© Veronica Zin
I run A Cheerful Giver out of Elmer, New Jersey. The population is about 1,300. We make candles. Been at it since 1991.
January 11, 2025, I got the phone call. Our building was on fire. Two-alarm. They had to bring in trucks from Gloucester County to help put it out. By morning there was nothing left. Thirty-something years of equipment, raw materials, finished product. Gone.
So yeah. That happened.
I picked up the phone and started calling our workers.
We have a partnership with CODI that goes back over 20 years. Adults with special needs hand-wick every candle we sell. That’s not a marketing line. That’s literally how our candles get made. These people are part of our operation.
I had to tell them we still had a company. That they still had work. Honestly, I wasn’t totally sure how we were going to make that true yet, but I said it anyway. Figured we’d work out the details later.
Turned out to be the right call.
Orders started rolling in within days. Not normal orders. People buying candles because they heard about the fire and wanted to keep us going. Retailers calling to say they weren’t going anywhere and to take whatever time we needed.
I wasn’t expecting that. But looking back it makes sense. We spent 30 years putting out a product we were proud of. We load our candles with fragrance. We don’t cheap out on materials. We never have. So when the building burned down, people felt like they had a stake in us making it back.
You can’t fake that kind of loyalty. You either built it already or you didn’t. We got lucky that we had.
Some people would have spent six months planning the comeback. Drawing up blueprints, ordering equipment, getting everything perfect before making a single candle.
We didn’t do that. We cobbled things together. Found space. Got creative. Started pouring candles however we could. It was ugly and it was definitely not how we’d normally operate. But we had orders to fill and people counting on us.
Customers don’t care if your setup is perfect. They care if you’re still open. So we were.
The hardest stretch wasn’t the first week. The first week you’re running on adrenaline, people are rallying around you and it actually feels kind of hopeful.
The hard part is month three, month four. When you’re grinding every day, costs are through the roof, revenue is half what it used to be, and nobody’s writing news stories about you anymore. That’s when it gets lonely.
I don’t have any great wisdom for that part. I just showed up every day and made candles. Some days that’s all you can do.
Real talk. If I could go back:
Write everything down. How we mixed our fragrances, which suppliers we used, how the equipment was set up. All of that lived in people’s heads. When the building burned, we had to reconstruct it from memory. That was brutal.
Read your insurance policy. Not skim it. Actually sit down with your agent and ask hard questions. If the whole place is gone tomorrow, what exactly happens? You want that answer before you need it.
Build your online sales now, not later. We had a strong wholesale business but when production slowed down, our website, Amazon, and TikTok Shop kept money coming in. If those channels had been bigger before the fire we would have been in much better shape during the rebuild.
Keep a backup supplier list. When you need materials fast you can’t spend three weeks finding vendors. Have the names and numbers ready before you ever need them.
It’s early 2026 and honestly we might have our best year yet. We’re shipping to thousands of stores around the country and our CODI team is back doing what they do best.
The fire was the worst thing that ever happened to this company. But we came out the other side. Not because we had some brilliant plan. Because we had good people, a good product, and customers who gave a damn.
If you’re dealing with your own disaster right now, all I can say is keep showing up. It’s not glamorous advice. But it’s the only advice I’ve got that I know actually works.
Mark Gross is one of the owners of A Cheerful Giver, a candle manufacturer based in Elmer, New Jersey. Founded in 1991, A Cheerful Giver produces over 1,400 fragrances and partners with CODI to employ adults with special needs. Visit acheerfulgiver.com.
SINGAPORE: Singapore is asking employers to do more than just hire older workers. It wants them to rethink how jobs are built.
A new push from policymakers and industry groups is putting the focus on flexible roles, job redesign, and practical changes at the company level. The message is that older workers can stay, but the work itself must evolve.
Senior Minister of State for Manpower Dr Koh Poh Koon said many firms still struggle with two issues: limited flexible work options and a lack of know-how to retrain seniors for different roles.
He urged companies to take a more active role instead of waiting for policy fixes. Government support can help, but real change depends on what employers do on the ground, Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports.
Singapore is set to become a “super-aged” society this year. More than one in five residents will be 65 or older.
That change is already shaping hiring decisions as companies face a tight labour market, and older workers are becoming part of the solution.
Dr Koh pointed out that many seniors want to keep working. Income matters, but so does routine and social connection. There is also a health angle; staying active at work helps slow physical and mental decline.
Around 30 companies are now working with a tripartite group to test new ways of structuring careers across different life stages.
One example comes from Tower Transit, which is piloting new roles for bus captains aged 60 and above.
From May, 15 senior drivers will try out three career pathways designed to reduce physical strain while keeping their experience in play. They can rotate between driving and working as interchange officers, helping with operations and basic digital tasks.
Another option is becoming a “buddy,” guiding new drivers on routes and safety practices. A third pathway allows part-time driving. These roles didn’t exist before. They were created to stretch careers without stretching bodies.
Without such options, most bus captains would continue full-time driving until 75, the licence limit.
One veteran driver, who has spent about three decades on the job, is moving into a mentoring role instead of retiring. He plans to pass on his experience to younger colleagues.
Retention is a key factor. Tower Transit employs about 1,600 bus captains, with 14 per cent aged 60 and above. Keeping experienced staff helps ease hiring pressure.
Managing director Winston Toh said the challenge is making these changes work without raising costs. The company will review the pilot after a year before deciding whether to expand it.
Beyond job redesign, the company has introduced tools like wearable exoskeletons to help older technicians handle physically demanding tasks. The goal is to keep skilled workers productive for longer.
Singapore National Employers Federation vice-president Tan Hwee Bin described these efforts as practical steps that demonstrate how companies can better deploy senior workers and ease labour shortages.
The bigger picture is less about extending retirement and more about redesigning work itself.
Companies that adapt early may find it easier to retain experience, reduce hiring pressure, and maintain operational stability.
Those who don’t may face growing strain as the labour pool tightens.
Keeping seniors employed shouldn’t mean asking them to do the same job for longer. It means reshaping work, so experience matters more than physical strain.
The companies that get this balance right will solve manpower issues and build workplaces that reflect the reality of Singapore’s demographic shift.
A practical next step is to review existing roles, remove unnecessary physical demands, and create pathways that enable people to contribute in different ways as they age.
Read related: Singapore employees fear job loss amid higher flexible work approvals
This article (Koh Poh Koon: Singapore companies must take active role, as job redesign and flexible work help retain older workers) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.
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