I first developed an interest in candlemaking when I was a toddler. My dad had a successful candle business in the 70s and we had many of his large unique creations decorating our home. He was also a talented leathersmith. Those nifty leather purses in the 60s and 70s... that was him. His creativity must have really rubbed off on me. My mom's as well. She was a successful oil painter, having numerous exhibitions at the Honolulu Museum of Art in the 70s and 80s. But it wasn't until I was a teenager when I fell in love with creating art myself.
It began with jewelry, my favorite piece was a bracelet made from an old dried out piece of bamboo that I broke into different sized pieces, painted them different colors, and tied together with fishing line. Painting was next. I was obsessed with Led Zeppelin as a teenager so I painted the iconic Swan Song label. Once I found an old shoddy wood bench and fixed it up, painted a large rainbow on it and glued beads on it calling it the "Love Bench." I also loved to make hemp necklaces, I was pretty good at it too. A 14 string was my largest.
I think I was around 13 when I made my first candle. It was so fun and pretty easy to do. Plus I had a way of recycling Pringles cans! Over the last 25 years I've used various waxes, additives, colors, scents, and wicks to make beautiful candles for my family and friends. In that time I've come to learn there's a science to candlemaking and the results when done properly Palm candles are absolutely stunning and the best quality candle on the market.
About 5 years ago, after much encouraging by my customers I decided to start this business. I had the idea that consumers would want to buy a candle if part of the proceeds go to charity. Initially I was only going to send the donations to an Environmental charity that plants trees for 10 cents per tree. But life sort of got in the way and this business was put on the back burner. Then last year a very sweet little boy I know developed brain cancer. Through all of his radiation and chemo treatments, he always had a smile on his face and was very optimistic about his future. He spent his time encouraging other children living with cancer to keep fighting and to keep smiling. I am happy to report that through the talent of his doctors and this little boy's own tenacious personality, he is beating cancer. His last chemo round was today (1/17/2013). Through his experience, I was on a mission to restart this business. But instead of donating to only one environmental charity, I wanted to have the consumer choose where they wanted that donation to go, including cancer research charities.
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* Donations will be calculated per sale and given to the appropriate charities in $20.00 increments or on a monthly basis if greater than $20.00. Please don't forget to select the charity of your choice when purchasing your candle.
1. Cancer Research and Support. 25% of the profits made from the sale of this candle will go to the American Cancer Society, http://www.cancer.org/ and the American Childhood Cancer Organization, http://www.acco.org/
2. Environment Research and Support. 25% of the profits made from the sale of this candle will go to World Resources Institute, http://www.wri.org/, Friends of the Earth, http://www.foe.org/ and The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, http://www.nfwf.org/.
3. Wounded Warrior Support. 25% of the profits made from the sale of this candle will go to Fisher House Foundation, http://www.fisherhouse.org/, Homes for Our Troops, http://www.homesforourtroops.org/ and Fallen Heros Fund, http://www.fallenheroesfund.org/.
4. Natural Disaster Support. 25% of all profits made from the sale of this candle will go to The American Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org/ and Direct Relief International, http://www.directrelief.org/
*** Charity Donations Update 4/29/2013: We are excited to announce our first TWO official donations to charities that our customers support! $20 was donated to the American Childhood Cancer Organization http://www.acco.org/ for Targeted Therapeutic Research, and $25 was donated to the Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/ for Natural Disaster Aid. Our other two charity categories (Environment and Warrior Support) have not yet collected a minimum of $20 to make a donation, but they're getting close.
We'd like to thank you for your continued support, together we can make a difference.
