The Handmade Beauty Connection
September 5, 2005 :: Shame on me. Shame on all of us.

Cape Cod Soap Company | Pat Thrasher | Massachusetts
* soap made in small batches with natural ingredients

Lunaroma | Leyla Bringas | Vermont
* products blended by hand, using the finest, highest quality essential oils and purest botanicals 

NYRAJU, Inc.  | Juliette Samuel | Georgia
* unique products to enhance those relaxing moments in your bedroom and bath

Alexander's Alchemy | Lucia Welbourne | North Carolina
* retailer and wholesaler of aromatherapy, toiletry, cosmetic, and perfumery products

Hella Good | Mei-Lynn Destouche & Tara Lee | California
* handmade, food-inspired bath products that are HELLA GOOD

Sand and Silk | Niambi Davis | Maryland
* try Soleful Strut, our line of foot care products - your feet will feel brand new!

For The Body, o.C. | Tish Baldez & Sylvia Ellis | Pennsylvania
* Brazilian Thong Cream :: No More Ash :: Knees, Ankles and Elbows and more!

Hydra | William Kyle | California
* soaps, bath, skin care, facial care, personal, hair care, bathing accessories and more

Greenridge Herbals | Colleen Miller | Florida
* 100% vegan handcrafted organic bath and body care products made from scratch with love and care

B.Soapure | Hendrika ter Elst | New York
* pure skincare

Garden of Eve | Eve Stahl | Virginia
* unique skin care system primarily using essential oils of plants for their therapeutic botanical ingredients

HBN Members On The Move!

Colleen Miller of HBN member Greenridge Herbals had a baby girl on June 29. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces and was 19 inches long. Colleen is pleased to announce the relocation of her business from Colorado to Florida. Mom, dad, baby and business are all doing well

Terri Swain of HBN member Herbs Make Scents is excited because her company has just become an approved vendor for the Green Hotels Association! If that wasn't enough, some of their Travel Stick products -- designed for beauty on the go --  are included in Madison & Mulholland's "Red Carpet Emergency Repair Kit!

Learn more about our members and their exciting activities by visiting their Web sites through HBN's Online Member Directory, now with 4 ways to search: (1) by state/country; (2) by member business name; (3) by keyword search; or (4) using our new alphabetical listings.

This Week's Question is deferred. Please use the time you might have spent answering this question to visit our Handmade Beauty Cares Hurricane Relief Page and find out how you can help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Last week, when I wrote at the top of the August 29 issue of this publication,"Please keep our HBN members and friends in the path of Hurricane Katrina in your thoughts and prayers this week," little did I know that those words would only scratch the surface of what would be needed for everyone in our nation and even the world to recover from the disaster that is Hurricane Katrina. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, and while I have never fancied myself a political commentator (at least not one worth listening to), as an African American, a mother and a small business owner from a predominantly black city (Washington, DC) in this country, I feel constrained to say that I am bitterly disappointed with the response of government leaders at all levels to this catastrophe.

As I watched early network news coverage of Katrina's devastation, I noticed that nearly every one of the people pictured on makeshift boats and wheelchairs, some literally gasping for air to remain above water as helicopters hovered overhead, were unmistakably and undeniably black. My husband's Aunt Judy and her husband live -- used to live -- in New Orleans. They built a dental practice together and retired earlier this year after decades of service to the New Orleans community. They have family here and were able to leave New Orleans before the hurricane hit. They are now safely staying with family in this area. Their hearts are broken as they see their neighbors and friends suffering. They are in the minority. Some reports indicate that as much as 75% or more of New Orleans is composed of our nation's poorest and most vulnerable people -- black people -- who have neither the mindset nor the means to escape disaster -- even when it is staring them straight in the face. These are people of African descent whose ancestors helped build this great nation, including the levees that gave way to Katrina after having insulated the bowl that is New Orleans for decades from storm after storm.

For local, state and federal officials to have expected the vast majority of these people to simply up and leave their homes is a clear indication of how low they must have been on the political radar screen as this category 4/5 hurricane barreled tenaciously, undeniably and irreversibly toward the exposed gulf coast. I know there are exceptions. I'm sure there are many government leaders who had the forethought to urge authorities to brace for and prepare for this disaster, giving it utmost priority. Their voices were apparently not heard. I thank and appreciate them just the same.

Shame on me for Monday Morning Quarterbacking. Shame on me. I should have written a letter to the Homeland Security Department a full week before Katrina arrived asking them to make sure that the National Guard pulled people from their homes whether they liked it or not -- before the storm hit. I should have asked my friends in the National Guard to do what they could to take up residence in the New Orleans Superdome before the storm hit so they could be of immediate service to people as they struggled to survive. I should have sent some diapers to HBN members before the storm so they could have been distributed to people who needed them right away. I should have requested that handmade beauty product donations be collected and mailed to churches in the outskirts of Louisiana and the surrounding states before this happened. Shame on me. Shame on all of us.

