CANCER AWARENESS: October is national Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Carpet One Floor & Home has introduced its latest collection of Pink Ribbon Welcome Mats to help raise money to support breast cancer research. Since 2004, Carpet One Welcomes Your Support campaign has been raising funds through the sales of these mats to support organizations and researchers searching for a cure, with 25% of the sales donated between the The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), and the Canadian Cancer Society. The mats are sold year round at Carpet One stores for approximately $24.99 in the U.S. and $34.99 in Canada. To date, sales of the mats have raised more than $825,000 for the organizations. Myra Biblowit, BCRF’s president, noted “When consumers purchase these mats, it provides critical funding for innovative clinical and translational research at leading medical centers worldwide. They also serve as a great every-day reminder to keep fighting as we search for a cure.”
MORE MATS: This year’s collection of Pink Ribbon Welcome Mats features 12 new designs, three of which were named by Carpet One’s Facebook fans. They are: Hope Springs, a green and white lily of the valley mat named by Sheila Leach; Change of Seasons, named by Jackie Michaud, features an elegant branch with leaves, and Joyful Beginning, a mat with brightly colored flowers named by Tina Casey. What’s really interesting is how in each case, the names were picked because they represent new life for all those who have survived a battle with breast cancer. All the welcome mat names and the winners’ comments can be found on Carpet One’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/CarpetOne.
RUG RAFFLE: One step up from mats is rugs, and GoodWeave USA, the organization helping to eradicate child labor, is holding its 10th Annual Rug Raffle. Tickets are $25 each, five for $100 or 12 for $200 and all proceeds benefit the nonprofit organization’s work to end the exploitation of children in South Asia’s rug industry. This year’s rug is a black-and-white English floral designed and donated by Carini Lang. The 6 x 9 wool rug was woven in Nepal and has a retail value of $6,534 and is on display at Carini Lang’s Tribeca showroom on 335 Greenwich Street in New York. The drawing will take place on Oct. 24, and tickets can be purchased at goodweave.org/raffle.
RUG STATS: Though GoodWeave is working in numerous countries to eliminate child labor, the organization provided the following information about India, the largest rug importer to the U.S.: Since 1994, 7.3 million rugs certified as child labor free have been exported from India; during this time, GoodWeave India has rescued, rehabilitated and educated 1,600 former child weavers; in 2011, 1,100 adult Indian weavers will have received services from GoodWeave and 640 children and young adults will be reached through its non-formal education program, and GoodWeave regularly inspects the looms of 58 licensed manufacturers on a random, surprise basis.
BELL TONE: As this issue of FCNews hits the streets, Vance Bell, CEO of Shaw Industries was preparing for his speech as part of the first Next Generation Manufacturing event in Atlanta. Hosted by the Enterprise Innovation Institute at Georgia Tech, Bell will be sharing the stage with executives from Lockheed Martin, KIA Motors and TOTO. All of these global leaders have ties to Georgia. Speakers are expected to share each of their company’s unique growth stories as part of the program, which will showcase technologies that are driving the next generation of manufacturing. It will focus on educating state manufacturers of the resources available to them as well as the benefits to taking advantage of these resources.