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A billboard popped up on I-69 West near I-75 on Oct. 7 that reads, "I'm Concerned About The Blueberries." (MLive.com Photo)

(Jake May | Mlive.com)

FLINT, MI – Flint businessman and philanthropist Phil Shaltz's concern for "blueberries" has reached a far greater audience than motorists who saw his big blue billboard near I-69 West and the I-75 northbound off-ramp.

Shaltz anonymously commissioned a billboard that reads "I'm Concerned About The Blueberries" on Oct. 7, and has had people buzzing about its mysterious meaning since he revealed it on Friday, Oct. 18.

The blueberries he references aren’t the little, blue fruit that grows in an abundance across the state, but instead, Shaltz said, blueberries “are the concerns and the hurdles and the struggles that all of us deal with in a day.”

He came up with the concept following a conversation with a tour guide while vacationing in Alaska.

The seemingly carefree 21-year-old tour guide expressed his concern with the lack of rain and the impact it would have on the blueberry crop in Alaska. Shaltz said that despite the man’s inability to impact the problem, his concern shouldn’t be minimalized by others who were less concerned about that problem.

Once the story of Shaltz’s explanation was published, it went viral. The story was Tweeted hundreds of times and shared on Facebook thousands of times.

It was also picked up by publications all across the U.S., starting with Michigan publications like The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press, and spreading from Connecticut to the Carolinas, from Chicago to Colorado, and throughout the Southwest into California.

“I knew there would be a little bit of a buzz because of the mystery aspect of it, but this is beyond expectations. I think this thing has got some legs and we have to figure out what we can do to take it to the next level,” Shaltz said.

“I talked to a few people this weekend after the reveal and they couldn’t stop talking about the good things that have happened to them and they all loved this conversation and loved the idea of talking about all the good that’s happening.

“It was interesting that one of the young ladies I spoke with this weekend about it said that it was all about providing hope, and that’s a validation for me that this can provide hope that there is good in the world.”

Phil Shaltz, owner of Shaltz Automation in Flint, is the man behind the mysterious "blueberries" billboard on I-69 in Flint.

Shaltz said that the next phase of the blueberries concept will be the development of a website and trying to come up with a way to quantify the movement.

“I do have some ideas on how to take it to the next level, but they’re not totally formulated and worked out right now. I just need to make sure they’re rolled out appropriately, but I hope in the next week or two that I can formulate something,” he said.

“Maybe there is some craziness to the whole ‘blueberry’ concept and the analogy between that and doing good. I’ve had a lot of people call and email me over the weekend asking how they can help to take this thing to the next level.”

Lynda Hunter is one person who supports Shaltz's movement.



She said that she likes the idea and she's also concerned for other people's problems.



"(He's a) smart and genuine man," Hunter said. "The idea of something so small having a deeper meaning and then creating a ripple effect is awesome, and I, for one, am concerned about the blueberries."

While he’s been pleased with the overall response of the blueberry movement, Shaltz said that there has been some negative feedback.

Despite that, he’s pressing forward and continuing with his initial mission of getting people to become more aware of other’s problems.

“When it started out in the beginning there were two or three somewhat negative comments, but I think they’ve been overshadowed 20-to-1 with people grasping it and not defending me, but the concept of blueberries,” he said.

“I’m way past those few negative comments and relishing in the glow that people are starting to understand the idea behind this. Even though it’s similar to the idea of pay it forward, they like the idea that we’re not using that term because even that has almost become a little desensitized and seen as just a term instead of a call to action. They like the idea that it’s blueberries, something different, but yet it can excite response.”

Shaltz plans to continue to aggressively push forward with his plan to get the idea of “blueberries” to become a household phrase and to have the word so closely associated with the idea of being concerned about others.

“The responses have been so overwhelming responsive that we owe it to the concept to see where it can go from here,” he said.