Month: October 2011

By Jess Boone

Many people in Lancaster don’t know about the city itself or any of the businesses that line the streets.   This is a shame because of the large number of cute shops and novelty stores that inhabit downtown Lancaster.  One of these shops is Mommalicious, located on Queen Street.  Co-owned by friends Alicia and Debbie, Mommalicious sells a mix of antiques and unique, hand-made gifts, focusing on what Alicia calls the “eye for the imperfect.”

In recent years, Mommalicious has grown to be a successful part of the downtown Lancaster scene.  However, success didn’t always come naturally.  In 2004, the shop was just a pipe dream to Alicia, before her business teacher at Millersville University pushed her to pursue her goals.  It was then that she drafted her first business plan.  Alicia says she needed someone to push her, and she “needed to get uncomfortable.”

In this situation, getting uncomfortable was exactly what was needed.  In May of 2005, she had a store on Prince Street and was living her dream.  She was learning the ropes of business first-hand, and selling “old stuff”, the stuff she is passionate about.  However, Alicia knew there was always room for improvement.  Since opening, she had much success.  But, as she told her husband, she was daring to dream a little bigger.  Ideally, she wanted her shop to have apartments above it, so she and her family could live directly above her store.  Like her teacher did before, this time it was her husband who pushed her to test the waters.  She started looking for a new location, and by September of 2006, Mommalicious moved to its current location, Alicia’s dream location.

To some people, Mommalicious may seem like just another store in the blossoming city of Lancaster.  But if you dig deeper, you will realize that Mommalicious is a perfect example of putting your mind to something to accomplish it.  What may seem like a far off dream at one point, can easily become a reality with a little determination and drive.

By Tess Black

While sitting in the Student Memorial Center where I am participating in a bake sale I noticed that Millersville University’s juice bar sells fair trade coffee. In order for a company to be labeled as fair trade, the company must provide a moral work environment, substantial wages to allow the workers to live above the poverty line, and perform processes that allow for future processes. There are many people that will only buy products that are fair trade and many companies are now making the switch. After noticing the juice bar participates in fair trade it made me wonder what other companies may also be fair trade. After doing a little research I learned that Sheetz, Starbucks, Green Mountain Coffee, and Seattle’s Best Coffee all participate in fair trade. One company that I was surprised to find is not a fair trade company was Hershey’s. Hershey’s makes many chocolate products as well as Twizzlers and Ice Breakers. Hershey’s does not treat its employees in such a way that aligns with fair trade. The biggest area where Hershey’s is not fair trade is dealing with the workers overseas. Hershey’s products are made from cocoa which has to be harvested. The company uses small children who are given large machetes to harvest the cocoa. These children are promised better lives for themselves and their families, however they rarely are given anything they are promised.

By Bobby Bechtel

Cutbacks to high education in Pennsylvania are affecting Millersville a little less. Green efforts across the campus are saving the University money, and ultimately saving students’ tuition.

Since 2008, Millersville has partnered with Noresco, an energy conservation consulting firm based in Massachusetts. Through studying the habits of the University’s faculty, staff, and students – the firm developed ways in which the campus could reduce its carbon footprint, which ultimately saves the University money. The tactics developed by Noresco include:

– Trayless Dining Halls

– Two Sided Printing

– Water Efficient Showerheads

– Paperless Billing

These ways however are noticeable. The University is also taking strides in energy consumption as well. These presently include:

– Reducing nonrenewable energy consumption

– Retrofitting buildings to be energy efficient

– Using local and organic food in dining halls

Since the 2009-2010 school year when many of these changes took place, Millersville was able to reduce its carbon footprint by 7% (The Snapper, 10/6/11).

For students in COMM 380: digital media writing, October is a time for research and more research to gather the words for new content on the Project Green Lancaster website.   They have been out and about in Lancaster City and County, visiting, interviewing, and photographing green initiatives with the help of the following local community partners: Annie Anne’s, My Aunt Debbie Shop, Farm to Table in Lancaster, Green Lighting, Habitat MT, Habitat ReStore, Horn Farm Center, John J. Jeffries, Lancaster Green Infrastructure Initiative through the Lancaster County Planning Commission, Lancaster Chamber of Commerce, Lemon Street Market, Marauder mart, Mid Atlantic concrete equipment, Mommalicious, Native Plants, MU, PhoenixLink Inc., Sustainable day trips from Lancaster County, Sustainable walking tour/map of Lancaster City, Transition Lancaster.