Mt. Lebanon resident launches latest venture with glass ‘upcycling’
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Stefany Frazier works on a bottle during the Kindness Kidz kickoff event at Caliente Pizza and Draft House in Mt. Lebanon.
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Hunter Dusak
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Stefany Frazier and Daniel Kemp check out her finished bottle.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Skylar Dusak
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Sisters Marley, left, and Ruthie Tuckfelt work on their bottles.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Jaiya Hughes
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Alexis Tuckfelt observes daughter Ruthie in action.
When curbside collection of glass for recycling abruptly ceased throughout much of the South Hills, Connie Dusak put out a call to her Mt. Lebanon neighbors.
Harry Funk/
Harry Funk/the almanac
Connie Dusak demonstrates painting an image to decorate an “upcycled” bottle.
“Hey, does anyone have wine bottles? I want to do a project.”
At the time, she wasn’t sure exactly what the project was or what the response to her query would be.
“Then I got an overwhelming response. People were dropping off wine bottles on my porch. I got wine bottles from everywhere,” she said. “They dropped them off. I cleaned them, took the labels off, and now they’re ‘upcycled’ into Kindness Kidz bottles.”
By that, she means that a group of youngsters painted the bottles, placed strings of lights inside and came up with creations that they can use as nightlights.
“It’s a superpower bottle,” Dusak said.
The mother of two – daughter Skylar and son Hunter were among the participants – hosted the kickoff Kindness Kidz activity on March 24 in the spacious banquet area upstairs at Caliente Pizza and Draft House in Mt. Lebanon.
She provided instruction about decorating the bottles, offering Superman’s pentagonal logo as a possible jumping-off point, and provided plenty of encouragement along the way.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Tazi Hughes takes a close look at daughter Jaiya’s work.
Dusak envisions Kindness Kidz as something fun and creative for children to do while teaching them about raising money for worthy causes. For example, she donated $5 of every ticket sold for the kickoff event to the PTA at Mt. Lebanon’s Washington Elementary School.
“It can be whatever you want,” she said about activities for future events. “We can paint bottles. We can paint on canvas. We can play kickball. It’s a two-hour event, and the proceeds go to whatever organization you want.”
On her Facebook page for Kindness Kidz, Dusak explains some of her impetus for launching the effort:
“In this day and age, people rarely use cash anymore. With the lack of cash transactions, kids are losing the valuable lesson of money.”
She compares that to when she was young and spent a considerable amount of time and effort selling all kinds of items for the benefit of her school and its sports teams.
“My daughter plays basketball,” she said. “So maybe her team can hold a Kidz fundraiser, and then they can give back and get extra balls or shoes or whatever they need.”
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Skylar Dusak, left, and Reese Hall work on their bottles.
For several years, Dusak has organized fun and creative events for adults, starting with Paint Nite Pittsburgh programs, which were held at area bars and restaurants. She continues to offer events through her business, Orange Hippie Chick, including the artistic activities “Glitter Daisies” on April 15 at Roland’s in the Strip District and “Spring Crazy Daizy” on May 19 at Caliente.
As for her latest venture, she hopes for a bright future.
“My ultimate dream would be to have a Kindness Kidz in every city, so we can spread kindness throughout the world,” she said. “We have to start somewhere, and here we are.”
For more information, visit orangehippiechick.com.
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Ruthie Tuckfelt
paints her bottle.
Harry Funk/The Almanac