When our founder, AH, moved to Alaska in 2003, his existing allergy and other health problems became much worse. Despite a succession of doctor's visits, AH's greatest improvement came after he began working for the nonprofit Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) and learned about the many effects toxic household chemicals can have.

 

AH decided to change his lifestyle by using different kinds of healthy cleaning products in his own home, and was amazed to see how quickly his health improved. He and the director of ACAT decided to partner with another nonprofit, Catholic Social Services, to hire recent emigres and train them to provide green cleaning services to people who, like AH, had health concerns that could be aggravated by exposure to toxic cleaning chemicals.

 

The program, dubbed ACAT's Green Cleaning Service, was a success, creating jobs for emigres with limited English skills while providing a valuable service to several dozen community clients, both business and personal, about half of whom had allergies or other health conditions. AH remained heavily involved with the program as he transitioned into the role of financial manager for ACAT.

 

However, after more than a year of success, the grant that helped pay employee salaries for ACAT's Green Cleaning Service was discontinued. With no other means of supporting the program, ACAT regretfully decided to close it.

 

After speaking with many of the existing clients, AH decided to leave his role at ACAT and continue providing green cleaning services himself. In ((2014?)), he drafted a business plan, collaborated with the University of Maryland to develop a marketing plan, and launched AH Green Enterprise.