Jo Rosen teaches her daughter, Lindsey, the facts of art.

HOMEWORK

IN

hen Lindsey
Rosen was
born in 1981,
her mother,
Jo, then- di-
rector of a Southfield nursery
school, stopped teaching —
but didn't stop working.
"I wanted to work at home,"
Rosen said. "I painted sweat-
shirts to keep myself busy,
and then I found that people
wanted to buy them."
Rosen, a West Bloomfield
resident who has two at-home
businesses, Jodash Co., her
hand-painted line of clothes,
and One of a Kind Hand-
painted Designs, her acrylic
and water-color paintings, is
one of many mothers in
Oakland County who have
home-based businesses.
According to Leo Linsen-
meyer, a small business
counselor for the Oakland
County Economic Develop-
ment Department, about 350
new home-based businesses a
month are registered under
women's names in Oakland
County.
Valerie and Cheryl
Schanes, sisters-in-law who
reside in West Bloomfield,
began their business, Kinder
Krates, last August. "We
were skeptical about the
chances of succeeding in this
type of business at first,"

Mothers who want to work
and spend time with their children
are opening shop at home
for the best of both worlds.

STEVEN M. HARTZ

Jewish News Intern

Valerie Schanes said. "We
had little bright-colored laun-
dry baskets and stuffed them
with all sorts of children's
gifts. We found ideas and just
kept going from there."
The idea came when
Valerie sent a food basket to
somebody who just had a
baby. She admitted she didn't
like the idea of just sending a
basket full of food. She and
her sister-in-law noted when
they had their children, they
received baskets filled with
no-name food which they just
threw away. "Food was the
last thing I needed when I
had to lose the pounds I gain-
ed from the pregnancy,"
Valerie Schanes said.
"Once I threw the food.
away, I was left with a
magazine, a baby bottle and
a basket I didn't need,"

Rocket rider Kinder Krate.

Cheryl Schanes said. "In our
baskets, which are rocket
riders, play strollers, baby
bathtubs, hand-painted
wastebaskets, toy trucks,
rocking horses, toy shopping
carts and play strollers, we
use all practical, useable pro-
ducts."
Their products include baby
items, picture frames, and
toys — all children-oriented.
"If they have older children,
we also put in something for
them," Valerie Schanes said.
The Schaneses work out of
Valerie's home. "We have a
finished basement
downstairs," Valerie Schanes
said. "All the kids play
together downstairs, so we
don't have to worry about get-
ting sitters."
Beverly Dovitz, of Hun-
tington Woods, and Susan

Weisenfeld, of Farmington
Hills, are two other sisters-in-
law who wanted to try their
hands at owning a business.
In Novemeber 1987, oppor-
tunity came knocking at
their door when Dovitz knew
of an Oak Park woman whose
business was for sale. Their
company, That Personalized
Touch, started out as a
wholesale business.
"We handstamp imprints
on beverage and dinner
napkins, guest towels, match
books, playing cards and
much more," Dovitz said.
From that, they expanded
into retail gift items such as
picture frames, T-shirts for
children to color, tubesocks
for teenagers, jewelry
pouches, sachet for potpourri,
party favors, books for
children where they can put
their pictures, rubber stamps,
and women's and men's
gadgets, such as mini-pocket
electric razors.
Last month, Dovitz and
Weisenfeld went into the in-
vitation business as well.
Their business is run out of
Weisenfeld's home.
Sharlene Beck and Sandy
Zeskind, two West Bloomfield
residents, met each other
eight years ago through their
children. Like Kinder Krates
and That Personalized 'Ibuch,

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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