The Garden City Telegram
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Making candles for a cause
Published 6/23/2008 in News : Area coverage
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
sfarley@gctelegram.com
Renee Kortz has made candles for herself for years now.
She got started in the craft after her stepmother bought equipment and supplies to make candles and then decided she didn't want to pursue the hobby.
"Then they had these 10-pound slabs of wax," Kortz said.
So Kortz started making candles, and now, she has extended the hobby into her business, KS Specialty Gifts, 302 N. Main St., which she owns with her husband.
Currently, Kortz is making 85 percent soy blend 16-ounce candles and also offers wafer melts, which can be used in melting pots and don't require an open flame to enjoy the scent. While she plans to expand the line, she is making candles and wafer melts in the scents of cinno-bunn, spiced orange, ocean mist and créme brúlée.
The idea to offer the handmade, hand-poured items in the store came after the candles she had been selling in the store changed. She'd been selling candles that were from a family-owned business in Colorado, but the family sold to another company. When that occurred, Kortz felt the quality and service of the candle line went down. So she started looking for a candle maker and retailer in Kansas.
She checked out candle makers in Yoder and the Kansas City area, and one of them told Kortz that since she knew just as much as they did about candle making, "why don't you make your own?" So that's what she set out to do.
To make the hand-poured candles, Kortz has set up a makeshift lab in the back of the shop that allows her to make about five pounds of the blend at a time. She uses a melting pot to create the blend and then adds, among other candle ingredients, the scent and ultraviolet (UV) inhibitors, which help prevent the outside color of the candle from fading.
While Kortz hopes people will enjoy the scents, the new candle line also serves a greater purpose -- to help the patients and families who use the St. Catherine Hospital Hospice program.
The thought to donate some of the proceeds to the program came from the fact cancer runs in Kortz's family and she wanted to give back to a program that helped her out in a time of need.
Kortz's father, who lived in Ford County, died at 54 of cancer. Her grandfather died of colon cancer.
"We have a lot of it," she said of cancer in her family.
She said her father was able to die at home, which wouldn't have been possible if hospice had not been involved. While Kortz said her dad's last days were "awful," the hospice program in Ford County allowed him to remain at home, which was his wish. The program allows people to "see their last days at home" and for families of the patients to "see that last wish come true," she said. It's her little way of saying thank you to the program, she said.
A dollar from every candle Kortz sells goes to the St. Catherine Hospital Hospice program. A letter from Gina Cash, donations coordinator for the program, sits on a shelf in Kortz's store and reads, "Thank you for acknowledging St. Catherine Hospital Hospice program as a recipient of donations given from candle sales in KS Specialty Gifts. Hospice received your check of $39. This money will be used as you stated to assist hospice patients with cancer in Finney County. On behalf of St. Catherine Hospital Hospice program, thank you for acknowledging us in this wonderful way. We hope it will be of comfort to you to know that your gift is helping others."
Kortz said the amount per candle isn't much, but that it adds up.
"I just really believe in a person's last wish," she said.
Kortz advertises her candles as lasting about 150 hours. She also offers reed diffusers, which last two to three months, sometimes longer, depending on the environment and air flow in a space, Kortz said. The diffuser bottles are refillable.
Right now, the scents for the candles and wafers cover the "food" and "clean" categories, but she's keeping a running list of other scents customers would like to see. Kortz said that, at some point, she'd like to expand the "Scents from KS Specialty Gifts" line, as well as continue donating to the hospice program.
Having been in cosmetology for 22 years and a massage therapist for almost nine years, Kortz is in the business of helping people feel better about themselves and in their own skin.
"It's something that makes people feel good," she said of the candles.
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