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Supporting military families
Carmel and Terrell Swan created CatStudio out of their love
of travel, art and hand embroidery. Today, thousands of artisans create the more than 208 colorful textile and gift designs.
“The core of our company is creating joy and love and putting kindness out into the world,” says Ginny Ball, director of Sales and Marketing.
“When we noticed repeat pillow orders from one customer, we reached out and we learned about the Fisher House Foundation (fisherhouse.org), an organization that provides free housing and services to military veteran families while they are in a medical center or VA hospital,” says Ball. The company launched a military collection and began donating products, contributions and support to the cause. “We put them on our website to raise awareness. We find that retailers and customers want to give back to something that brings joy to people, and it makes our heart sing,” says Ball.
Providing hope and help
Four creative friends launched Glory Haus with a few handmade,
inspirational canvases, ornaments and picture frames in 2008. “We started with a 25’ wall, and now fill a 1,500 square-foot
showroom at AmericasMart,” says Molly Holm, owner and chief creative officer. Their 2,000 plus products sell at 6,000
retail outlets.
“The heart behind the company is to bring hope and truth to people’s homes, but as we’ve encountered missions that fit our purpose, we are proud to b”e positively changing people’s lives,
MOLLY HOLM
Glory Haus established the Daughters of Hope factory in India that employs impoverished women. It partners with MUST Ministries to create Repurposed with a Purpose, an artisan workroom that provides training and employment to workers
in need. The Glory Haus Bus hosts fundraising sales for multiple charities, giving 20 percent of sales back to those organizations. At age nine, Luke Holm founded the non-profit “Pickles with
a Purpose,” which has raised more than $60,000 for homeless people. The company grants each employee 40 hours
a year for volunteering.
“It’s not just a job at Glory Haus. All our employees support our missions and believe in what we’re doing. That makes it a better place to work,” says Holm. “Our customers feel it, too. We find that people want to belong to something bigger than themselves. We’re grateful that that they buy our products so that we can all give back.”
For more information:
CatStudio – CatStudio.com, 707.778.1100 and fisherhouse.org; Nica Life – nicalifeproject.com, 404.849.5702;
Glory Haus – gloryhaus.com, 678.324.4283
Images courtesy of Nica Life, CatStudio amd Glory Haus
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