The Arise Box – Ethical Summer Essentials

“Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.” -Anna Lappé

Even small, everyday purchases like as coffee, tea, breakfast cereal, and bread are a vote for something. How you shop and companies you support are a vote for what you believe in and the kind of place you want the world to be. For example, favouring organic produce is a vote for environmental sustainability and purchasing fair trade products is a vote for human rights. We have a great deal of power in our pockets and the choices we make can help (or hurt) other people.

That’s why I’m super excited to share with The Arise Box with you. It’s a little box that does a whole lot of good. This unique subscription box filled with ethical lifestyle products from around the world that also helps build a care package for human trafficking survivors. By purchasing The Arise Box, you’re giving back in to the world in form of supporting local communities, protecting wildlife, and giving back to the world that’s given us so much. Keep reading to see what ethical goodies are in this summer’s Arise Box.

The summer Arise Box is filled with give-back products that fights trafficking, provides nutrition to kids, protects ocean life, provides clean water, and builds a care package for a survivor!

Every box comes with a full-color info cards (picture above) with more details on the items included so you can learn about each of their own inspirational stories and backgrounds. This seasons box contains 4 ethically made lifestyle items.

Inside your Summer Arise Box you’ll get…

“Good Vibes” mug from The Created Co

This bright and fun mug makes a cute addition your anyone’s mug collection. The Created Co makes drinkware that aims to inspire, connect, and empower people because many of life’s most meaningful moments occur alongside a drink. This mug also helps provide clean water to through building wells that bring clean water to those in need.

Beach towel from Rivera Towels

This beautiful breezy beach throw is my favorite item out of box. This turkish cotton beach towel perfect for the beach, picnics, and to use as a blanket, and even a scarf.  It’s super light weight and packable making it good for travel. Proceeds support the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Foundation and protects sea life from poachers.

Nail polish from SquareHue

Besides being the perfect shade for summer, this nail polish fights human trafficking, while being vegan and cruelty free and made from a 7-Free Clean formula (chemical free).

Peach Mango drink flavoring from Everly

This natural, sugar free, powdered drink mix helps you hydrate and energize, just add some to your water for a tropically flavored break. Everly provides essential nutrition to children with illnesses, by sending packages of life-saving rehydration salts to treat sick children with waterborne disease.

Inspirational post card to a survivor

It thought that this was such an beautiful and human touch to this box. Each Arise Box includes a inspirational post card where you can write a few words of encouragement to a survivor.

Interview with Cassidy, founder of The Arise Box

Want to learn a little more about The Arise Box? Cassidy, the founder the Arise Box has so graciously answered a few interview questions so you can get the story and inspiration of The Arise Box straight from her!

1. What’s the story behind the Arise Box and why did you choose to help human trafficking survivors?

I was introduced to the issue of human trafficking five years ago through a film and knew immediately that I had to do something about it. At the time, I was a senior in college and was unsure of how to attack such a huge problem with limited time and resources. For years I dreamed of starting a safe home but being in my twenties and still paying on student loans, made that feel like a pipe dream. One day I got fed-up with the lie I’d been telling myself; that I had to do something huge to start making an impact in the world. Care packages for survivors was a simple, do-able way to start reminding survivors of their innate worthiness. The Arise Box was born to help fund those survivor care packages and help others like me to discover simple ways to make an impact right where they are at. Often we think we have to “go big or go home” when it comes to making an impact. But small decisions we make every day, the words we say to others, the choices to ask questions about how our products are made… those tiny decisions have a ripple effect and make a true difference in people’s lives.

2. How do you choose the products that go into the box? 

Everything inside the box must give back and practically fit into your life. The beginning stages of shopping ethically can be overwhelming and requires lots of research work. Your Arise Box serves as an introduction to ethical brands you feel good supporting while giving you things that fit into your everyday life. (I loath clutter, so everything in your box has to pass the “can you use it” test.)

3. What goes into the survivor’s care package you’re helping build?

Every Arise Box you buy, two full-sized products are added to a survivor care package. In last Christmas’ care packages there was nail polish, a life-hack book (one group of survivors read through it as weekly study!), a custom journal, chocolate, hand-lettered encouragement cards, hair ties, and a pair of cozy socks. So far this year we’ve added a journal, nail polish, a bar of fair trade chocolate and hair ties. We’re also working on adding a yoga night at one of the safe homes this winter.

4. How long have you been putting together the Arise Box? And what have you learned from the experience?

The summer Arise Box is the second official ethical box. I unofficially launched Arise last Christmas by giving away 50 care packages to safe homes and this spring marked the official launch of the buy one, build one ethical box business!

One of the things I’m learning while starting Arise is to differentiate between what’s in my control and what’s not. Then more importantly, let go of the things I cannot control. That’s not an easy thing to do! But worrying about and analyzing things that are not in my control steals life and peace. In any job or work, we have a responsibility to show up and do our best. But we don’t have to carry the load of worry. So, slowly, my grip on control is loosening and I’m learning to focus on what I can do not what I wish others would do.

5. Can you tell us a little bit bout you and the team behind the Arise Box?

#RealTalk Arise Box is run in the spare hours between work at my dining room table. It’s fantastically, wonderfully in the scary start-up stages where you pinch every penny, work frantically, wonder if it’s going to work, and spontaneously fist pump like John Bender at the end of The Breakfast Club with every single new order. Right now, I do most of the work behind Arise but blessedly, my mom volunteered to help me with accounting because numbers are just not my thing.

A little about me; I love supporting ethical businesses and fueling other people’s dreams and hopes. I work as a social media manager three days of the week and on Arise Box the other two. When not working, I love to find unique ways of being active. Right now that looks like learning aerial silks and trapeze (like Cirque Du Soleil but way less graceful) but I also love a good old fashion boot-camp class. I also love reading and hanging out with my three-legged dog.

6. How did you feel when your idea for the box first started to take off?

All of the core ideas behind The Arise Box seemed to come together very fluidly. Things like the name, the first care packages, the spirit behind Arise felt like something bigger than me and my job was to keep pushing forward. But doing anything new is terrifying because there’s a chance you will fall on your face. In my experience, our heads jump between anxiety and excitement in any new adventure. Every day of Arise Box is a blend of love, fear, a sense of purpose, frustration, and thrill of making an impact. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else 🙂

7. Do the boxes have a theme for them and how do you pick the themes?
Every new quarterly ethical box features a theme to help you grow in your life. In the spring, the box was themed around “bravery” and the summer box focuses on “Joy.”

You can get your own summer Arise Box now!

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XOXO,