Greenleaf events, appearances, and other relevant news.
Bring your kids and learn about how to care for your local ecosystem! Learn who and what is eco-friendly — and where you can shop local to make a difference.
11 am – 4 pm
Rider University Student Recreation Center
2083 Lawrenceville Rd., Lawrenceville, NJ
For more info, visit mercergreenfest.org
We are super excited for you to see our new video!
It’s our first attempt at discussing Greenleaf Painters on video. Thankfully, we had professional help, including our operations manager, Ryan Munn, who happened to major in film in college. Thanks to Ryan for amassing all the great pics from our extensive library — and suggesting edits to the final version.
Check it out!
Here is the link –> Greenleaf Painters Video
Do you have content you’d like to see us discuss in a video? How to choose the best eco-friendly paint? How to cover nail pops or how choose the best paint color for your walls?
We realize video is becoming a very popular form of communication. Let us know what you want to learn about. We might just use your idea in the future!
Here are a couple of still shots from the video:
The Greenleaf leadership team was excited to be part of the Local Living Expo last weekend. This is our third year participating in the Expo, which focuses on supporting local and “green” businesses. We’re always delighted to meet new people. And we love to share our passion for using eco-friendly paints!
Greenleaf Painters is in its 10th year of operating as a successful, local and independent business. Serving the community around us is our thing. When local businesses gathered together to create the Independent Business Alliance (IBA) last year— part of the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce—we got super excited!
IBA is part of a larger, national movement to “Shop Local.”
Why does shopping local matter? Check this out from IBA’s website:
—For every $100 spent, a locally-owned independent business generates $68 in local economic activity.
—Each dollar you spend at independent businesses returns three times more money to your local economy than one spent on the Internet.
—If the people of an average American city were to shift 10% of their spending to local, independent businesses, it would bring an additional $235 million per year to the community’s economy.
Wow!
Greenleaf’s roots are in the West Windsor / Princeton Junction community, where owner Jonathan Shenk lives with his wife and son. Word of mouth by people we’ve done work for in the region (and online) has been the fuel for our growth. This summer, we have been able to employ 20 people, including our managers and local craftsmen. All of these employees are local and participate in the local economy.
In addition, we give business to painting suppliers locally, as well as other contractors in the area. These are also employers and participants in the local economy. So you see how it can work!
As a member of IBA, we have had the pleasure of getting to know many Independent business owners. We work directly with some and simply commend others because of their values and work ethic. A handful of these include:
— Rees Powell Custom Floors, owned by Rees Powell http://www.reescustomfloors.com
— Real Possibilities, owned by Rose Fisher, http://www.real-possibilities.com
— Asenka Interactive, owned by Brian Hasenkamp, www.asenka.com
—StimulusBrand, owned by Tom McManimon, http://www.stimulusbrand.com
—A Stitch Ahead, Frank Mangee http://astitchaheadinc.com
—Allegra Printing, Maurice Galimidi http://allegraprinceton.com
—Madani Interiors, Linda Madani http://www.madaniinteriors.com
Shenk has been on the Ambassador committee of the Princeton Chamber of Commerce since 2013 and is now on the IBA Regional Planning Committee which organizes events. Shenk’s participation in the Chamber has helped to increase awareness of our presence in the community and thus accelerate our growth. We have a lot of faith that the IBA will contribute to this kind of growth for others–and by extension the entire region.
Shout out to Local Businesses!
If you are a local business and are interested in joining in, the next IBA event will be “10 Best Practices for Growing Your Business,” held September 25, 7:30 AM TO 9:30 AM, with Jeff Dorman of JDA International Leadership. Visit http://www.princetonchamber.org/iba/ for details and registration.
Jonathan Shenk, owner of Greenleaf, shared our company’s environmental, or “green,” initiatives at “Creating Sustainable Businesses in New Jersey,” a forum held at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) headquarters in Trenton last Tuesday.
We are proud to share with you these “green” practices and initiatives from his talk.
“From our inception we have educated customers and advocated for the use of ‘green,’ environmentally-sound paint products. This emphasis is noted in our name choice.
Nine years ago, these paints were harder to find, they were more expensive, more difficult to use, and offered lower performance and quality. Now every brand markets green paints and are phasing out their regular paints. The prices are now competitive and the quality is excellent.
Another important sustainable practice for a painting company is the safe disposal of paint products:
+ Paint thinners and oil paints must be disposed through hazardous waste collections. We recycle most of our paint thinner through a step-by-step filtering process.
+ Latex paints need to be mixed with a hardener before disposal.
We have recently started offering a service to customers where we will dispose of their old paint cans piling up in their basements.
We also can sometimes find alternatives to disposing of unwanted latex paints: we can donate full gallons to Habitat for Humanity’s Re-store and sometimes our own painters are happy to round up excess paints for their side projects.
There are several other things we do which are not unique to a painting company:
+ We have several paperless practices: we communicate internally through dropbox. Our managers can access work site forms and job calendars on dropbox.
+ We are also beginning to shift our bill payments to be done exclusively online so no hard copies need to be printed out.
+We recycle our paper and plastic.
+We conserve on energy by keeping office temperatures low during the cold season and opening doors for fresh air during the warm season. Turning out lights in rooms we are not working in.
We were pleased to see NJ take this initiative to support and promote sustainable business practices. We’re happy to be involved in this initiative and to connect and network with other like-minded businesses and people.”
Jonathan was invited to speak at the forum as a member of the New Jersey Sustainable Business Registry, which promotes sustainability planning and practices among New Jersey businesses. The welcome was given by Bob Marshall, Assistant Commissioner, DEP Sustainability and Green Energy (SAGE).
Jonathan Shenk, owner, and the Greenleaf management team participated in the Summer Sizzler Marketing Showcase event on Palmer Square in Princeton in July. The event happened to fall on Jonathan’s birthday, so he is especially smiley.
The Princeton Chamber of Commerce hosts this event & has more pics here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153061371858902.1073741858.135487213901&type=1
