Zorganics Beauty Salon expanding to Meridian neighborhood

It started in 2001 with a vision and a small salon. Now, opening its third location, Zorganics Beauty Salon and Day Spa is filling a much-needed niche in the Bellingham beauty care business by treating all types of ethnic hair with organic products, according to founder and owner Frida Emalange.

            “I had a vision and I just had to bring it to life, this something I have been working towards for a long time,” said Emalange. “I didn’t envision opening up three locations, but after being here for a while I realized there was a need for it.”

            The grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Meridian neighborhood’s Zorganics will be on Friday March 9, according to Emalange, whose need for expansion has allowed her to open up two salons in Bellingham and one in Bellevue.

            “It’s more a following of a dream, you just have to do it. If you do it right, there are rewards,” said Emalange. “I now have the opportunity to have more employees, and I have had the same clients for many years but new people are coming in every day.”

            Emalange said she was reluctant to move into the Meridian location because it was empty for so long, but when she learned Marshalls was moving into the area, she looked into it more seriously.

            “This is a great time to go in there and fill in spots and create something good,” said Emalange. “It’s an aspiration for other small businesses to fill in spaces and help the Bellingham economy.

            A salon like Zorganics that uses natural and organic products is very important in a town like Bellingham, where people are very organically conscious, according to Zorganics employee Lindsey Frazier.

            “We are a one-stop salon, but now we have more facilities,” said Frazier. “Frida [Emalange] has a very loyal client base and people have just been coming in to see the new store.”

            Emalange said she was drawn to the Meridian location because of the surrounding businesses, the foot traffic, the potential of customers coming down from Canada, and the great parking lot.

            The expansion has helped allow Zorganics to sell their products online and also gave Emalange the great experience of designing everything in her salon to her preference, right up to the pedicure chairs, according to Emalange.

            “I think it is well needed, so people don’t have to go to more than one place to have an experience with the same people you trust,” said Zorganics employee Shelly Crabtree. “But it’s also a brand new salon, and people always want to see what is new.”

            Emalange said the customer feedback has been great, which has helped make the expansion into the new large Meridian space a natural transformation.

            While the grand opening for the new location is set for Friday, March 9, Emalange said the Meridian salon had a soft opening early in February to allow her to train her employees.

            “The purpose of the grand opening being a little later is to help employees train first, it’s very important,” said Emalange. “The products I use aren’t common in Bellingham, and it takes a lot of time to learn, a lot of preparation.”

            Emalange said that while they often use their own product line “Zorganics”, there is more to it than just that and there are other natural products out there that she likes and uses.

            “I’m excited to try our services and I’ve found everything to be really top quality,” said Crabtree. “The products to me are amazing, and all of the derivatives are from plants.”

            Emalange has over 17 years of experience in the salon business, but it really started at a much earlier age. She said that as a girl growing up she was always playing with dolls, doing her own hair, and whenever she went out people were drawn into her hair.

            Emalange said after she had her first child she was ready to settle down, and that’s when she started ZORA’S Braids and More, her first salon which catered to people with all types of hair.

            “I never went into the hair business to make money or a career, but it just happened after seeing how it was needed here,” said Emalange.

            Both Frazier and Crabtree said they were going to Emalange’s salon before they were working for her.

            “I’m excited to be working with new people and I want to be a part of it, I want to learn and apply my talents and see people grow,” Frazier said. “I’ve been going to Frida [Emalange] for a long time, and I really believe in what she is doing.”

            Emalange is grateful for her success so far. “I’ve always done well here. Kids that I used to work on are now graduating from college, this is my home”

Meridian church home to life-changing ministry of men

BELLINGHAM, WA – The Christ the King Church in the Meridian neighborhood draws men from all over the Whatcom County, from 41 churches, every Tuesday night at 6 p.m., all for the Band of Brothers for Christ, according to founder and executive director Raul Chavez.

            According to Chavez, what started out as a bible study group in Chavez’s home in 2004, Band of Brothers for Christ has grown into an all male ministry that hosts 180–200 men each week and have a list of 1,300 men who have participated at one point or another.

            “We don’t do anything crazy, or try to get men to think a certain way, we come to share our experiences,” said Chavez. “We make ourselves available every Tuesday of the year, no matter the weather or the holiday, we are here.”

            Band of Brothers for Christ may be reaching out to men all over the county, but Chavez said it has played a direct role in the immediate community in Meridian neighborhood, and that local stores and businesses often send men over to band of Brothers for Christ, or at least spread the word.

            “It gives everyone in the area a sense of community knowing there is help, it gives a sense of hope for the hopeless,” said Chavez. “It’s not a place to get judged or condemned, but to know you aren’t alone.”

            According to Chavez, Band of Brothers for Christ is not officially part of Christ the King Church because, when he moved the group to the church, he wanted to be able to attract men looking to face their challenges, regardless of their faith or church affiliation. 

            For member Jack Duran, he said he needed a safe place where he could be real, a place for broken men like him. Band of Brothers for Christ has become that place.

            “I was a bad guy, a hard core biker, but I turned into a warrior for Christ,” Duran said. “I went from the guy you would see crossing the street to the guy who would help you cross the street.”

            According to Duran, every experience each week is different. Some are happy, and funny, and some will be sad and serious, all depending on the speaker for that night.

            Everything Band of Brothers for Christ does is Christ related, but according to Duran, members also often help out with charity and go caroling in the neighborhood around Christmas time.

           

            Chavez said he chose to keep the Band of Brothers all male because he wants to use it as a way to reach out specifically to men, and give them a place to share their experiences, however dark, and has found from his own experience that men open up more with other men. He hopes he has created an environment where they can discuss things that may not be appropriate for a Sunday morning sermon.

