Middletown >> Organic Home Lifestyle expanded its business to include sustainable home finishing products and natural floor coverings, in addition to its current eco-friendly home décor lines on Friday. With this change comes a new name: Forever Green.
To celebrate the official name change, one-year birthday and showcase the new products, Forever Green will host an Earth Day birthday party at its Middletown store, on April 23 from 1 to 4 p.m. The community is invited,there will be organic snacks and refreshments, an eco-home tour, music and workshops and demos about how to build and live more sustainably.
“This year we are celebrating our one-year birthday, and transformation; our new name is reflective of our experience as a business and as community members surviving through the Valley Fire of 2015,” said Tara Somers, co-owner and founder of Forever Green. “We thought about what our customers need most from us now and decided that our focus should be on helping our community rebuild with sustainability and style.”
The owners of Forever Green (previously, Organic Home Lifestyle) have been through major changes in the past months not only because of the loss of their home to the Valley Fire of 2015, but also because of the major shift in the local marketplace and economy as a result.
“Our lives changed forever on that day in a matter of minutes, and we knew things would be very different after that but we didn’t know exactly what to expect,” Somers said. “Months after the fire, the aftermath of confusion is finally starting to relax and settle down.”
The mother and daughter team opened Organic Home Lifestyle just one year prior, on Earth Day 2015, with hopes to contribute to their community, both economically and sustainably.
“We wanted to do something positive and meaningful for our growing community,” said Martha Somers-Sekander, mother and co-owner. “We had no idea that six months into our business we would be in the midst of the most impactful natural disaster the area has ever seen … we just couldn’t have planned for that.”
Post disaster, several businesses in Middletown shut down, some perhaps for good. Business owners who stayed now have to figure out how to navigate a new landscape of loss, and possible opportunity. Forever Green is approaching the challenge by expanding its product offerings to include materials necessary to rebuild the community more sustainably. The owners hope this change will position the store as an even greater resource for existing community members who are recovering from the fire, and new members of the community who have recently moved to the area or will be moving to the area in the near future.
“Our new name, Forever Green, is representative of what we have seen in our community over and over since the fire — that respect, generosity and kindness are evergreen, unable to be burnt, damaged or destroyed,” Somers said. “And, even though we lost so much as a community, we see this loss as the community’s opportunity to rebuild better, more sustainably, more beautifully, and more thoughtfully; and we’re excited to be a part of that transformation.”
Forever Green is located at 21137 Calistoga Road in Middletown.
“Our flagship store launch was last year on Earth Day and we had an incredible turn out. We hope this year, with our one-year birthday and the launch of our new name, it will be just as much fun,” Somers said.
Learn more at forevergreenstore.com, email us at press@forevergreenstore.com, or call (707) 809-5502.
