I have several emails and phone calls everyday seeking help to make a dream come true for worthy families. I’m very picky because the expense comes out of my own pocket.  Rarely do I sponsor an event and recently I was contacted to “loan a ring basket, ring pillow and flower petals.”  I’m going to take a moment and explain that unless I’m officiating your event or, my team was hired to provide services, we DO NOT loan my inventory for any event because I have thousands of dollars invested in my inventory and, because my inventory is specifically to address the needs of my clients not the clients of other vendors.  When I was contacted about the Remission Party, I made an exception due the distance of the location from Fort Worth and found this to be a worthy cause.  For some reason I cannot understand why others have contacted me to provide my inventory when they’ve hired another officiant or vendor and just want to “borrow” my inventory.  I’m not in the “loaning business” quite the contrary- I’m in the “wedding and event business” and have spent tens of thousands of dollars to establish myself in this industry ie: no one loaned me anything and I’m not going to get started in the “loaning business” to others.  I’ve sacrificed new cars, fancy vacations and luxuries to fund this business solely out of my own pocket with financial help from my husband, Matthew Wortham. 

 

Last night, I received a message from Sherri (Stones of Love) regarding an event Sunday for this brave young lady who had battled Leukemia and is now in remission.  Sherri had feared that short notice would prevent me from assisting this family,  I was not as I regularly ship items sold at my eBay storefront, Texas Twins Treasures and know shipping timelines.  I went downstairs to my basement workroom in search of the perfect purple decorations and found a box large enough to ship these floral designs by Wendy Wortham in while mentally reminding myself to make a stop by party warehouse for a few “surprises” to include in my package to this young survivor.

 

I knew that “left over” flowers would give Charity Robinson of Gladewater, Texas no time to put together the Centerpieces- so I chose to send already crafted tall topiaries along with two bridesmaids bouquets that I had made for the wedding in Oklahoma of my friend Bambi Morgan a few months ago.  These versatile bridesmaids bouquets can easily be put into a vase of festive sand, paper or confetti or simply laid in the center of a table. 

 

When I started this business to help other working class Americans, I knew how they struggled to have a beautiful ceremony or event with little or no funding. I’ve worked hard to build my inventory in order to accommodate our clients over the past four years.

 I also knew the least expensive way to have floral inventory was to make it myself and have on hand to “loan” for our clients.  It would take me years to accumulate and my surrogate mom, Virginia Malone gifted leftover decorations after I hosted a liquidation estate sale to clean out her two storage units with Cindy Daniel and our Little Pawners, Maryssa and Makenna Mahaney who also sold cookies and lemonade.

 The key reason that I was aware of the issue was my husband being unemployed for 3 years following the real estate crash and subsequently, my son announcing a wedding during the very same window while we struggled to keep our heads above water and hang onto our house.  I’m interviewed often regarding the sacrifices I’ve made for strangers and my answers surprise them.  This surprises me for a number of reasons but mainly because my answers are logical and based on common sense. 

 Question:  “Why would you start a business based on helping people rather than earning a living?”

Answer:  “I struggled while dealing with thyroid cancer to provide my son and his wife a beautiful wedding while making all of the decorations myself to save money.  From the Centerpieces to the bouquets, boutenniers, Garland and corsages. 

 I worked while struggling to breath into early morning hours after returning home from a ten hour workday at my horrible job and when I could no longer stand making floral designs for my sons wedding,  I worked on my copyrighted book, Debt Survival Solutions.  I published blogs and I spent years in courtrooms because the war for consumers is real and without educating them, the war was lost for millions of families.  Debt lawsuits have flooded courthouses worldwide and abroad.  I couldn’t save my family and turn my back on everyone else, it isn’t the way I live.

I didn’t sleep for months because I knew many consumers (millions) were being sued and not served on debt or breach of contract lawsuits after losing their jobs, suffering wage cuts or exhausting unemployment benefits.  You see, while my life was falling apart- I worked harder to grab every hand that I could grasp and pull them into my life boat because I realized that I was the only hope these strangers had. 

What you don’t know about me is far more interesting than what you think you know. The struggles that my community faced mattered to me, they mattered enough that I would do anything to educate them and protect them.  Their stories were heart wrenching, their issues overwhelming and empowering when challenged and overcome.  Winning a war changed you it makes you resilient and more compassionate.”

Question:  “You support many causes that have nothing in common with each other, why?”

Answer:  “My life has been a journey of struggle and survival, along the way my path has crossed with many others who suffered discrimination or bullying and it is those without a voice that I seek to save.  I have been a savior to thousands and a slayer of a few who took advantage of me (Tardy Party Bride, Ferragne Villa, Big Mouthed Bridesmaid and unethical debt collectors). The LBGTQ Community faced adversity that was unfounded.  These families deserved the benefits of traditional families and, I am relieved that they finally have achieved the ability to marry just as any other family has.  Many of my closest friends are LBGT.”

