Small Business Spotlight: Amazing Grace CIRCUS!

NYACK, NY — This series shines a spotlight on local businesses, specially to learn a little about the ones we may not know that well. And here is a business that's used to the spotlight — in fact, it uses more than one!

Business: Amazing Grace CIRCUS! Inc.

Owners: Carlo Pellegrini & Janet Hayes, co-founders

Website: www.amazinggracecircus.org

Address: 279 South Broadway, Nyack, NY 10960

1. When did your business open?

May 17, 2002 (this is our 15th anniversary year)

2. How did you come up with the name?

This is a great story: Janet and I were running the teen youth group at Grace Episcopal Church in Nyack in 2001 when the Trade Towers fell. Our teens were in a state of shock and our church lost some people in the tragedy. For eight months, Janet and I led our teens through a process of discernment to make sense of the senseless. In the process, we played team-building games to loosen up their thinking and build relationships among them. They learned of my circus background through that process. One Sunday, they took Janet and me out to breakfast and said: "We have talked about this among ourselves. We know what we want to do for the community. We want to put on a circus and raise some money for the families who lost loved ones on 9/11." Janet and I looked at each other and said, "Do you have a name for the show?" They said, "We do: we are teens, so we are 'amazing'; we are here at Grace Church - so, we are 'Amazing Grace CIRCUS!' ". And that was how we got our name. What was supposed to be just one show turned into a full-time business for 15 years.

3. Why start a business in this town?

See #2

4. What business are you in?

Amazing Grace CIRCUS! is a community circus with a social purpose. We are in the business of helping children and teens take center-ring in their lives by learning experientially the social and emotional arts of C.I.R.C.U.S.: Confidence. Imagination. Resiliency. Cooperation. Understanding. Success. When children and teens attend our shows, our circus school, our artist-in-schools programs and our summer camp, they become immersed in this philosophy.

5. What's the most difficult challenge you've faced starting a new business?

The most challenging aspect of running a not-for-profit business in Rockland County is the competition for grants and donor money. In Rockland County alone there are over 700 registered non-profit organizations vying for the same small donor pool. As a community circus our focus is local, but we have to find the money to operate globally.

6. What's one highlight you've had since opening?

The one thing that sticks out most in our history is seeing enlightenment hit the eyes of the teens we work with when they 'get it' - when they get that they are valued for who they are and who they are to become.

7. How does your business give back to the community?

Amazing Grace CIRCUS! gives back to our community in two ways: free shows in the park during annual street fairs, and by offering children in need scholarships to our circus arts summer camp in Nyack.

PHOTO/ Amazing Grace CIRCUS!