            Band of Brothers for Christ serves a free meal with each meeting, a barbeque with salad and ice cream. This way, it helps attract more people, and allows men to come straight from work, according to Chavez.

            “I want to fight for the families. I want to get the dad’s heart, then that will bring in the family’s heart, then the community changes,” said Chavez. “I believe that communities can change, and if I can get to the families, then change can happen.”

            Band of Brothers for Christ is an important part of the community by giving men a fellowship that helps keep them out of trouble, according to member Tony Rinas.

            “It has got me to open up with other guys of the same belief, and it gives me a place of support and something to hold me accountable,” Rinas said.

            Though Chavez speaks at every Band of Brothers for Christ meeting, he is adamant in saying it is not about him, and that is partly why he brings in a guest speaker every week.

            “It’s not about me, it’s about the men coming every week, and that’s what keeps me motivated,” said Chavez. “From the homeless and formerly incarcerated to the doctors and all the men in between, it’s given me inspiration and desire, it’s changed my life.”

            According to Chavez, guest speakers range from brothers and members within the ministry to local pastors who can come and share their experiences and teachings in their own way.

            Chavez said consistency is important, and there is a core group of guys who come to every meeting. He understands that not everyone can make it to every meeting, and that men have commitments to their family and work.

            Duran said that the Band of Brothers for Christ has become an extremely important to his life, and that he doesn’t schedule anything on Tuesday nights and that his friends and coworkers know he is unavailable those nights. He guessed that in the past three years, he has missed maybe four Band of Brothers for Christ meetings, at most.

           

            “It’s given me a chance where I get to exhale,” Duran said. “It’s changed the lives of many men.”

Meridian mattress company giving back to community

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -Sleep Country mattress store located on Meridian Street is using pajamas to help give back to its community and has partnered with local nonprofit Blue Skies For Children for their annual Pajama Drive helping foster kids.

            From now until February 26, the public can drop off new pajamas and  packaged socks and underwear at the Sleep Country store and, unique to the Northwest program, materials donated in the Bellingham location will stay in the local county, according to Sleep Country Foster Kids spokesman Jarrett Tomalin.

            Pajamas are “very essential, night time is a scary time, and having a new pair of pajamas helps the transition for foster kids,” Tomalin said.

            According to Tomalin, Bellingham donations are able to stay within Whatcom County because of the company’s partnership with Bellingham’s Blue Skies For Children, a local nonprofit organization.

            “It’s definitely an essential part of the community,” Tomalin said. “The more the community puts into it, the more the local foster children receive.”

            According to the Blue Skies For Children website, it was founded in 1997 and its mission is “to raise hope and self-esteem by sponsoring enrichment programs and other essentials for homeless, low-income and foster children in Whatcom and Skagit Counties.”

            “We have contact with case workers and supervisors who contact the local foster homes and families and they come to us,” said Julie Guay, the executive director for Blue Skies For Children.

            Guay said every single donation drive is important, as there are six through Sleep Country, and sometimes it is easier for people to donate pajamas instead of money because clothing is a tangible item they can physically donate.

            “Foster kids go from home to home, lose things and outgrow them,” Guay said. “Kids grow so fast it’s a continual dive and it’s important for the kids to have pajamas keeping them warm and safe”

            “It helps make them comfortable in their new home,” Tomalin said.

            Nearly half of foster children do not return to their original family, and foster children average three different placements, according to the Sleep Country website.

            Guay said that while the Pajama Drive is doing well, it usually doesn’t do as well as the Sleep Country Coat and Toy drives because of the holiday season.

            Guay said the Coat and Toy drives are during the holiday season, when people are out shopping anyway and in the giving spirit, while the Pajama Drive is right after the end of the holiday season, when people aren’t spending as much money.

            “Each year the drive is different, and we are hoping in 2012 the Pajama Drive response is more than last year,” Guay said.

            Sleep Country employee Mark Henderson said the Meridian store receives good support from the community.

            “I personally think it is absolutely vital, on a scale of one to ten, it’s a ten,” Henderson said. “Any business is a business of the community.”

            The Meridian Sleep Country can get several pajama donations a day, or go sometimes four to five days without a donation, according to Henderson.

            According to Tomalin, last year’s Pajama Drive had in increase in 500 pajamas donated and “Bellingham is doing great.”

            In 2011, all of the Sleep Country stores brought in over 4,300 pairs of pajamas, while 2010 brought in 3,800 pairs, according to Tomalin. The Sleep Country Foster Kids Pajama Drive began in 2005.

            According to Henderson, people don’t necessarily have to use Sleep Country as their donation center.

            “Anybody can host a drive, just set goals and raise money,” he said.

            According to the Sleep Country website, someone who hosts their own Pajama Drive for their friends and family can then either drop off their total donations at Sleep Country, or call and have the store arrange a truck to come pick up the clothing.

            “While we collect pajamas at all Sleep Country locations,” Tomalin said, “we often have people host their own drives, such as athletic teams and churches.”

            Each year, the Northwest has over 10,000 new kids enter the foster care system, according to the Sleep Country website. Foster kids also experience four times as many emotional problems as their fellow peers.

Welcome, all you need to know about The Meridian Message

Hi, and welcome to The Meridian Message, a news site reporting on events and news in Meridian, a neighborhood in Bellingham, Wa. Primarily commercial and industrial, the Meridian neighborhood countless stores essential to the Bellingham economy. This website will be posting longer news stories and reports, as well as shorter blog pieces, weekly. I will constantly be walking around the Meridian neighborhood the next couple months, and will make sure to cover all the key events and report all the important news pertaining the neighborhood on The Meridian Message. Thanks, and happy reading.