As part of a series, Rapid Growth is speaking with nominees of several "best of" categories of the 20th Annual Neighborhood Business Awards, a partnership between Neighborhood Ventures and the Neighborhood Business Alliance that honors businesses across the city that have added to the quality of life in their locales.
2009 Green Award: Clothing Matters, 141 Diamond SEAccording to
Clothing Matters' founder and owner Marta Swain, this Grand Rapids eco-friendly apparel depot is unlike anything offered across the nation. Customers travel annually from San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C. because they can't find sustainable clothing that is responsibly made and offered in the wide variety carried by Clothing Matters.
"They save up their apparel dollars to shop here because they don't have these options," Swain says. "What we've been offering Grand Rapids is way beyond what these cosmopolitan towns have been offering."
The store began in 1998 as Hemp Goods in Eastown, changed to Clothing Matters in 2005 and moved to 141 Diamond two years ago.
Swain carries 33 lines of men's and women's clothing and accessories that are people- and planet-friendly. Swain says the items are responsibly manufactured, high quality goods made from blends of bamboo, soy, organic cotton, hemp and even recycled plastic bottles. Much of the clothing performs throughout the seasons because it is temperature versatile, can be dressed up or down, and holds its shape in a suitcase.
Before starting the store, Swain, 51, spent 20 years teaching businesses how to be more sustainable. That was before "sustainable" was an overused word. But then, and now, she says people didn't think about clothing as part of the sustainable equation.
"In 1994 I learned that cotton was the most heavily treated crop in the world with carcinogenic pesticides and one of the most water intensive crops," she says. "I thought, 'somebody ought to do something' and didn't think it would be me. I researched to see what people were doing as alternatives and discovered the hemp fiber's ten thousand years as food, fuel and fiber around the world. That was a most amazing discovery for me."
Other nominees are:
Best Nonprofit Project: Oasis of Hope, 522 Leonard NWFor the past two years, an all-volunteer medical clinic on Grand Rapids' West Side has provided health care to uninsured and low-income residents at no cost for services or medication.
Oasis of Hope draws on a pool of about 100 volunteers to operate the clinic, providing urgent care, wellness exams, immunizations, and helps patients manage chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Volunteers include physicians, physicians' assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, medical assistants and administrative workers.
"My wife was teaching physician's assistants at
Western Michigan University's College of Health and Human Services and she had a strong desire to leave academia and get back into clinical medicine in some way where she could serve the underserved," says Dan Grinwis, board of directors' vice president. His wife, Barbara Grinwis, is the executive director and a physician's assistant.
"We joined a small church in the neighborhood and we saw the need in the area and decided to establish Oasis of Hope here," Dan Grinwis says. "We located it here because of the great need here, the people we see have little access to quality healthcare, and the area is designated by the federal government as medically underserved"
Since opening in spring of 2007, Grinwis says Oasis of Hope has offered free medical services on more than 4,000 occasions.
Oasis of Hope is a faith-based organization, but has no affiliations with any church, hospital or government agency.
The clinic has four exam rooms, a laboratory and an education area where patients can attend classes on nutrition, smoking cessation and health care.
Other nominees are:Rapid Growth is proud to sponsor the People's Choice award in each category of the Neighborhood Business Awards.
Click here to cast your online vote for your favorites.
The awards ceremony on November 5 is from 5 to 8 p.m. at Wealthy Theatre. The public is invited.
Source: Marta Swain, Clothing Matters; Dan Grinwis, Oasis of Hope
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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