Gillets use business to impact community
“Do Something That Matters,” is the family motto for Scaly Mountain Crafters owners Darren and Michelle Gillet and that is exactly what they have done with their shop in Scaly Mountain.
The couple opened Scaly Mountain Crafters in April of this year and since then have amassed a partnership with 63 local artists and partnered with SERV International to provide meals to underprivileged individuals, locally and internationally.
Michelle Gillet said her husband’s family has been coming up to Scaly Mountain since the 70s and he has always wanted to retire on the mountain.
“Darren and I have been married for 30 years, so I have been up here quite a bit,” Gillet said. “A while back, he asked me if I wanted to retire to Scaly and I said, ‘And do what?’”
When they made the move to Scaly, the couple was already making pens through Pens with a Purpose, a company that produces hand-crafted items like pens, pencils and other items made primarily with wood and acrylic materials, but COVID-19 changed their plans.
“We were mostly doing online sales and arts and crafts shows,” Gillet said. “Last year with everything going on, we had 20 shows cancelled. We had to rethink the process.”
After one of their friends passed away, the Gillets turned to scripture, James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”
“Phil Silverthorn passed away and we just asked how we could help?” Gillet said. “That is how we came upon the building for Scaly Mountain Crafters. It was being used as storage. It was completely packed with stuff, and you could barely walk around. We helped Ms. Silverthorn sort through everything. Then we contacted some locals to see if they wanted to look through the stuff and purchase any of it, because Phil left two young daughters. We put $7,000 into a trust fund for the girls from the sales. Then Darren and I were sitting around, and we thought that maybe Ms. Dorris would rent the house out to us. I asked her and she said absolutely.”
Once the Gillets had the building, they posted on Facebook to see if there were any local crafters that wanted to fill it with their products.
“We posted it on Facebook and asked if there were any local crafters that make handmade things,” Gillet said. “Now, we are at 63 local artists. The criteria we asked for artists is you have to be local, or family of locals, items have to be handmade, and you have to be willing to give back.”
In January 2017, the Gillets became a business partner with SERV International, a nonprofit based out of Canton, Ga.
Through SERV, a percentage of each sale made goes to meals for children and families in underprivileged countries.
“SERV does a global feeding program,” Gillet said. “We got involved with them because we were small group leaders with our church and through a mutual friend, we were looking for a place to donate some of our time. They told us to go by SERV International and we were really awestruck.”
The Gillets have gone on several mission trips with SERV and ended up sponsoring seven children from Kenya and Cambodia.
“SERV has an orphanage in Kenya and Cambodia, so Darren and I started sponsoring kids,” Gillet said. “In 2014, Darren lost his father, and then seven days later my mother passed away. So, in seven days we lost two rocks of our family. In 2015, in honor of Darren’s dad, he went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic and then to Kenya, as well to meet the boys. He came back home and told me that I needed to go with him next year and I did. I just fell in love with the people.”
Scaly Mountain Crafters has now provided 282,200 meals through SERV from proceeds from the store. Since opening in April, they have provided 165,000.
“I love the sense of community here,” Darren Gillet said. “The giving spirit here is amazing. All of our artists are willing to give a percentage of their sales for these meals and some even donate all of it for the meals. The community support and the talent are beyond our wildest dreams.”
Scaly Mountain Crafters is located between Highlands Outpost and Highlands Aerial Park on Dillard Road.
For more information on Pens with a Purpose, visit them on Facebook at Pens with a Purpose or their website at www.penswithapurpose.com.
To find out more about SERV International, visit www.servone.org.
To find out more about Scaly Mountain Crafters, visit www.scalymountaincrafters.com.
- By Christopher Lugo