April 12, 2020

The world was given a gift this Easter Sunday, compliments of Andrea Bocelli and YouTube. Kate and I, along with apparently 3.5 million others, watched as the internationally known Italian singer live-streamed a mini-concert from the incomparable setting of the Duomo di Milano.

In the concert, dubbed #MusicforHope, Bocelli sang a series of well known classical religious songs including Ave Maria, Sancta Maria, and Domine Deus standing near the altar of the empty cathedral. While he was singing, the camera often would cut away to street scenes from Milan, London, New York among others. Normally teeming with humanity, these cities showed streets virtually devoid of human life as the corona virus has forced people around the world to change their daily habits.

For his last song, Bocelli ventured out in front of the magnificent facade to sing Amazing Grace to a cathedral square where thousands would normally have been found.  This day, he was alone. And yet his voice was heard by millions who were touched and moved. It just goes to show… one man can make an impact… and a difference.

The Andrea Bocelli Fund is using this concert to help raise money for hospital emergency resources and protective gear. Italy has lost 19,500 citizens to this virus with over 150,000 confirmed cases.

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio Mount Dora specialize in the preservation of family memories through the digitalization of film, videotapes, audio recordings, photos, negatives and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website.

April 8, 2020 

Today’s blog comes with a considerable amount of thankfulness. I, like many other small businesses out there, will not be able to survive this time in our country’s history without the patronage of our local communities. I happen to be more fortunate than some as I can continue to function during this “lock-down” with only minor concessions.

Even though I am “quarantining” at home, I have the benefit of owning a small business that is located in a home-like environment. So while I am staying at home most of the time, when the need arises, I can get in my car, drive about five minutes to the little stand-alone 1920s cottage that serves as my studio where my wife and I are the only employees, and “meet” people who make appointments to either drop off or pick up orders. During this time, we are operating under a strict “no contact” rule. They leave the order for me to collect or I leave the finished product for them to pick up once the order is completed. All correspondence or financial transactions are made electronically or over the phone. For the time being, we have decided to keep each other safe by eliminating all person to person contact. But even with these precautions, business has reduced… understandably so.

The government makes great promises about providing financial assistance to small businesses during this time. But quite frankly, that assistance is slow in coming… if it ever will. Our main support will come from the same place it always has… the communities we serve. Without that support, we cease to exist. So I am thankful for the clients who continue to bring me work.

Today I received an order that will help support me through this trying time. And I’m grateful for the opportunity to provide the services I can render to them. I trust they will value the product I will deliver back to them as much as I value their trusting me with the memories they left at my door.

Keep yourselves safe. Support your local small business entities. When all this is over, you’ll be glad you did.

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio Mount Dora specialize in the preservation of family memories through the digitalization of film, videotapes, audio recordings, photos, negatives, and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website.