Positive Story Time

You have more than a year of pandemic fatigue. My prescription: a heart-warming story in the sheet metal industry.

This paragraph is one of the two only places you’ll read “COVID-19” in the entire issue of the June 2021 SNIPS Magazine. And that’s intentional. For more than a year, the pandemic has dominated conversations in the sheet metal industry and beyond. And in that chorus, we’ve let several stories fly under the radar.

Take for instance the story of Greg Laville, a former union construction worker, and the help he recently received from Arctic Bear Htg and AC of Endwell, New York.

Laville handled heavy machinery, set rigging and scaffolding, loaded cranes, and performed demolition work while a member of the concrete union in Binghamton, NY.

In 2014, he suffered a torn meniscus, broken sacrum and a severe concussion which affected his cognitive functions and led to chronic neuropathic and muscle pain after falling backwards off a work truck. Laville was left in a difficult situation after Workmen’s Comp. was discontinued, as he is still caring for his two teenaged girls.

The Joseph S Groh Foundation joined forces with Arctic Bear Htg and AC to help. The following story comes from the foundation: During the winter of 2019, Laville was forced to use electric and kerosene heaters to heat his 100-year-old house because the boiler, original to the home, was no longer serviceable. In addition, the basement floor had a serious crack that needed to be repaired, and all the windows in the home needed replaced.

The Service Roundtable put the foundation in touch with Arctic Bear, and they put the foundation in touch with the other contractors Laville needed. The scope of work included replacing the boiler, water heater, relining the chimney, replacing radiators and 20 windows, and installing a 12-foot header in the basement with three smart jacks to level the floor.

Laville’s home is now ready for the harshest northeastern winters, thanks to the cooperation between full-service contractor Arctic Bear and the Joseph S. Groh Foundation, which is dedicated to providing information and financial assistance for those in the contracting trades who are living with a life-altering disabilities.

The Joseph S. Groh Foundation has provided nearly $750,000 to individuals needing assistance in 30 states since their founding in 2009. Just think of all the other men and women like Laville who can sleep better at night after receiving help from this community of contractors: specializing in everything from boiler installation and disassembly to window replacements.

Contractors do essential work for meeting our day-to-day needs, I take comfort in knowing after a lifetime of service, the men and women of this trade who are struggling have somewhere to turn to.

For more information, please visit josephgrohfoundation.org or contact them via e-mail hope@josephgrohfoundation or phone 214-998-9749.

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Austin Keating is the special section editor of SNIPS NEWS at The ACHR NEWS. He covers sheet metal, mechanical contractors, duct cleaning, testing and balancing, steel, building information modeling (BIM) and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC). Prior to joining BNP Media, he served as field editor for Prairie Farmer and media specialist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Email him at keatinga@bnpmedia.com.