29.99. She had to remove the listing from Ebay just a few days later because she had sold out of the 24 test gifts she had prepared. So she spent her evenings, after her boys went to bed, launching her new business, The Obsession Box Company. Her first items on her web store www.theobsessionboxco.com were "The Coffee Obsession," "The Tea Obsession," "The Chocolate Obsession," "Movie Madness Obsession Gift Basket" and the "Sweetheart Obsession." She started slow with a few orders coming in every day, but then it started growing very quickly. She no longer could keep up with the orders working only in the evenings, so she hired family and friends to help, some of which still work for her in addition to her other employees. "I am very proud of the success of the business and still do not take a profit from the company but rather use it to benefit others through charities and philanthropic events and donations." Ten percent of the gross revenue each month is donated directly to a nonprofit organization chosen by Pauline and her family. Additionally, she has programs where The Obsession Box Company sends gifts to children in hospitals and their families. The online store now has over 300 gift items to choose from and a Corporate division that allows the ordering company to choose the charity that they would prefer their 10% charitable donation to go to. She has a large distribution center in Campbell, California that sends out hundreds (thousands over the holidays) of gifts a week. The Obsession Box Company was recently featured in Business Week Online and in Real Simple Magazine as a recommended buy!

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