Starfish Award Winner: Hobe Sound Beach Shop

Hobe Sound Beach Shop honors local heroes.

Showing sound support

When the COVID-19 pandemic started hitting the close-knit community of Hobe Sound, Florida, Barbara McLaughlin, owner of the Hobe Sound Beach Shop, wanted to do her part to help recognize and spread cheer to those affected.

Hobe Sound Beach Shop is making and donating “I’m a Hobe Sound Hero” shirts to recognize local front-line workers.

Photos: Robert Holland

“I just kept thinking, ‘What can I do? Then it occurred to me, what if I made shirts?’”

Recognizing hometown heroes. Custom-printed t-shirts created in-house happens to be something the Hobe Sound Beach Shop sells, along with a variety of other beachy items, including eco-friendly brands of drinking straws, flip-flops and shirts. The store is a family affair; McLaughlin’s brother George Kleine designs and presses the shirts, and her sister Janet Otten is the store’s general manager.

The crew — who call themselves the Seaside Siblings — went to work creating a t-shirt design to show appreciation for Hobe Sound’s front-line workers. These special shirts depict images of people in various essential occupations: grocery store workers, doctors, nurses, firefighters and police officers with the words “I’m a Hobe Sound hero.” The shirt backs say “Thank you from Hobe Sound Beach Shop.”

“Anything anyone can do to say ‘Thank you, we recognize what you are doing’ is huge for them.” — Barbara McLaughlin

Then McLaughlin got to thinking about shirts they could make for other people affected by the coronavirus. The shop created another design, this one saying, “I survived,” with the now-familiar electron microscope image of a coronavirus in the center. Below it is the phrase “Blessed to be alive.”

Special delivery. McLaughlin recently delivered a stack of both shirt designs to a local hospital, Cleveland Clinic’s Martin Health at Hobe Sound. The “heroes” shirts will be given to doctors and nurses, while the “I survived” shirts will be handed out to patients who have recovered from COVID-19.
The shop has a form on its website where people in the community can nominate local heroes they feel are deserving of a shirt. Since March the store has made and donated 200 “heroes” shirts and 100 “I survived” shirts.

“Barbara is a very kind and generous person in many respects, and this is just one aspect,” Otten says of her sister.

Starfish Awards recognize companies in our industry that are making a difference through charitable donations and efforts. Know of a company that is deserving of an award? Submit a nomination at www.seasideretailer.com/starfish-award.