Business Alliance Of Franklin Township Debuts At Hand & Stone Event

Some of the visitors to Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa during the spa’s wine and cheese event, and debut of the Business Alliance of Franklin Township

The nascent Business Alliance of Franklin Township was introduced June 14 at a wine and cheese event hosted by Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa in the Crossroads at Somerset center on Elizabeth Avenue.

The event was attended by township business owners and others, who were treated to chair massages, skin analyses and raffles.

The Franklin Reporter & Advocate is a founding member of the business alliance, along with the Somerset branch of Unity Bank and Adcetera, Inc.

BAFT president Alex Shedlock, AVP and manager of the township’s Unity Bank branch, said the new group will seek to promote township businesses through good works.

“We want to give the public something to go out to do to enjoy themselves, and to give the businesses an opportunity to introduce themselves to the community by aligning themselves with philanthropic similarities,” he said. “If like-minded people want to support the animal shelter, they should get together and do that. If people want to support the food bank, they should get together and do that and support each other. The Business Alliance of Franklin Township will be the conduit for that to happen.”

Hand & Stone owner Del Greene, second from left, chats with guests at his wine and cheese networking event.

“By working together with common goals, I feel we’ll be able to accomplish a lot more,” Shedlock said.

Del Greene, the owner of the Hand & Stone franchise, said he fully believes in the idea of businesses working for the public good.

“For instance, I just talked about finding an organization during our breast cancer awareness fundraising event last October,” he said. “So connecting with those kind of organizations is very important.”

“If you’re a business in a community, giving back to the community is very important,” he said.

“Whether I’m hosting an event like this or not, I think connecting with the community is more and more important, especially as the community is building and developing,” Greene said. “I’ve had a great time, actually, connecting with other business owners and people opening new businesses here in the community, because we all get to share ideas about how we’re going to build the business within this market.”

“It’s really sharing and understanding this market together,” he said. “So I think that is a great opportunity with these kind of events.”

Mayor Phil Kramer said that he “was happy to be at the first presentation of the new business alliance in town. The Hand and Stone is truly a elegant facility and it looks like the alliance will do a good job at promoting business. I look forward to attending some of their next events.”

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