Question:  “You have a team of twins how do your twin, Cindy Daniel and The Little Pawners, Maryssa Mahaney and Makenna Mahaney help at events and weddings?”

Answer: “I have a team of dedicated friends and family that are cross trained to either help with photography, set up, and assist me in whatever capacity is needed. My twin is very good at calming frazzled nerves with humor as well as assisting me in the overall planning and execution of any event.  The Little Pawners are also ring bearers, flower girls and ushers as well as helping out with photography or assisting smaller children. 

My son and his wife, Robert and Stephanie Hafele are photography and videography specialists and Ann Rowe Alexander assists both myself  and/or my twin, the Little Pawners or my son and his wife.  My niece, Stephaney Mahaney is a bilingual translator and we work together as a team because in the events industry you never know when someone will forget something, have a last minute emergency etcetera. 

 We work well as a team and overcome obstacles or issues that if I were working alone to address would pose a problem due to timing or other unexpected aspects. 

  I started this business as a Hospice Clergy which didn’t require a team and when I began doing weddings, anniversaries, baptisms, birthday parties, family reunions and more- a team to carry and load and distribute the decorations that I’ve spent years creating in order to address any themed event became a necessity.” 

 Question: “You have been quoted as saying these twins travel baby! What exactly do you mean by this?”

Answer:  “My SUV along with Cindy’s SUV have well over120k miles on them because they are our Texas Twins Events/Pawning Planners work vehicles.  We use them for every event and have traveled from Oklahoma to Arkansas to San Antonio to Galveston for Dream Events so, naturally, I have a few quick quotes such as no money, no problem and of course, we travel baby because we do.”

Question:  “What does no money no problem mean?  How do you earn a living? Pay your expenses?”

Answer:  “I’ve sold my own furniture, jewelry, home etcetera to fund this business with the help of my husband, Matthew Wortham who was sued while unemployed 12 times over defaulted debts and realized after I defended him and taught others how I did so (years of research and educating myself on consumer laws) that I could do anything in the world I set out to do and, he realized that I was smart enough, resilient enough, to overcome any obstacle.  You see, he believed in me and supported me while I refurbished old furniture and sold it to make a profit.  Many folks don’t realize the sacrifices my husband I have made these past four years to execute Dream Events.  We’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars to establish websites, businesses, advertising, inventory, trademarks, copyrights, fuel, hotel expenses and more.  It is expensive to start a business that offers low cost or no cost events and services.  Furthermore, the expense involved to “flip, swap or trade” antiques and furniture is costly due to the investment of the fabrics and labor.  Effectively, I’ve spent my own time and money for four years helping others and operating in the red because I believe in what I’m doing.  I haven’t received funding from grants or donations- quite the opposite, everything to out my businesses together was paid for and provided by either myself or my husband after he secured employment and we crawled out of the hole of unemployment and debt.  I’m a survivor of many things and I’m passionate enough to persevere and move forward- I’m not a quitter!” 

You see, there were the naysayers who told me that I wouldn’t be able to successfully defend my husband and educate others regarding debt lawsuits and, they were wrong.  With my help, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and attorneys for the Texas Attorney General realized what the average consumer was faced with due to default judgments and changed laws to protect consumers.  This Texas Twin learned how to defend my husband and thousands of others because I HAD TO.  That’s tight, we didn’t have money to hire expensive attorneys, we had me and by documenting my journey and how I accomplished winning those lawsuits- I saved thousands of others and continue to write blogs about debt lawsuits at www.debtsurvivalinfo.com because the victims will face hurdles of renting an apartment, buying a car, even getting a job due to a third party lawsuit they never knew existed until they apply for credit or, a job. My battle was exhausting and took 7 years of my life.  But, I won and reached back to help strangers which made my battle worthwhile.

Texas Twins Events was started to give me a joyful and happy window of new friends and events by offering low cost alternatives to the very same folks struggling to pay their bills who didn’t have the income for a Dream Event.

The Pawning Planners was established by me when I merged Texas Twins Treasures with Texas Twins Events to offer no cost options by refurbishing trades.  The “Pawning Process” can be either quick with a flip that requires no refurbishing or out of pocket expense or, a complete recycling of the trade can take 4-6 weeks to strip, stain, reupholstered and finally sell the item to recover the funds necessary to cover the cost of the Dream Event.

As I head to the post office to mail the Texas Twins Treasures designs I created for a wedding to this worthy cause for a 10 year old who deserves a Dream Event, it becomes apparent to this Texas Twin that I made a good decision in giving back to my community and, hopefully one day the reporters and other folks who “still don’t understand” why I chose to start a business not based on money but more importantly, based on people was an investment in hope- an investment in humanity and effectively, a cause worthy of my time, my talent, and my team!  We are the Pawning Planners and we travel baby and, I’m changing the wedding and events industry “one family at a time from Fort Worth, Texas” what have you done to help a stranger today? 

 Wendy M Wortham