Student Business Spotlight: CareFox
By: Bree Maciel
CareFox is a small business started by two senior business majors, Danielle Korthuis and Kylie Smith, here at George Fox University (GFU) in order to help students be able to “send some love around campus.”
CareFox allows students, parents, and faculty to send boxes filled with an assortment of gifts along with personalized notes to people on campus. Their vision, as a business, is to “keep costs low to customers, allowing anyone to send a package without price coming in the way.”
CareFox wasn’t a new idea. “We actually came up with the idea a year ago but didn’t have quite enough resources or time to implement it to George Fox,” Korthuis and Smith said. “With everything going on in the world and on campus, we noticed that students - and even professors - need a little extra love these days ... We wanted to create a care package that creates a sense of appreciation and love to whoever opens it.”
CareFox is all about spreading joy and happiness in a time when they might seem hard to find. Korthuis and Smith said, “we do it for others honestly, not ourselves. Making these packages is a joy and makes us happy knowing whoever gets one will be too.”
So far, CareFox has offered a Valentine’s Day special which allowed customers to choose from three gift boxes for ten dollars each, with a “unique combination of goodies.” One of their goals is to “make the boxes affordable for those who want to buy one. The less expensive it is, the more people will be able to send their love to others without the fear of cost coming in the way. We put a lot of thought and work into each and every box, and we want it to show.”
CareFox will soon be coming out with a St. Patrick’s Day Box and one later for Easter. CareFox is “focusing on the holidays” in light of the semester’s end in two months. However, CareFox said, “As far as a general care box goes, we have thought about that, and we may add a general box when we announce the Saint Patty's day boxes.”
Here’s some insight into the “behind the scenes” work from Korthuis and Smith:
What we do to run CareFox: We stay on top of our emails and dms, making sure to respond as fast as we possibly can. Behind the scenes there is a lot of planning and research to reach the most people possible, get our name out there, and provide a quality product at a low price.
Adapting as we go to serve our customers: For Valentine's, there were a couple people who preordered boxes and wanted to pick up on Friday. However, with the ice storm coming, we had delivered their boxes across campus so that they could get their boxes on time. We went all out to ensure our customers got their boxes without any stress on their part.
How the process works: First we go around to multiple stores doing our research on how we can produce a meaningful box at a low price. Then we decide on our box options for that holiday and make prototypes to announce to everyone. Once we see the request and can predict how many we are going to sell we have a big shopping day where we get all the supplies out of pocket. Then we assemble all the boxes personally in assembly line fashion and make them as personal as possible with a personalized note and ribbon. Our delivery system to mail services is pretty straightforward. The mailroom on campus allows us to use their service and send packages with the ribbon on it! So that was extremely helpful for our business! This allows any student or professor to conveniently pick up their box on campus like they would any other package. We also deliver personally and plan to sell on campus for St. Patty's day.
Photo Courtesy: CareFox
CareFox moving forward plans to “really advertise towards parents” and continue to promote to students. Currently, CareFox is working hard to fill their packages with more goodies without having to raise the cost. Continuing forward with their business plan, they are “reaching out to local businesses who also are interested in supporting George Fox students and spreading the love.” As seniors, Korthuis and Smith haven’t figured out how next year is going to look for CareFox, however, they would like to keep it running in some capacity.
CareFox accepts Venmo or Cash and is on Instagram @carefox_box. CareFox is all about the customer and spreading love around the GFU campus.