TOLEDO, Ohio — During Black History Month, one local business wants to leave its mark on history.
It's called "SimplyPUT" and it's doing this by creating handmade greeting cards and giving away hundreds of them for Valentine's Day.
The company is a dream for co-founders, Jerrod Poole and Bri'on Whiteside.
"I look at it (a card) as a time capsule. Of me being about to remember this time in my life. You know, it's a date - this Valentine's Day 2021, so and so gave me this card to let me know how much they cared about me," Whiteside said.
"We wanted to have an influence in the world differently. And you see a lot of times with art, it tells a story a lot of times, and I knew that I could add that side of that with art," Poole added.
During Black History Month, they're leaving a paper trail of what they hope will be their legacy, showing determination and hard work.
"Especially where we're at right now in the world, I think there's a lot of attention on just the value of Black people. You know the Black Lives Matter Movement. There's just a lot that's going on," Whiteside said.
"Growing up in school we always read about Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and how they left a legacy. And I think just with this, me and Bri'on are leaving our legacy, and our imprint," Poole added.
And the co-founders want to inspire younger generations to become business owners.
"Don't just think that because you don't see it, because it's not commonly seen, that it's not able to achieve and obtained," Whiteside said.
They say they're spreading the love during these difficult times with their philanthropy effort called SPCards.
This Valentine's weekend they'll gift about 900 cards to schools and organizations such as the Ronald McDonald House.
"As we progress in life I want to continue to keep, always put God first, and serve throughout the business. And that's with spreading love and I feel like love is something that you can never receive too much of and also never give too much of," Poole said.
You can still order Valentine's Day cards but the co-founders say you should do this by the end of the week.
You can purchase these if you click here on their Etsy website.