Enovana Green Cleaning: Our Year in Giving

Posted on December 27th, 2017 by Joe McCutcheon

I enjoy hearing about the rise of business as a force for good, for environmental and social impact, in addition to the traditional pursuit of profit.

When we started Enovana over a decade ago, we could have started a run-of-the-mill cleaning company and had a pretty fulfilling mission of just trying to be better than anybody else at cleaning homes. But from the beginning, I thought our customers deserved more than a clean house after a visit from our company. They deserved a clean house that was free of chemicals whose production and use hurt the environment, and they deserved a house free of fumes, dyes, and other harmful agents that would be unhealthy for them and their children.

During the last decade, we’ve used charitable giving and cleaning houses pro bono to have a greater social impact, mainly through our partnership with a very special charity with a national scope, Cleaning for a Reason.  Though this partnership, we clean homes of women suffering from cancer (and our participation averages out to a few homes every month or quarter), thanks to the continued early diagnosis and treatment of more patients every year.

This year, we decided to up the ante, or at least spread it out a little. In addition to our normal giving to Cleaning for a Reason, we began a mid-year promotion tied to bringing new customers into the Enovana family. For every new cleaning, starting in August, we made a $5 donation to a rotating group of charitable organizations in our home area of the Triangle.

First up in August, we featured Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill. As you may know, Ronald McDonald House provides short and long-term lodging for out-of-town families whose children are receiving treatments at area hospitals like UNC Children’s Hospital in Chapel Hill and Duke Children’s Hospital in Durham.

In September, we gave to an awesome young charity (in more ways than one) based in our hometown of Raleigh. Small Hands Big Hearts United is a charity that facilitates the social impact ideas of children. For example, one of the participating kids saw a segment on the nightly news about a shoe manufacturer donating pairs of shoes to children in war-torn Syria. After seeing this, she thought, “Well, they will need socks!” So, through Small Hands Big Hearts United, she launched socks for Syria, landing donations for socks that were ultimately sent to cover the feet of hundreds of children.

In October and November, we joined thousands of individuals and companies in the Walk for Children’s, to raise money for a place that’s very special to my family, UNC Children’s Hospital. My son, who suffered from a rare condition as a newborn, received life-changing treatment from the healing hands at UNC Children’s, and these donations honor the doctors, nurses, and support staff for their world-class care for my son and others.

Finally, we rounded out the year with giving to Cleaning for a Reason, a charity we continue to believe in, with such a profound impact not only on patients, but on our house cleaners who forge unforgettable relationships with them. This year we provided 20 free cleanings to women undergoing cancer treatment for a total of $2,400 of cleanings donated.

All told, our charitable giving at Enovana Green Cleaning for 2017 totaled nearly $5,000, spread among these incredible charities and community organizations. We are thrilled to join forces with our customers and wonderful organizations to serve those suffering from cancers, chronic illnesses, and tragedies deserving a humanitarian response from all of us.

Coming soon in 2018, we’ll have a new group of charities that we honor with our contributions on a monthly basis.