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Visit www.journal-news.com to see an exclusive video interview with the co-founders of Made to Love about their new storefront.
Another retail shop is moving to a downtown Hamilton storefront this summer.
Three Trenton residents and local volunteers are ripping off wallpaper, tearing up flooring and knocking out walls in the 102 suite of 6 S. 2nd St. in Hamilton to open up their nonprofit storefront, called Made to Love, as soon as July 1.
Made to Love, which was co-founded about five years ago by husband-and-wife duo Tony and Christin Harris along with their friend Shari Miller, works with Haitian artists to sell their jewelry, metalwork and purses here in Ohio. The nonprofit sends half of the money they make from each sale to artists living in Haiti while another portion of the funds is used to provide school scholarships to Haitian children.
Tony Harris, who is also a firefighter for the city of Hamilton, said a mission trip he took in 2010 to Haiti first got him thinking about doing more to help the people of the country, who had just been devastated by a catastrophic earthquake in January of that year.
“It all started from seeing that basic need there,” Harris said. “There’s not a lot of jobs, and there’s not a lot of opportunity for jobs there. It’s tough for kids to go to school.”
Tony Harris, his wife, and Miller started selling handmade, crotchet items and shirts at craft shows to raise money for Haitian schoolchildren. But they didn’t think their booth at craft shows stood out enough.
He recalled working with a doctor in Haiti who sold local artists’ work to missionaries in Haiti and used the money to support local children. The trio thought it was an approach they could try back in the States.
“People really wanted more stuff from Haitian people, it was something they haven’t ever seen before,” Miller said. “We thought, ‘we really like that stuff, maybe everybody else will.’ ”
Since then, the group has sold hundreds of pieces at craft shows, in local churches, online and through Facebook. And, they've helped roughly 160 Haitian children get scholarships for school. Last year, they had their most successful year yet, raising more than $31,000 and sending $21,000 of that back to Haiti; the rest was used to pay for overhead costs like materials and craft show fees, according to the organization's website.
“We’ve really seen steady growth,” Tony Harris said.
That’s when they began thinking about opening a storefront. They asked around to friends about potential spaces in Hamilton.
“It just kind of started snowballing, and it just happened,” Miller said. “We were blessed to get a price that we could afford (on a property).”
The store will sell the Haitian products as well as donated crotchet items.
The Harrises and Miller have traveled a combined five times to Haiti since 2010 and purchased some of the products during those trips. They typically buy work from about eight Haitian metalworkers and four Haitian jewelry makers. Made to Love also sells creations from other organizations that support the country’s artists, including the Apparent Project and Haiti’s Jewels.
The group is still working on the building but hope to have it open by July 1, for the city's next downtown Alive After Five, a monthly event where Hamilton's downtown shops stay open until 9 p.m.
The nonprofit will rely solely on volunteers — including the Harrises and Miller — to staff the storefront. They’re still working out hours for the shop, but anticipate the store will be open Mondays through Fridays.
The opening of Made to Love marks another win for Hamilton’s downtown, where several once-vacant buildings on High Street have been filled in recent years.
Overall, by the end of this year, city leaders anticipate building occupancy in downtown Hamilton will have increased by roughly 15 percent since 2011, said Brandon Saurber, the chief of staff for the city.
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