Natural Home Cleaning Noticias
An Update on our business and worker-owners
October 2004
Worker-owners
of NHC celebrate after new members complete their training program. General
Manager Graciela Berkovich and Trainer Ivette Meléndez are holding the
babies of coop members Marisol Velazquez and Ana Garnica
Please scroll for these articles:
Natural Home Cleaning turns One - see how we've grown!
Training - the key to our Earth-friendly, Worker-Owned Business
Eco-Friendly Cleaning Tip: water and vinegar are a healthy alternative to ammonia
Natural Home Cleaning Turns One -
See how we've grown!
Like children, new-born
businesses lay the foundation of success in their first year. Since our first paid job in September
2003, Natural Home Cleaning has provided healthy and environmentally-friendly
cleaning services to more than 200 clients. Sales revenue for our first twelve
months topped $87,000, providing eleven low-income families with much needed
income and East Bay residents with a valuable service. Our business
continues to grow month by month, and we expect to double sales in our second
year. To keep up with the growth and to give more women the opportunity to
participate, we will begin recruiting new members soon.
The benefits of membership
include good jobs, healthy working conditions, a voice in coop policy
decisions, and a strong community of mutual support among co-op members and
their families.
As a worker cooperative, Natural Home
Cleaning owes its success to the profound commitment and hard work of our
worker-owners, not only in cleaning houses, but also as volunteer board members,
policy developers, product testers and marketers of the business. In
addition to the cleaning crew, our day-to-day operations and growth would not
be possible without the dedicated office staff, WAGES, and our clients,
especially those who stuck with us from the early days. THANK YOU for your support!
Claudia Zamora and her
eco-friendly cleaning products ready for another day of professional cleaning
Ana
Maria’s Story
Ana Maria Alvarez became
a member of Natural Home Cleaning in August. With some tremendous personal
losses behind her, she has found a new home at NHC, and she feels happy with
the direction her life is headed. Ana Maria shares her personal story, in her
own words, translated below.
I was born on March 20, 1973 and attended a public
grade school and a private high school in Choluteca, Honduras. My professional goal was to become a
bilingual secretary, but the circumstances of my life made that dream
impossible. I married the man who fathered my three children, but he
didn’t treat me well, and I ended up raising the kids by myself. I worked
so hard to support my children, making nacatamales, chorizo and other things that I
could sell to earn a living. I was also a member of a women’s small
business project at one point, but there was fraud, and I ended up having to
pay off a debt, together with twenty-five other woman.
Later, when my oldest daughter got sick, I endured
the most difficult moments of my life, with only my parents to support me. My
daughter had a cancerous tumor, and we fought for her life for six months, but
God didn’t want her to be with us any longer. She died two days after her
10th birthday. After that, I couldn’t bear to live in the
place where I had shared so many things with my daughter. I asked my aunt to
help me come to the United States so I could earn money to pay off my debt. I
left Honduras a month after my daughter died.
It
wasn’t easy immigrating here, but I met my current husband and he helped
me settle in Northern California in late 2001. I worked cleaning houses and
doing other kinds of domestic work for a Mexican family. Just six months after
I got here, my father passed away in Honduras. I thank God that, in this loss,
I had a loving and supportive husband by my side. Now, my struggle and my dream
in this country is to be able to support my children, my mother, and other
people in my family.
Today
I feel happy. WAGES and Natural Home Cleaning are giving me the opportunity to
work and to own my own business. I hope to move ahead and to work with others
toward our common and individual goals. For me, the
group experience is great because you learn to share with others and you learn
things you didn’t know - often, when I don’t know something,
my partner does.
And I’m happy with the cleaning products. With a little
elbow grease, things get really clean, and I don’t harm my health. When I
used to use bleach, it would remove a stain in a second, but it gave me
allergic reactions. Now I’m protecting my health, which is the most
important thing. And I’m so happy to have work.
More
than anything, that’s what this cooperative means to me - a great
job.
“My husband and I were both thrilled with
the VERY PROFESSIONAL way that both women conducted themselves and the cleaning
work was simply fabulous. The house smelled good, looked good, and felt
good. Thank you very much. I
would love to know what they used to clean my stove.
It sparkled.”
