If there is one thing I love about writing Tucson Biz beat is the fact that it looks at the local scene that helps shape not only my home town, but my community. Normally I like to say Tucson Biz Beat salutes–fill in the blank, but this week, our local business is so amazing and run by such amazing people that I cannot salute them as much as stand and give them an ovation for what they have done for our community.

Tucson Biz beat does a standing ovation for Fed By Threads which is the master mind of the loving team of Alok Appadurai and Jade Beall. Together, loaded with an idea and a compassion for people and community, the two of them started a small clothing shop for their dance studio and turned it into a humanitarian project that last year provided over 24,000 meals for needy people.

Not only have they mastered how to feed 12 people with each purchase, they have mastered the fine skill of supporting US job creations because of the services they use. Alok and Jade discovered by using biodegradable hangers and mailers they could help the environment, while making sure all business is kept in the US. Yes, it does come with a price tag, but it is important to them to keep it made in America while protecting the environment.

Alok said that there are four reasons people come to their clothing shop. First, he said for some people it is important that it is indeed made in the USA. Second, he stated was their products help protect the environment and they are helping nurse mother earth back to health and people honor that. Another reason people purchase their line of clothing is that with each purchase, they are feeding the hungry and they want to contribute to that effort. Finally, he stated some people like the fact that they are “no leather, no feather.”

Whatever reason people come to Fed By Threads, they are coming and in fact coming and or ordering enough that some of their items are out of stock and they continue to increase their inventory. I personally love the idea that when I purchase an item, each item will feed 12 people. Well, that is for now. I have no doubt that this dynamic duo will come up with other ideas that will probably feed more people and change the world.

Jade, who is a dance instructor and photographer said, she likes to “get high on dreams” because the two of them are always thinking of ways they can better themselves as humanitarian entrepreneurs and reach out to the community. I call them spiritual entrepreneurs because it takes spiritual people like this, to start a business that helps feed the needy. Now ask them if they know what they are doing and Jade will say “We fake it till we make it” and they both are making it happen!

On my way home from interviewing them today I kept thinking, what if everyone of us just donated a few bucks a day to help feed the needy? I certainly am going to put aside two bucks for each client I see and donate it at the end of the month to the Food Bank as well as the National Hunger Relief Organization just as they do. I can’t help but think that perhaps there will be a ripple effect, and what Alok and Jade are doing can reach across not only our community but other communities throughout the nation.

Then I thought, these two are thinking bigger than they ever thought when they decided, while walking in the park looking at ducks to come up with Fed By Threads, just how important their idea really is. So I  want to encourage people to go to their web site Fed By Threads and even look for their email addresses and drop them a line to see what else happens at their place of business or simply say thank you. Their place of business is more than just Fed By Threads, It is a yoga, dance studio, and photography studio, and when I walked in today I discovered it was a place where energy and magic meet creating hope and opportunity.

So today, I ask Tucson to give a standing ovation to these two and their wonderful project Fed By Threads and the wonderful humanitarian efforts they are putting directly into the Tucson community. It is people like this that make Tucson such an outstanding community and I applauded Fed By Thread and the founders for their hard work and diligence to provide such a wonderful local business.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 4th, 2013 at 4:23 pm and is filed under Bussiness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.