YOUNGSTOWN Her sentiments, exactly: Happy Father's Day, Mom

A Youngstown woman has placed her new greeting card line in eight local stores.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Tonja Delaine thinks single moms have such a hard job that one holiday isn't enough.
To help these women get the recognition they deserve, Delaine has created a series of cards with the tag line, "Happy Father's Day, Mom!"
The 41-year-old Youngtown woman, who has three children, has placed the cards in eight local stores over the past few weeks. The cards have a variety of poems to thank a woman carrying the responsibility of raising children and managing a house.
How it started
Delaine began writing the cards three years ago when she and her neighbor were exchanging "Happy Father's Day" greetings.
"I said, 'Girl, it's a shame that there isn't a card for us. I'm going to write a card," Delaine said.
She wrote the poems but wasn't sure what to do with them.
Recently, her sister, Debert Cook, looked at the poems and was so impressed that she had them printed with matching envelopes. Cook runs Event Planners Plus in New York City.
Delaine then got a copyright on her Fingerprint of Love card line and set out to try to get them in stores.
She first went to large franchised card shops, but they wouldn't accept her cards. Locally owned stores were more receptive.
Nothing like it
"I have already picked out a very special card for my daughter's mother, which expresses my emotions toward her like no other card I have ever seen," said Terry Dobson, manager at Choice Fashions on Market Street, one of the retailers carrying the cards.
Cards also are being sold at Gleaming Beauty Hair Salon on Willis Avenue, Cook's Corner on Oak Hill Avenue, California Wine Shop on Belmont Avenue, Fresh Fashions on South Avenue, J & amp;B Beauty Supply on Glenwood Avenue, Red & amp; White Market on Market Street, and Smith's CDs and Tapes on U.S. Route 422 in Warren.
Delaine said sales have been slow but she isn't discouraged because people aren't accustomed to looking for this type of card.
She said she's convinced there's a place for the cards because she's heard plenty of women wish each other Happy Father's Day.
"This is a card that's made for them. They don't have to give a card that's made for a man," she said.
Married women also can be given the cards, she said. Many of them often are doing the work of mom and dad because of their husbands' work schedules or travel demands, she said.
Women may not be using post-hole diggers or changing tires, but they are cutting grass and using hammers and screwdrivers to fix things around the house, she said.
Unique format
The cards cost $2 each and have a single side with a magnet on the back. Delaine said she preferred that to a card that folds open because they can be attached to a refrigerator or put in a 5-inch by 7-inch frame.
"That way you can enjoy your card past the holiday," she said.
Delaine, who is divorced, has a son, Carnell Jr., 20, and two daughters, D'Lashun, 17, and Shamika, 14.
Delaine's goal is for the card line to catch on with national retailers. Her next step is to develop a UPC bar code for the cards.
The card market is so difficult to enter, however, that she figures she may have to make T-shirts, mugs and other items with the Happy Father's Day, Mom! logo.
If those items take off, she figures that would stimulate demand for the cards.
shilling@vindy.com