Handmade Organic Soaps and Personal Care Products

Chris is a soap maker, working each day at By Nature Soap producing handmade soaps and other personal care products. Chris is an exceptional young man. Like most young people these days Chris is constantly looking for new challenges, enjoys working on his computer, and likes to have fun. What makes Chris unique is that because he has physical and mental challenges he requires a bit of assistance in his daily life. Chris is one of some 300 men and women who have developmental disabilities and live at O?Berry Center in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

O'Berry Center, a part of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, is a cluster of group homes serving the needs of people with a wide range of physical and mental challenges. In addition to providing all the services you would expect, O'Berry also offers to those who live there an opportunity to have a meaningful job. Work is a vital and important part of every person's life, explained Charles Spiron, Manager of the Artisan Programs. We know that personal satisfaction and sense of accomplishment derived from completing a task are important to all of us. That is our challenge, to provide meaningful work opportunities to all the individuals who choose to work, added Spiron.

By Nature Soap is one of the main enterprises providing jobs for those at O'Berry Center. The soapworks produces very high quality handmade organic soaps, lotions, butters, and balms. All our products use the finest quality oils, butters, botanicals, and essential oils from all around the world, said Phyllis Ezzell, the Soapworks manager. We search the world to find only the best, pure certified organic ingredients. They cost substantially more but, because our mission is to provide quality jobs not large profits, we can still offer our products at very competitive prices, Ezzell said. By Nature Soap offers more than forty different kinds of soap, lip balm, body butter moisturizers, lotions, bath salts and scrubs, all of which have one thing in common. All our products use natural ingredients and contain no chemicals, additives, petroleum products, artificial ingredients, preservatives, or fillers, added Ezzell. ?Our products are 100% pure, mild and hypoallergenic.

In the Soapworks are a number of people working in various jobs. Walking through you will see Ashley, mixing ingredients for soap or lip balms under the watchful eye of Ezzell who mentors her work. After the soap is poured into molds, Chris, Paul, and others begin the process of cutting the bars, grading the various soaps, and packaging the products into their individual containers. Mary and her coworkers complete the packaging process by labeling each product. Each day the products to be made change, so do the jobs performed by the various individuals. The atmosphere of the Soapworks has more the feel of an artisan studio than a production area.

?We are very proud of the soap and personal care products we are making,? Spiron noted. The Soapworks is one of more than a dozen artisan programs we have that provide important jobs for the individuals living here.? Other artisan areas include pottery, woodworking, custom printing, decorative arts, and floral studios in both dried and silk flowers. We want everyone to know that when they buy from us they are getting ?Handmade from North Carolina?. All of our products reflect traditional crafts that have been adapted to the needs of our artisans, Spiron said.

Operating under the business name Berry Towne Crafts, all the activities have one common purpose, to offer meaningful, life enriching work opportunities grounded in fun and expressive programs. All the individuals in the various studios are compensated for their work. Berry Towne Crafts has been selling their products through their retail store on the O'Berry Campus for many years. By adding online shopping we have now expanded our opportunity to sell our products worldwide, said Barbara Doerter, who manages the vocational enterprises. With our new programs and now a web site, we are in a position to increase opportunities for everyone.

As our businesses have expanded, we needed to provide an enhanced shopping experience for our patrons so, we completed a new retail shop in 2010, added Doerter. Berry Towne Crafts completed the old style log cabin, which was in keeping with our traditional crafts, providing over 1,600 square feet of display space. Farrell added, The Old Log Cabin is located in the center of the O?Berry Campus is operated Monday thru Friday 9am to 5:30pm. We are so pleased with the support we get from the public both in our store and those shopping online, Doerter said. When people buy our products, they are ensuring our continued success and enabling us to expand opportunities to the people we serve.

Berry Towne Crafts: Exceptional People - Exceptional Work