But I am not looking back. I am looking forward. As JFK said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." I plan to use all of the resources through print media and technology that are at my disposal to tell the stories of people affected by this unprecedented devastation and to provide opportunities for all of us to help. Please join me. As manufacturers of handmade beauty products, we are in a unique position to serve. The beauty products we make -- salves, soaps, foot balms, powders, lotions ... -- and the accessories we sell -- wash cloths, candles ... -- are all created on a personal scale with great love, care and attention to detail. They are just the kind of products that our gulf coast brothers and sisters need to experience some degree of comfort and hope.

For the past several days, I have been in communication with HBN members in Mississippi and Louisiana. Here are some of their stories.

• Dr. Joseph Freeman, owner of Theodore Products, is a medial doctor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His family is fine and he is at this moment working around the clock to establish a makeshift clinic to help the victims. He says, "I live in Baton Rouge and I am only an hour away from the worst devastation I have ever seen. As a medical doctor, I am doing all I can to help. Please pray for us." Unfortunately, every single communication I have received from him expresses great rage and frustration at the unequal treatment and resources provided to the "Haves" affected by the storm, and the "Have Nots" affected by the storm. As Dr. Freeman solidifies his clinic operation, he will let me know where to send financial donations and supplies.
  
• Angie Schumaker of Magnolia's Natural Beauty is in Denham Springs about 50 miles from New Orleans. She says, "Our community was hit by the storm but by the grace of God my home and my family have survived. The problem we have now is that food is scarce in the grocery stores along with a gas shortage." Last Thursday was their first day since Katrina with running water and electricity. Angie continues, "Please continue to pray for our state. There are thousands of people here that are still enduring a nightmare." Angie is a registered nurse and is helping out at a local church. If you can donate diapers and baby wipes, their most pressing need at the moment, please do. To find out how, visit HBN's Handmade Beauty Cares Hurricane Relief Page.
  
• Rae Kat Switzer of RAESIN IMAGES is in DeRidder, Louisiana, where there is little physical damage but plenty of after shocks. Rae, whose husband Russ is serving in Iraq, loaned her church their all-terrain vehicle to help transport helpless families to shelter. Rae has also offered their pastures and unused kennel space for animals in need of housing. Along with her entire community, she has welcoming hundreds of New Orleans children into their public school system and is planning to hire stranded people in her farm and at RAESIN IMAGES to help them retain dignity, self-respect and self-sufficiency. "These are very poor people, and they accept that as a way of life," says Rae. "They have lost all they have and are scared and defensive. Telephone service is spotty. The scariest part is that hurricane season is only just begun." Rae is donating a significant portion of sales through September 10 to Red Cross relief efforts. Visit her website for details.
  
• Quick phone calls last week to Juliana Lipe of Essencia (Shreveport, LA) and Kiwana Thomas at Aqua Essentials (Mississippi) were returned and everyone is well at both locations.
  
• I have not received return email or phone calls from Marsha McCarthy at Marsh's Cajun Bubbles (Lake Charles, LA). Please pray that she and her family are OK, and Marsha if you're out there, let me know how you are.
  
• If you are an HBN member in Texas and are participating in the heroic efforts of Texans to help out, please email or call and let me know how I can spread the word with you.
  
• If you are in Florida and are affected, please let me know how we can help you.
  
• In addition to assisting me in efforts to make sure that this publication is of whatever help possible, Kim Baron of FallenMuse WebWorks is discounting her already discounted services for members who need button ads created to help brand and market their services. Between now and September 18, Kim will donate 100% of her fee for button ads -- that's $150 for non-members and $75 for members - to the Second Harvest Katrina Relief Fund.
  
• 10% of the profits from this month's Handmade Beauty Banquet will be donated to the Salvation Army to help families in the gulf coast.

Thank you to the countries of those readers of this newsletter which have offered monetary aid and expertise to help our citizens. I hope and pray that our government accepts all aid in the spirit in which it is offered. Please know how much we appreciate your immediate offers of assistance, even as US officials scratched their heads and looked. 

Please visit HBN's Handmade Beauty Cares Hurricane Relief Page for other opportunities to be of service.

Please remember all of Katrina's victims in your prayers. And please pray that this has been a wake-up call to the government leaders, all US citizens and our brothers and sisters around the world that complacency and selfishness is a fatal cancer, and the we must never ever again fail those who are the weakest and most defenseless among us. Never.

As always, you may feel free to send your views about this or any other editorial comments to me.