Home Services Firm Joins Effort
How do you train young carpenters when you have no tools? How do you handle needed repairs when there is no hammer? How do you build furniture when you can’t drill a hole?
Early this year Brad Huff, President of Mr. Quik Home Services, called his staff together to present a critical need in Africa. Nearly 100 members of this plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning firm gathered at their north-side headquarters in Indianapolis to hear a presentation by members of the Malawi Project about the need for simple hand tools in the poorest nation on earth. To many, it was the first time they had heard a first-hand report on the drought of poverty that is leaving the average Malawian with an insufficient supply of the simplest hand tools to sustain their homes and villages. At the conclusion of the presentation, the firm’s President extended a challenge to his 100-member team to help make a difference. The group readily accepted the challenge.
At the conclusion of the tool campaign Chelsea Kirk, marketing manager for Mr. Quik, observed, “The team here at Mr. Quik was excited to help support the Malawi Project through our recent tool drive. We promoted the cause via social media and reached out to our team members and customers to help collect as many tools as possible. Over the course of 2 months, we were able to collect 768 tools! Our customers were excited to help support this cause and share it with their extended friends and family. We know this will greatly impact the country of Malawi, and help its community become more self-reliant through the resource of tools.”
Over the next two months, the firm focused social media attention on the campaign to gather tools. First, the employees gathered tools from their own resources, and then Facebook stories and printed flyers extended the appeal to their network of customers in order to collect donated hand tools while technicians were doing their work. The result was an outpouring of assistance that brought literally hundreds of hand tools.