Cherry Willow Apparel

      I have been volunteering at my local homeless shelter, Hesed House, for about a year. Over that time I have gotten to know a lot of the staff and many of the guests. I was inspired by Mark Horvath, the creator of Invisible People, to document the stories of any of the guests at the shelter who would be willing to share with me. I recently conducted my first interview with a gentleman named Jeremy. I recorded the interview and it will be released in podcast format soon!     I picked Jeremy up from the shelter around 9 and we went to Society 57, a local event venue & coffee shop. We ordered drinks, I got my typical order of a hot chai latte (I always go hot even in the summer). I struggled to get the microphones and camera set up and eventually just decided to scrap the camera and record the audio. We had a really good conversation and talked for about an hour and a half. During the course of our conversation we saw many other guests at the shelter pass by on the street or stop

     When I originally founded Cherry Willow Apparel I didn't know exactly how I was going to contribute towards my mission of ending homelessness. My experience in the business world enabled me to be confident in my ability to create value through apparel as it is something I have already done successfully. Beyond that I knew my mission was important enough that I had to give it my all! Before I get into my career and what led me to the point of starting my own business, I want to give you a glimpse inside my brain and how I operate.      I got my first job when I was 16. It was an awesome job! I worked in concessions at a Drive-In movie theatre. Granted I was only making $7.30 an hour as that was minimum wage (and still is 16 years later, craziness). I have always been a big fan of movies and one of the perks of the job was on my days off I could bring a carload of my friends and we would all get in for free! I worked there for 2 summers and saw every movie that came out. The sec

       Currently there are over 12,000 Community Housing and Homeless Shelters operating in the United States according to Ibis World. Yet currently the homeless population that these organizations exist to serve is at an all time high of 653,104 people according to HUD's annual point in time report. To me this screams there is not enough collaboration and organization from these organizations, the governing bodies and the people in the communities where the shelters and homeless people reside. Housing obviously plays a very important factor and states and cities that have more expensive housing tend to have higher homeless populations. This isn't universal though as there are examples of cities that have done a good job getting people off the street that have more expensive housing. In reading about how these cities have approached tackling the issue I noticed a common theme, collaboration.      In Topeka, Kansas housing coordinators and other local officials are bringing the

     When one door closes a new one opens. When I came to the realization that the cross country trip was a bit too impractical to pull off I started to think of another trip. Before I layout the new trip I want to elaborate on the importance of going on a bike trip to raise awareness for homeless people. When a person is homeless the main mode of transportation they rely on is public transit. However many cities and municipalities don't have adequate public transportation options that are reliable. Once homeless people are on the street this lack of transportation makes it even more difficult for them to find work due to the limited amount of places they can reasonably get to consistently. That leaves many homeless people to rely on bikes for their main form of transportation. Bikes are very helpful and if we designed more communities to be bike and walking friendly it would give more opportunities to people who can't afford cars to get around.      This brings me to my bike t

     I have a tendency to give myself stretch goals to strive for, especially when I am very passionate about something. The cross country bike trip is a perfect example of that. I know I am capable of it and have been training very diligently for it. I have gone on 13 rides covering a total 283 miles with an average pace of 14.6 mph over the last 2 months. I still haven't gotten bike clips for my pedals and shoes which should increase my output by about 30%. I have very much enjoyed the peace and serenity I feel while biking. On my rides I switch up between listening and absorbing nature, to listening to music or an audiobook or podcast. The cross country trip is something I will do one day but after speaking with my family it is not feasible logistically next summer. It will be the first full summer after the divorce is finalized and establishing a routine for the kids has to take priority. Perhaps a few years down the line when more of a routine has been established and the kids