October, 1979

WALKATHON SPEECH

Harrisburg Area Women's News

Page 18

continued from page 8

problem. She says we should either pay them off or shoot them. Lest I be quoted as advocating such actions, I really don't think we should pay them off. But the point of all this is, we are out to make this political system a government for, of, and by the people. And those

7 legislators shall be moved.

Keep in mind as we face those unratified states that one of them, Mississippi, still refuses to ratify the 19th amendment which gave women the vote. Keep in mind that the same forces and arguments that were used against the civil rights movement, the organization of labor, women's sufferage, and the abolition of slavery. Speaking of getting tired.

And one last piece of news. couple months ago the Associated Press announced to the world that the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment is losing steam nationwide. Do we have news for them those seven legislators and the Associated Press shall be moved!

Career development series

by Mary Cianni Surridge

XIV. Down to Earth Services

NOTE: I have deviated from my regular column style in order to tell you about one woman who "tailormade" her career. Down to Earth Services is Jill Heffner. It has her personality and complex.

alive, vibrant,

It is not one service, but a myriad of services all based upon one factor helping Deople.

The following dialogue is an excerpt of my talk with Jill Heffner, creator and owner of Down to Earth Services.

M: How did it all come about? How did Down to Earth begin? J: Boredom on my job. I needed an outlet a way to use my creativity. Everything I was involved with confined me. I knew I wanted to be working for myself, so I started with one idea and it snowballed. I began to think of things that I could do housecleaning, setting up personal file systems, grocery shopping, planning children's birthday parties, and on and on. wanted the service to be for everyone, not just one select group of people. So, I got myself an office, painted it, got a desk, phone, file cabinet, and decided; well, here I am, Jill. I started to write down my ideas and thoughts. This is the first thing I wrote as a way of introduction to the whole concept:

Resigning from a well-paid,

permanent job

at age 22

to dishonor men. And there are still folks out there who don't understand that when we say we want power, it doesn't mean it must be used against someone. We speak of power as a constructive, supportive tool. We want to use power in support of and when we get it, we better be darn sure that's how we use it.

Now about these three more states that sometimes seem like 300. Well' I've got good news and medium news. The good news is that we are only shy 7 votes nationwide. It's only 7 state legislators--all of which happen to be men--who are keeping our equal rights from becoming an amendment to the Constitution. The medium news is, two of these guys--which would carry one state--have admitted that their votes are tradeable. They aren't voting against the ERA because they're against the ERA . .. but because they are waiting for the right political favor to be offered. Tradeable. Now one of my best friends thinks these 7 guys are really no

strange position of having to explain that equal rights are fair. But let that new button of theirs be a lesson to us. The opposition has just about beaten the life out of their unisex bathroom scare and has moved on to more substantial American values. We have to remember that this country is full of folks with pretty traditional values. We must address their fears. So when the opposition says "A strong family is the cornerstone of American society, we must say, "Right on, vote for ERA." And when the opposition says, "The government has no right to legislate our lifestyles," 11 we must say, "Right on, vote for ERA." And when the opposition says "Men and women are different, we must say, "Right on--they have different plumbing-vote for ERA."

We must remember that there are folks out there who still don't understand that equality does not mean sameness. There are still folks out there who don't understand that when you honor women, you don't have

Tailoring a career

to start a business, is like taking young healthy plant from a greenhouse

and planting it in an outside garden before the last frost. Leaving security,

experiencing new naked exposure, learning self-survival.

I knew I was on my own, it all depended on me.

M: Jill, why the name Down to Earth Services?

bine home and career with relative ease. You are not that woman, but how does Down to Earth fit your life style?

J: As I mentioned to you before, my business is me it is my personality. I'm unpredictable and every day here is unpredictable, I never have two days alike. I go grocery shopping one day, then the next I may have a housecleaning job to do, folEach lowed by working on my books.

ferent from what I was doing the hour before it. I get a great deal of satisfaction from working on ten different things at the same time, which In is something I often have to do. this business, you have to be flexible. What about your personal How does it blend with it? My personal life is the

life?

J: I think that today it is easy job energizes me because it is difto become lonely. We all rush around doing our jobs and we don't have time for people. I see myself as a friend, someone you can call and say, "Hey, can you help me out?" That's why it's Down to Earth. I want to be providing the basics, someone you can trust to do things for you, like house sitting and grocery shopping. M: How is the business going? opposite. My own feeling is that it is It is a nice balance. going to work. I believe it is going opposed to being in the city and hecto work. Right now it is a one-woman tic, it is peaceful there. operation. I do everything. I lay garden and just relax. out the ads, I bike around town and distribute my advertising brochures, do the bookkeeping, provide the services. I try to learn all aspects of the business. Then maybe later I'll specialize in one field or hire people to help me. Perhaps I can offer franchises, whatever.

M: My original thought when I first heard about your business was that a woman decided to use her homemaking skills to launch her career. And what I pictured was a woman with school-age children who could structure her own hours, so she could com-

I can

Any long-range plans?

I don't know what I'll be doing five, ten years from now I just know I'll be doing something different from what I'm doing today. Perhaps I'll be an executive with franchises of Down to Earth or may-. be climbing mountains; right now, I don't know.

I left my interview with Jill on a high note. It was uplifting to see a person having fun at work.

For further information on Down to Earth Services, call Jill Heffner, 238-5529.