Ian Rudick, owner of Come From the Heart is pleased to announce the creation of www.renewtees.comwebsite tied to an ecommerce website offering renewed t shirts and t shirt bags to benefit local and national non-profits.
Prior to moving to Asheville one and one half years ago, Ian Rudick and Come From the Heart created a partnership with the American Booksellers Association to market bottlecap magnets to independent bookstores nationwide and benefit their foundation for free speech. In addition to buying products to benefit ABFE (American Booksellers for Free Expression) on this website, individuals can purchase products to benefit Homeward Bound and The Hope Chest for Women.
Ian was pleased when he moved here to learn about the multitude of local non-profits doing amazing things to help transform people’s lives. He was initially drawn to Homeward Bound as he understood the importance of permanent affordable housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness ever since visiting a homeless woman and her son in Ohio in the early 1980’s.
The woman he visited was living in ”transitional housing” until she progressed to a point of stability to a permanent home… He visited her on Halloween night and immediately understood the failure of this model when she drove him in her car to take her son trick or treating. He was confused until she told him she was driving her son to her former neighborhood and how she had to make up an address in order for her son to be able to stay in his school. “I understood the model being used was lacking rather than some personal/moral failure on the part of the homeless person.” Rudick said.
Rudick met Sara Laws the Executive Director of the Hope Chest for Women at a local chamber networking event. Sara helped him learn more about her agency’s person-centered approach to providing direct support to women with breast and/or gynecological cancer by addressing the areas of greatest need as identified by the individual.
The tag line for renew tees, “May All be Renewed” works on many levels. As a serial and social entrepreneur, Rudick has had to reinvent himself numerous times as the world has changed and money making ideas have run their course. To renew is defined as “to make new, or as if new again”. Both agencies personify that hope for the individuals and families they serve.
In conclusion Rudick said “In 2016, I am hoping to add renew tee products and non-profits to benefit and serve. An individual can have us make their t shirt into a reusable bag and designate a portion of the sale to the charity of their choosing. I am wishing for this website to grow along with the capacity of the non-profits to enhance the lives of the people they serve so that all may be renewed.”