Los Angeles, California (The Hollywood Times) 12/24/2020 – Married for over 30 years, Vic and Vickie Bennett created and ran spa businesses in NYC and DC. The Bennetts now have a lavender farm in west Michigan where Lavender-Life was born. Lavender-Life is driven by the Bennett’s values Learning/Imagination/Friendship and Excellence (LIFE). You will find the Lavender Lovers Ultimate Package, aromatherapy gift sets, bath and spa sets, teas, the lovable lavender-filled Xander Bunny and so much more! With every purchase of the Xander Bunny, a child in foster care receives one as well. With over 10,000 Xander Bunnies given, we learn about why the Bennetts are on a mission to help at risk kids.
Victor and Vickie have been in business together since 1984 when they opened their first salon out of the basement in their home. In 2008 Vic and Vickie were asked to run the spa in the JW Marriott in Grand Rapids. The demand for spa services outperformed the use of JWs’ small spa so the Bennett’s together invented and patented a cart system that allowed therapists to perform any and all services from the comfort of a guest’s room. This new creation in the spa world catapulted them to be asked by Hyatt hotels to run some of their small spas and in-room spa services throughout NYC and DC.
The Bennett’s loved traveling back and forth from DC and NYC to Michigan but when their own girls were all married and began to have babies, they wanted to be around for them. They craved the farming lifestyle they grew up in Upstate NY. Because Vic had been formulating for all their spa product lines, it was very easy to translate what they had already been doing professionally to lavender, which happens to be their favorite essential oil to work with. Lavender-Life offers aromatherapy, bath & spa gift boxes, tea & chocolate gift boxes, Culinary Gift Trios and so much more!
Their best-selling product is the plush lavender-filled bunny – Xander Bunny, as it has garnered much attention in the media because we give a Bunny for every one sold to a child in foster care.
Other popular that it would have to be the Comfort Neck Wraps, Life Teas, and Tea and Organic Lavender Chocolate Gift Box.
There are so many health benefits of lavender. It is used to treat:
Anxiety
Lowers blood pressure
Insomnia
Bug bites
Used as a Bug repellent
Burns
Acne
Pain
Just to name a few.
New Years is right around the corner, The Lavender Lovers Ultimate Package is a perfect gift to ring in the new year.
Lavender Lovers contains lavender cream which is extremely emollient due to the 30% organic shea butter. It also has a lavender candle, lavender linen spray, goat’s milk soap bar, and 2 bottles of USDA organic undiluted lavender oil for rolling onto skin or dropping into the diffuser.
Kids can enjoy the Kit and Kaboodle.
Michigan is a huge producer of Montmorency cherries and the Bennetts knew that Dark cherries have some of the same properties that lavender does such as inducing sleep, and both are also used as an anti-inflammatory. Making them into cute little gummies is so easy and so good for adults and kids alike. The Bennett’s grandchildren as young as 2 love helping them make them in their farm kitchen.
What does L.I.F.E. mean to you?
It has been the values that have driven all of our companies:
Learning
Imagination
Friendship
Excellence
Anything, whether it’s an idea, person, or product that includes these ideals, is good for our company standards.
Lavender-Life is much more than a business, it is about helping at risk-kids.
The Bennett’s have always had a heart for kids, especially kids at risk. Giving has always been a part of every business they have owned but they desired an engine that would help support kids at risk. It was when their daughter and son in law took on 2-year-old Xander from foster care and later adopted him, that they found the answer they had been looking for. The lavender filled soft plush toy helped Xander so much with his sleep and anxiety that they knew it would help other children in trauma as well. It was how Xander Bunny was born! It was easy for them to give one for every one sold knowing it was such a tangible thing they could do to let these children know they are loved and not alone. Just like their Xander.
The Friends of Bunnies is a program where folks can buy a Xander bunny but they want that bunny to go to a child in foster care. The Bennett’s match that bunny as well and give another to a child in foster care.
Not only is the Xander Bunny moving, but the Bennetts have created a video on their website for people to visualize the reality of how many foster kids are out there. They reference the University of Michigan Football Stadium. “Victor was a 4th-grade teacher for many years and giving a visual of how many children there are that are in need is an incredibly powerful tool. What does that many children look like – when you can imagine a stadium full of people that helps to see how great the need is and many of them are in our own backyard.”
Lavender- LIfe is working with many agencies to give the Xander Bunnies to foster kids. You can find a spreadsheet and map on their website. https://lavender-life.com/
Now, you can order the Xander Dog- Lavender Comfort Therapy Animal
What is your vision for 2021?
We want to gain more community partners which is a person or group of people who want to help kids in the foster care system. The “kit” our Xander bunny packages together to distribute Xander Bunnies to their entire county/county’s agencies on a regular basis. Creating awareness in these folks about the foster care system and their agents, allows communication and hopefully begs the question “what else can we do to help”. Ultimately, we hope to have families also come to the forefront to take in children either temporarily or on a permanent forever home basis.
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