Stained Glass And Philanthropy: A Madison Woman's Local Impact

MADISON, NJ — Customers often want to support brands and businesses that do good in the world, ensuring that their money has a positive rather than a negative impact.

One small business in Madison is contributing to the equation and making a difference in the community.

Margaret Malishchak, a Madison artist, sells her original stained glass artwork through her company, glass4good, and donates 100 percent of the proceeds to New Jersey-based social and environmental justice organizations.

Malishchak, who founded her company in November 2020, has donated nearly $7,000 to organizations such as The Land Conservancy of New Jersey, NourishNJ, PeaceWorks and the Great Swamp Watershed Association.

"For me, this project is a win-win-win. People get a nice piece of stained glass artwork, worthy organizations get a donation, and I get to keep creating," Malishchak said.

Valerie Thorpe, Director of Communications and Membership at the Great Swamp Watershed Association, applauded Malishchak's work during the bi-annual Town-Wide Yard Sale, saying she raised $310 for the GSWA by holding a stained glass sale on her front steps.

Malishchak first became interested in stained glass after taking a class in her twenties. "I enthusiastically turned out pieces for several years and then...graduate school, marriage, career, houses, children...and the stained glass equipment went into boxes in the basement, where it remained untouched for over 25 years," she said on her website.

The handmade art work has been displayed at a number of local craft shows and fairs, as well as in the Art League of the Chathams' Fall Show.

Malishchak stated that she was given some special antique glass from a cupola atop Madison's James Building and that she recently created more than a dozen new pieces that incorporate this historic glass.

To view Malishchak's entire gallery of available work, go to the glass4good website.