I don’t think I can ever truly express the magnitude of amazement I have for all the great things the people in this industry do daily. Pest management professionals (PMPs) are some of the greatest people I have ever known.
We recently ran a story about David Larson, a PMP in Calif., who donated pest management services to three local Boy Scout camps, thanks to some help from J.T. Eaton.
Stories like that one happen all the time in this industry I’ve found. Almost every week I hear about another PMP who has gone out of his or her way to give back to the community.
In a recent interview with Larry Soto of Larry Soto Pest Control in Texas, he told us about what he did to pitch in during the aftermath of Hurricane Ike last September.
“The whole area was devastated,” Soto said. “You don’t realize the effect of a hurricane until you’ve gone back into an area.”
Primera Iglesia Bautista, a Baptist church in Waco, donated food, blankets, and shelter to those affected by the storm. But in the aftermath of the storm, subterranean termite damage was discovered under the church.
“When they cleaned out the walls, they noticed they had termites,” he said.
Soto donated his services to clear it up. The chemicals he needed for the treatment — 200 gallons of Premise 75wp — were donated by Bayer.
“Within 24 hours I had all the chemical I needed to do the treatment,” Soto said. “You can’t ask for any nicer thing from any company.”
Another PMP who’s making a difference is Seth Garber, of Nvirotect Services in Fla.
During last January’s Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, Nvirotect Services, along with DuPont, signed up to donate treatment to one low-income house as part of a partnership between the NFL Experience and Tampa’s Rebuild America non profit organization.
When Nvirotect saw the extent of the cockroach infestations, they agreed to donate to 25 total homes and is giving these families free pest management for an entire year
Since the Super Bowl, Nvirotect Services has continued to partner with ReBuild America and is donating its services to 120 homes.
Wilson Wells, owner and operator of S.W.A.T. Environmental Services in Naples, Fla., is yet another PMP who’s done some good deeds.
Wells also happens to be an adult leader in a Christian boys group called Royal Rangers and recently assisted the group with his pest management expertise.
The Royal Rangers have an annual PowWow trip to a local campground, which has a fire ant problem. But the campground operators don’t treat for the pests.
“It’s up to the individual church that brings up their group to treat the area for fire ants,” Wells says.
Wells talked to Syngenta about donating Award fire ant treatments to the campsites, and they agreed, contributing enough to treat 88 acres of campground before the April event.
With the treatment completed, the Rangers were able to have their PowWow.
“It’s great to be able to use my professional skills to benefit an organization that is near to me,” Wells says. “It’s great to have a manufacturer that you can turn to.”
And, of course, there are the Jenkins brothers in Texas. By now, they’ve reached Calgary, Ontario in Canada, having ridden on their bicycles from Austin, Texas
Each brother rode to raise money for a different charity. Bobby, with ABC in Austin, raised money for Caritas in Austin, a local charity that helps people in Austin. Raleigh, with ABC in Houston, raised money for the Kidney Foundation and Dennis, with ABC in Dallas-Fort Worth, rode for the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society.
These are only a handful of the great stories in this industry I’ve seen. There’s many more — and we’ll do our best to tell them as often as we can because it’s important to know about all the good this industry does
You should be proud to be a part of this industry. I know I am.
Tid Bits:
- There’s still time to register for the best cruise of the summer: Later this month, Bug Off Pest Control Center in New York is hosting a Business Leadership Cruise featuring Norm Cooper, Dean Stanbridge and Harvey Goldglantz — and I’ll be in attendance as well. This promises to be a fun and valuable seminar so, if you’re in the area, consider going.
- Not only can you follow Pest Management Professional magazine on Twitter @PMPmagazine, you can follow PMP business columnist Harvey Goldglantz as well. See what he’s tweeting about @HGPCMC.
- Don’t forget you can become a fan of Pest Management Professional magazine on Facebook. Check it out.
- I want to give a quick bit of gratitude to Joe Fox, who contributed to some of the information in this column. Thanks, Joe!
EDITOR’S NOTE: This post originally appears as my On the Record column on mypmp.net and in this week’s Buzz eNewsletter.
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Tags: Blogging, On the Record, Philanthropy, PMPs, Positivity, Suppliers
