Ian Rudick, owner of Come From the Heart is pleased to
announce the creation of www.renewtees.com
website 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.”
