Sadie’s boutique and Seton Hall’s Division of Volunteer Efforts (DOVE) hosted a food drive on Nov. 4 to celebrate the purchase of South Orange’s Kitchen a la Mode, a kitchen supplies store.
Catherine Fisher, the owner of Sadie’s and more recent owner of Kitchen a la Mode, hosts philanthropic donations every month and partnered with DOVE this month. “My mission when I opened my first store was to be ethical and philanthropic because we are at a point where we can make a big statement with our wallets,” Fisher said. “I have chosen businesses based on their mission plans as companies to ensure our values line up.”
“They [Kitchen a la Mode] were easy to work with and enthusiastic about their service,” Amanda Cavanagh, assistant director of DOVE, said. “It was fantastic to be able to get connected to a local organization and branch out in South Orange. We really would like to thank them for their generosity.”
Fisher said she wanted to partner with DOVE this month because of the holiday season approaching. “I wanted to make the charity of the month something related to hunger with the holidays coming up,” she said. “My sales associate, Emily High, suggested working with DOVE to help kick off Hunger Awareness Week.”
Emily High, a sophomore public relations major, works for Sadie’s. She explained that Sadie’s opened in November of 2017 and has been partnering with philanthropic organizations such as Take the Cake NJ and DOVE since its opening.
“My boss is proactive in the community and cares about the products she buys for the store because she has a philanthropic and ethical focus,” High said. She continued to explain that 1 percent of the monthly sales go to the philanthropic organization that the store has partnered with.
High described the atmosphere of the food drive as happy and supportive. High said, “We were really excited about the donations we collected.”
Cavanagh explained that the main purpose of the event was to raise awareness and donations for International Hunger and Homeless Week. “The items will be handed out in Newark Penn station on Thursday, 11/15 for Hunger and Homelessness Week,” Cavanagh said. She added that she would absolutely work with Sadie’s and Kitchen a la Mode again.
Fisher explained that her true business is to service the community. “Each business has its own mission statement, but as a whole, my mission with my business is to service my community, not just with needed retail in the downtown, but through philanthropic and ethical business methods,” Fisher said.
Fisher said that working closely with other female entrepreneurs helps them empower each other by sharing strengths and collaborating on ideas and events.
“She had a vision and went with it,” High said. “It means a lot to our community and it's awesome to see how it affects people.”
Zoey Dotson can be reached at zoey.dotson@student.shu.edu.
