By Mike Finney

SMYRNA — The Rowland family moved to Delaware from Philadelphia a decade ago, hoping to find a more relaxing, slower pace of life.

Kohren Rowland and her husband, Arthur Rowland, as well as their four children, found the environment they had been longing for in Smyrna. And she was ready to share that love by giving back.

Ms. Rowland — the owner of both FOLDS laundry delivery service and The Scrub Club Cleaning Co., a home-cleaning business — didn’t have to look very far for a charitable inspiration.

“My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer when she turned 40, and my dad passed away from lung cancer, so I have a history of cancer in my family,” she said. “My sister is a cancer survivor. She had breast cancer, did her whole mastectomy and her treatments afterwards and has been fine since. It’s been about 10 years now.

“It’s a struggle. I saw what she went through with (cancer), and I was acting as her nurse. So, with that, I was wondering, ‘How can I give back to the community that we service and that we live in through our businesses?’”

Ms. Rowland eventually developed the idea of cleaning homes of cancer patients — for free.

This year, she teamed up with a group called “Cleaning for a Reason” and committed free Scrub Club treatments for two cancer patients per month, in either Kent or New Castle counties.

“It’s our pledge. We’ll get two cancer patients a month, and they get two cleanings over the course of two months,” she said. “So, we go in and do everything, so they can rest in a clean home and not worry about that kind of necessary chore.

“Then, we replenish and will get two more (patients).”

The Scrub Club is now one of 192 businesses that comprise Cleaning for a Reason, which has provided cleanups for more than 53,188 cancer patients and their families across all 50 states and Canada. Such services are valued at more than $18.3 million.

Those interested can visit cleaningforareason.org or contact Ms. Rowland at 302-990-2772 or info@scrubclubde.com.

Keeping Kent and New Castle clean

While owning a pair of businesses might not sound slower and more relaxing, Ms. Rowland said she is happy to be a Smyrna resident.

In Philadelphia, she served as a registered nurse before jumping into entrepreneurship.

“I’ve just always had that entrepreneur spirit, where I was always trying to figure out what I could do to create more of the best commodity — which is time — for me,” she said. “I came up with the (clothes-washing company) first, and then, we transitioned into cleaning because all of our customers that we gained their trust with cleaning their laundry would say, ‘Hey, do you guys clean houses?’ and I was like ‘no.’

“But, after enough nos, I knew there was a need, so we transitioned into that. With that, it’s still a service industry, just like nursing is. ... We’re trying to make people look good. We’re providing them with a service that helps.”

She opened FOLDS in 2018 in Smyrna. A storefront followed in 2021, at 28 E. Mount Vernon St., Suite 101.

The seven employees of The Scrub Club keep their supplies at FOLDS, and they have meetings there during off-hours.

“We have been busy. It has been consistent throughout,” Ms. Rowland said. “Finding employees has been an issue, but that’s the nature of the game. We service all of New Castle County (and) all the way down to the bottom of Kent.

“We’ve been doing great with residential cleaning and are growing with commercial accounts. We service a couple of local businesses (around Smyrna), cleaning after hours, and we’ve been doing good.”

A nice change of pace

The Rowlands couldn’t be happier with their decision to move to Smyrna.

Mr. Rowland continues to work for federal corrections in Philadelphia, commuting four times a week.

“We moved down here for our children, basically. It’s a slower life — more relaxed,” Ms. Rowland said. “We moved to Smyrna because we were looking for more of that small-town living. We were looking for a great school district for all of our children that we didn’t have to worry about public transportation — which was a big deal in Philly, where kids had to ride public transportation to school without us.

“And then, we were looking for that atmosphere of ‘family.’”

She joked that she doesn’t even venture back to Philadelphia, except to visit relatives.

Their adopted hometown is “everything,” she added.

“I love how Smyrna has a homecoming parade. We never had that in Philadelphia — or anything that supported schools. Now, when we go to a performance at school, it’s standing room only. We didn’t have that in Philadelphia. There wasn’t as much family participation, as far as we can see,” she noted.

With a big smile on her face, she continued, “The kids love it, and we love it. They feel safe, and I feel safe, and there’s a sense of community. Everybody waves, and that was something I kind of had to transition into because I wasn’t used to that.”