Helen Gillotte-Tropp, NHC client
Training - The Key to Building an Earth-Friendly, Worker-Owned Business
WAGES has provided training and support not only
for Natural Home Cleaning but also for two sister cooperatives -
Emma’s Eco-Clean and Eco-Care Professional Housecleaning - that are
currently operating successful businesses on the Peninsula and in the South
Bay. Training has been the key to success at all three cooperatives.
WAGES training program develops co-op
members’ skills as professional cleaners, stewards of the environment,
and co-owners of the business. Learning to use the natural cleaning products
and specially selected sponges and tools is only the beginning. Worker-owners
also learn about financial statements, constructive communication, cooperative
governance and principles, working together in a group, and many other topics.
All of these elements are
part of our formula for a successful cooperative cleaning company. According to
WAGES’ trainer, Ivette Meléndez, the heart and mind are just as
important as the body when it comes to cleaning well. Ivette works with the
co-op members to develop:
Awareness (conscientización). Each of us should know
how chemicals affect our bodies and the land, water and air around us. We can
all take responsibility for protecting our environment, our own health, and our
communities.
Energy (entrega). To provide the highest
quality cleaning service, we bring a lot of energy to the work and prioritize
the fine details that make a big difference for our customers. The Spanish word
“entrega” means putting one’s whole self into something. At NHC, this applies both to the
cleaning work and to developing the cooperative.
Ownership (sentido de ser dueña). Being a worker-owner of a cooperative is different from
working as an employee. Worker-owners have significant rights and
responsibilities, including contributing to and understanding business
finances. NHC members invest both money and “sweat equity” in
building their cooperative and, as a result, they are motivated to do
high-quality work and take great pride in their business.
Communication (comunicación). As a service business and a cooperative, NHC relies on clear
and constructive communication - both with our clients and among our
worker-owners. Co-op members are trained in positive communication techniques
and learn how to give and receive feedback on their work.
Visit our website at: www.naturalhomecleaning.com
Ana Garnica, one of the
worker-owners of Natural Home Cleaning Professionals
Eco-friendly Cleaning Tip
Water and Vinegar: a healthy alternative to ammonia
Next time you clean your windows and reach
for your glass-cleaner, consider diluting vinegar with water in a spray bottle.
This vinegar in water mix will not only clean your windows as effectively, but
will save you from using the ammonia found in most glass-cleaners, which can
cause headaches and lung irritations. Old cotton t-shirts are an
environmentally friendly substitute for paper towels and reduce streaking on
windows and glass.
NHC members:
Ana Maria Alvarez, Jacqueline Del Toro,
Ana Lilia Garnica, Socorro Guerrero,
Ana Berta Marquez, Ana Martinez, Elida Pedraza,
Diana Marisol Velásquez, Claudia Zamora
NHC Board of Directors:
Hilary Abell, Nancy
Conover, Maria Jimenez,
Ana Berta Marquez, Elida
Pedraza, Mary Purcell
NHC Management Staff:
Graciela Berkovich
Mary Ann Buckley
Natural Home Cleaning is a cooperative business
offering eco-friendly housecleaning services in the East Bay - from
Oakland north to El Cerrito. For a free estimate, call 510-532-6645.
WAGES (Women’s Action
to Gain Economic Security) is a non-profit organization that empowers low-income women
to increase their economic security and develop life-long skills through
participaton in eco-friendly cleaning cooperatives.
Natural Home
Cleaning Noticias
is an occasional newsletter published by NHC and WAGES.
Thanks to all who contributed to
this issue of Natural Home Cleaning Noticias.
Photos:
Jason
Steinberg; www.sportsshooter.com/steinie
Layout:
Claudia Rudek
Coordination
and writing:
WAGES staff -
Hilary Abell,
Graciela Berkovich, Mary Ann Buckley,
Deb Goldberg,
Ivette Meléndez, Melanie Undem
Personal
Story:
Ana Maria
Alvarez
Special thanks
to the following
individuals for their
unique contributions to
NHC’s first year:
Thelma Argueta, Mary Ann
Buckley, Miriam-Jeannette
Castañeda,
Miriam Castrejón,
Margi Clarke, Lizbeth Lama-Riva,
Kristi Laughlin, Jonathan
Melgar, John Muller.