Local receives “Leadership in Sustainability Award”
The Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy, based in Sonoma, has named Mark Inman as a recipient of its inaugural Leadership in Sustainability Award. Inman is President of Taylor Maid Farms, a coffee roasting and tea company operating in Sonoma County since 1993. The Institute is presenting the award to Inman during a dinner on Nov. 7, 2009 at the Mary Agatha Furst Center in Windsor.
In Jan. 2010, Taylor Maid will open its first Maid at Home store on Napa Street, in Sonoma. The innovative retail concept will be more like a wine tasting room than a coffeehouse and, according to Inman, is a 100 percent green business. “We are committed to the concept of recycle, reduce, and reuse,” he said. “Nearly the entire build out of the interior and upgrades to the exterior will be completed with reclaimed materials.”
Perhaps the most innovative aspects of the Maid at Home store is how the business model was developed and the start-up phase funded. Taylor Maid partnered with business students from Sonoma State who created the business plan and then pitched it to the local community to find investors, raising their start-up funding in three hours. Says Inman, “This first Maid at Home store quite literally belongs to the community where it is located. We are extremely proud of this vote of confidence from the people of Sonoma.”
Sonoma Valley Chorale receives grant
The Sonoma Valley Chorale, a 100-member Community Chorus now in its 37th year, is pleased to announce it is the recipient of a $2,000 mini-grant for the arts from the Sonoma Community Foundation. The foundation is a major philanthropic organization in Sonoma County, dedicated to strengthening the community through grants and legacy giving.
In response to the current economic crisis, the Sonoma Community Foundation’s Board of Directors temporarily changed the focus of the competitive grant making in 2009. This year, all competitive grants to the arts are to be used for general operating support rather than focusing on specific programs, as has been the concentration in the past. Grant monies received by the chorale are being used for rental fees at the Sonoma Veterans Hall to aid in the production of Sonoma Valley Chorale’s Christmas Concert.