What’s hanging around at SixSeeds Video?

Weeks before the holidays arrive, storefronts are already advertising for Christmas – shiny gold and silver trinkets, Santa on display and a lot of red and green frame the windows in town while wreaths are up on all the lamp posts.  However, a display at SixSeeds Video, stands out from the usual holiday offerings.  Crayons, pencils, a blanket, soap, a toothbrush, a spiral notebook, a washcloth, and flashcards all look as if they’re floating in thin air, out of a suspended and open backpack. Why is this display in a video store?
 
Winchester residents John and Jean Kingston became the owners of SixSeeds Video, after realizing the former Video Horizons store was closing its doors.  Several fresh coats of paint, new television screens, and game stations for kids have been added, making the store better than ever.  It serves as a more personal place for the community to browse movies by lingering between aisles instead of clicking their way through life in the solitary confinement of their laptops.  Jill Abrahamsen, mother of four and frequent video renter says, “If only all stores had a place designated for kids. My kids are immediately drawn to the area, which frees me up to peruse the racks for good movies." 
 
However, the Kingstons are about more than just preserving the places where the community can gather -- they also believe something great happens when families come together and serve.  Every summer, they travel to an area of Mexico where the community has very little in the way of material goods.  They work at the local school where there is no electricity and only one source of running water in the dusty play yard.  Stray dogs roam the area and vegetation is limited due to dry environment.  Despite the poor conditions, this trip is the highlight of the year for the family.  The minute they stepped onto the school yard to paint and clean the school back in August 2006, something special happened.  The Kingstons came together to help others and in the process learned a lot of things about themselves – about hope, hard work and the great connectedness they have to all of humanity.  Now when they go back “it’s like seeing good old friends”.
 
“Working on behalf of others helps bring out the best in us and also helps those of us who have a lot, open our eyes to a much larger world out there,” says Jean.  “The kids look forward to the trip as much as they look forward to Christmas each year, maybe more.”
 
The floating display of crayons, rulers and other basic supplies is not a back-to-school promotion.  Rather, it’s part of the SixSeeds Video mission -- to not only be the “World’s Only Not-For-Profit Video Store” but to also a place where families come and do bite-sized service projects called “Seed Pack-Its” together.
 
The first Seed Pack-It took place in 2008 when SixSeeds families across the country packed over 2500 care packages for soldiers in Iraq.  This week, the second Seed Pack-it begins and is “magically” hanging on display right by the video store door.
 
For $25, you can come in and purchase a backpack and a large list of school supplies and toiletry items (products actually worth about $60) for the same Mexican squatter community the Kingstons visit each year.  Families can pack the backpack right in the store or bring backpacks home to pack.  (One advantage?  Shipping is free if you bring your pack back to the store!) The project is a concrete way families can serve together side-by-side, even with the youngest children, and talk about people that are so much the same, yet also different, who live just across the border.  SixSeeds Video even provides activities to learn about this Mexican community.
 
“Come and play, hang-out, rent a movie, and pack a backpack,” says Jean.  “We hope everyone checks out the fun stuff going on in here!”
 
SixSeeds Video, located at 600 Main Street, Winchester, is open Mon-Thurs 12-9, Fri and Sat 10-10 and Sun 2-9.  Please call 781.721.1422 or email SeedPack-It@SixSeeds.org with any questions. 

by ELIJAH MICKELSON, who is a photographer, videographer and also the new Manager of SixSeeds Video.