Just about anyone who signs on with Norwex as a consultant or client knows about the company’s mission to make the world a better place by radically reducing the number of chemicals in homes and in the environment.
What people often don’t realize is that Norwex, through its network of committed consultants, is also supporting efforts to make a difference in local communities. In 2016 alone, more than $250,000 was awarded to charitable organizations during Norwex events around the globe.
Here, Cristal Granley, a senior executive sales leader and a beloved member of the Go Green Team, shares her experience with the Norwex Charitable Award and the initiative’s role in helping critically ill children in her home town near Sacramento, Calif.
“Honestly, when I first learned about Norwex, I simply saw it as an opportunity to make some extra money,” Cristal said. A stay-at-home mom, she was looking for ways to earn an income without disrupting her family life. “I needed to support my family, but I was committed to being there for my kids when they came home from school.”
When she was invited to a Norwex party, Cristal was wowed by how well the products worked and quickly signed on to become a consultant. It didn’t take long for this energetic business woman to become a top Norwex seller.
Fast forward a year to Cristal’s first Norwex National Conference: “All the things we do during conference are incredible.” The Charitable Awards ceremony, however, was extra special. “I was in tears the entire time. I thought to myself how amazing it is that Norwex supports these wonderful organizations that are having a true impact on communities at the local level.”
Cristal said that she had long been wanting to be more active with local charitable organizations, but felt that she didn’t have the financial means for philanthropy.
“Norwex gave me a way to do something I had always wanted to do,” she said. “That was huge. It became bigger than a cloth and streak-free mirrors for me.”
Cristal did her research before choosing a community-based organization that she wanted to become involved with — one she could be passionate about and would benefit greatly from a charitable donation by Norwex. Finally, at a local networking event, she met the director of the Sweet Dreams Foundation, which provides children who have life-threatening illnesses and are medically unable to leave their homes with a safe haven by creating dream bedrooms. Sacramento-based designers, contractors and others volunteer their time and resources for each project.
“It was a perfect fit because even though I couldn’t immediately help financially, I could give something that Sweet Dreams needed — rooms that were safely cleaned without toxins,” Cristal says.
She started volunteering with the organization and gifting Norwex products to Sweet Dreams families. Then she recruited other local Norwex consultants to become part of the Dream Sweep and Clean Team, which regularly helps families by cleaning their homes using donated Norwex products.
“These families are focused on one thing,” she says, “and that is to get their baby healthy. They don’t have time to worry about a clean house. This is something that we can do for them to make things easier.”
Not only has Cristal’s work with Sweet Dreams helped support the mission of the organization, it has also been great for business as Cristal’s clients feel good about supporting a business that gives back to the community.
In 2016, Cristal nominated Sweet Dreams for a Norwex Charitable Award. Having gone through the process the previous year without success, she had little expectation. She was thrilled and moved to find out during last summer’s National Conference that Norwex had decided to donate $10,000 to Sweet Dreams, one of the largest gifts made to a single organization in 2016!
“I can’t even put into words what that felt like,” she says. “I knew that Sweet Dreams could do so much with $10,000.”
The Norwex gift has allowed Sweet Dreams to purchase a long-sought-after truck so the organization now can transport furniture and equipment easily from one project to another. This has allowed the group to serve even more families in the area.
For Cristal, the Charitable Award experience has been life-altering. Although building a successful business has been important to the well being of her family, she says supporting Sweet Dreams with the help of Norwex “is probably one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.”
We encourage you to consider nominating smaller, local charities that share Norwex’s passion for improving quality of life for the 2017 Charitable Awards. Just fill out and submit the 2017 Charitable Initiative Nomination Form by June 2. The chosen recipients will be announced at our National Conference, which runs August 4 – 6, 2017, in Minneapolis.
