Second Nature Home Boutique features environmentally friendly products that are locally made and/or recycled.
Elizabeth McKitrick has been working many late nights to prepare her Second Nature Home Boutique for its grand opening this Saturday (November 16).
She has created a warm and inviting space which features environmentally friendly products that are locally made and/or recycled. Cleaning agents and soaps are the backbone of the business, but her shop is filled with creative, beautiful and practical products made by local people.
Many in the Christian community will be familiar with Elizabeth, or at least with her name; she worked for years at Outreach Canada, and then with A Rocha.
Elizabeth McKitrick considers Second Nature a social enterprise.
Now her dream of a social enterprise which supports local ecological initiatives and offers a skills development training program for immigrant women and youth is becoming a reality. She hopes Second Nature will become a hub for community connection, enhancing environmental awareness and supporting local artisans.
Elizabeth is quick to give credit for the inspiration and help she has received. For example, she took a very useful class with Michael Hodson, who heads up the Social Enterprise Incubator at Regent College’s Marketplace Institute. They focused on designing Christian enterprises; being part of a cohort which discussed the realities of Christian entrepreneurship propelled her dream along.
As well, she says the Self Employment Program and peer support group at Douglas College were “really great.” And she has had “a tremendous amount of help from friends.”
Almost all the artisans contributing to Second Nature live nearby.
JustRenos – one of three social enterprises run by JustWork – did the major renovations, and Elizabeth heartily recommends them. (As it happened, we dropped in on Second Nature on the way home from a JustWork fundraiser Wednesday evening, and were pleasantly surprised by the overlap of their vision with hers. JustWork is “a non-profit organization that offers meaningful employment to people who face barriers to work.”)