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It was a big step for the Greens. Over the past ten years, the
two of them built the business on their own. Don designs and creates
the tables, candlesticks, and cabinets that established the GreenTree
look and reputation for quality. Jenifer develops and launches
marketing campaigns and business strategies to bring GreenTree
products into peoples' homes. "Don needed an employee just
to handle the production end of the business," Jenifer said.
"When the Watershed Forestry Program granted us the funds
to establish the apprenticeship, it freed Don to develop the new
line." And because the one-year grant to GreenTree covers
the entire cost of the apprenticeship program – from advertising
for the right person to salary and benefits to specialized training
– it didn't set GreenTree back financially.
 Throughout
the Greens tenure in Delhi, they have always used local vendors
to build their business. Catskill Castings in Bloomville supplies
the company with metalsmithing needs. They purchase wood from
Pawlikowski's Sawmill in Delhi and Wightman Specialty Woods in
Portlandville, among others. And Galene Studios in Treadwell serve
as GreenTree's principal photographer. By hiring Delaware County
native Steve MacClintock as their technical apprentice, the company
continued its commitment to forging local ties and improving the
economic climate for area residents.
Today, the apprenticeship program is past its halfway point and
the Greens have already seen a big difference in the company's
productivity. "Our sales are up 20% from last year's figures,"
Jenifer said in late November 2001. "The grant enabled Don
to devote more time to creating our new Studio line and Steve
is an essential part of the team now."
The next step for GreenTree centers on marketing the new line
that Don has developed. In October 2001, the Watershed Forestry
Program made a second grant to the company to cover the costs
of photographing the pieces, producing a four-color catalog, launching
a web site, and showing the new work at New York City's International
Contemporary Furniture Fair in May 2002. "It really helped
us to take gigantic steps forward," Jenifer said about the
second grant from the WFP. "The show in New York is really
the show for contemporary furniture and with the new catalog and
booth, we are going to be fully prepared – on a professional
level – to take GreenTree forward."
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