NICHOLAS KRISTOCK shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi NICHOLAS, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
As a business owner, every day provides temptation to ride the rollercoaster of emotions. Nothing is ever as bad as it seems or as good as it seems, and it can be tough to stay level-headed with the highs and lows that get thrown at you. I have heard before that taking on projects and experiments outside of the office can be really enlightening. I have never in my life been musically gifted and have never picked up a musical instrument until this year. I am embarking on a journey to learn the guitar! Learning guitar is something that is bringing me joy outside of work lately. And I’m also finding it really fascinating how it is activating a totally different part of my brain that I have never activated before. I also think that the results are very recent that learning the guitar is unlocking some new levels of creativity in my mind that are helping my work be even better.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m the founder and executive director of a nonprofit organization called Fleece and Thank You. Fleece and Thank You has just turned 10 years old and we now serve every single children’s hospital and health system in the state of Michigan with all the colorful fleece blankets that they need for their pediatric inpatients. Basically anywhere a child in the state of Michigan under the age of 18 can go into the hospital and stay overnight there is probably a blanket there waiting for us. Even more than just the color and comfort of the blanket, every blanket we deliver carries a personal video message from the person or group that made it to the patient that receives it. And the coolest part is that patient family can send a message back to the blanket maker bringing the impact full-circle. It has been a true privilege and a life legacy to have built Fleece and Thank You over the past decade to the nation’s largest consistent provider of comfort to kids in the hospital. And we are now excited to bring that consistent service to the Midwest region and eventually the country.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
One of the core values at Fleece and Thank You is empathy. From one person’s opinion, it often seems that the thing that divides people most is a lack of understanding. It’s not that we don’t have the capacity to understand each other, it’s that often we’re moving too fast or too stubborn to take the time to care enough to understand each other. In the world of business especially, when people feel understood, their guard is down and they’re much more open to collaboration and talking about what could be vs. talking about what can’t be.
Something that restores the bonds between people is exactly the flip side of that. Taking the time to care about the people we interact with on a daily basis. Little things like holding the door, picking our head up and smiling at someone, all the way to the big things like stopping what we’re doing and making time for the people that we’re in the same room with to feel heard and understood are all bond-building activities and help us focus on what could be together vs. what can’t be.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes, there have been multiple times over the journey of Fleece and Thank You where giving up started to feel like an attractive option.
One in particular happened in 2019 when funds were running really tight and a couple unexpected expenses popped up out of nowhere. Things seemed really dire and I wasn’t sure how we were going to get out. Thanks to some hard work, a couple lucky breaks going our way, a world record event that shattered expectations, and the kindness of an old friend we were able to change our luck dramatically and immediately turn the organization around.
Five months after that turnaround when things were looking great the pandemic struck for a non-profit that focused on in-person events and delivered handmade goods to hospitals. The 2020 pandemic was devastating to us or at least it should have been. The resilience that we learned in 2019 through our trouble actually provided us a level of fortitude that was critical in responding to the 2020 pandemic.
Almost instantly, we flipped on an e-commerce model on our website so folks could order blanket kits from anywhere around the country or even the world. And we immediately started to get online orders for people who wanted to make blankets from home. Second, we acquired a hospital-grade washing and drying unit. And immediately started a hospital-grade washing and drying process that allowed us to start delivering blankets again to hospitals within three months of the pandemic striking. We had completely changed our business model, we were making more blankets than ever and we were delivering more blankets than ever before.
Fast forward to 2025 and for an organization that sources raw materials from other countries the global economic and tariff situations caused us to really have to figure out our raw material production. I’m excited to say that because of the resilience that we learned over the last ten years we again tackled this situation head-on and in spite of every reason to not come through it we’ve not only made it through the global economic and tariff situation but we’ve actually found a way to reduce our costs because of it.
There’s been so many times along the journey where giving up started to feel like the most attractive option but I can really say that looking back on it sticking through those peak moments of what seemed like defeat were almost always followed by even greater peaks of success and reward for sticking with it.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
My closest friends would probably say that the thing that really matters most to me is trying to invest very deeply in the people that I’m in a room with. I find so much joy and passion in learning where someone’s trying to go and how anything that I know or have done can help get them there. I love to learn what’s on someone’s mind, and I get excited when someone talks about something they’re excited about. I think my closest friends would also tell me that it’s really important to me that everyone I interact with knows that I value them as a human first and foremost, whether it be business or transactional.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
If you asked me this question 7-10 years ago, I would tell you that I’m working relentlessly to build a consistent service of comfort for kids in the hospital. A service that provides that comfort to every hospital in the state of Michigan consistently every single day of every single week of every single month of the entire year.
Here we are 10 years after you would have asked me that question and we’re looking at Fleece and Thank You – the nation’s largest consistent provider of comfort to children’s hospitals.
In asking me this question today, something I’m doing today that won’t pay off for 7-10 years is building the country’s largest consistent service provider of blankets to kids in the hospital. A service that exists in every region across the country and in every state across the land. So that no matter what state you’re in, no matter what time of year, a child under the age of 18 will go into the hospital and receive a fleece blanket with a video message of support waiting on the bed for them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://fleeceandthankyou.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fleeceandthankyou/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10313317/admin/dashboard/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fleecethankyou/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@fleeceandthankyou
