Ray DelMuro had been a manufacturing engineer for an aerospace company for 5 years before he resigned to go on a trip around the world. He left because he wanted to find way to combine his passions for art, engineering, and helping the community. 21 countries and 39 cities later he was back in the states, wthin a year of returning back to the states Refresh Glass began in 2008 out of his garage. Funny part about this picture is that the only thing that Refresh still uses daily in it, is the black rack.
Our truck and facility now enables us to process hundreds of thousands of rescued bottles per year with the help of our collection partners, vendors, crew and the community.
We have found that all of us, at our core, would like emotional engagement, functional utility, and community impact weaved into the products and services that we choose to buy if it's possible. At Refresh Glass we call these three Style, Function, and Purpose. After having done this for a few years, focused on our bottle rescue mission, we found that we save even more bottles by focusing on a real world problem of making it easy to order a high quality engraveable gift for those relationships you have with people who dont need more "stuff." Most gifts are one and done and aren't enjoyed or talked about for years to come. The public is looking for innovative solutions that solve their day day challenges in a more conscious and stylish way that doesn't break the bank. We have chosen to embrace this gifting challenge to help our 10 Million Bottle Rescue Mission at the same time.
Our hope is that our business is like a brick in a new foundation or organizations who are committed to concurrent fiscal, emotional, and communal performance for their stakeholders. Stakeholders meaning the environment, community, employees and others too, not just the shareholders. By solving real world problems we have an opportunity to help our missions grow, let our employees know they are making a larger difference, and have the market presence to ensure our fiscal sustainability without the need for grants or donations so that all of those we engage with can benefit on multiple levels. We all get to choose where we spend our time, what we buy, and where we work. Let's innovate and show the world what kinds of multifaceted solutions are possible.