Tom’s of Maine: God’s World and Natural Care

Tom’s of Maine is a business focused around the development of purely natural self-care and hygiene products. While not explicit about their Christian roots, the website promotes a 5-fold impact which can be clearly rooted in redemptive ideals: (1) naturally sourced components and ingredients for all products and no experimenting on animals, (2) Tom’s of Maine claims certification as a B Corp, meaning they are “endorsed by international nonprofit B Lab as meeting its high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency,” which must be checked every 3 years, (3) the company use their profits to support projects of community good such as zero waste projects or making renewable energy accessible, (4) they donate 10% of their annual profits to charities in order to “promote health, education, and the environment,” and (5) all their employees should are implored to use their 5% paid volunteer days on things they care about. Employees past “have helped at animal shelters and schools, by repairing trails and removing invasive species, doing beach cleanups and by coaching kids teams.”

All these support Tom’s of Maine’s mission to “Do good. For real.” The goodness maybe doesn’t need spelled out but they promote human health through (natural) world health. If the planet is treated in healthy and flurishable ways, then we can focus on humanities needs. This combat to selfishness and pursuit of renewability is certainly redemptive. The creators of the company, Tom and Kate Chappell, are active Episcopalians. Christ is nowhere to be found on the website today, but the redemptive impact of the company’s creators certainly remains in the practices and values of the company today.