COMMUNITY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF GIVING

by John Purchase, COO of William C. Huff

We often write about our commitment to sustainability, the environment and community. This post will be no different in that it’s about giving back to one’s community, but it’s on a more singular and personal level; I wanted to take a moment to single out one of our long-term staff members, Senior Crew Leader Lony Garcon.

Lony started with William C Huff Companies in 2014. Originally from Haiti, he came to the United States for the same reason many do; to seize an opportunity for the betterment of his family. Our company was fortunate enough to meet Lony not long after he moved to Florida. He started with the company as a crew member and quickly rose to the position of Crew Leader and then onto Senior Crew Leader, thanks in large part to his friendly and calm demeanor with clients and coworkers alike.

Aside from Lony’s skills as a mover, a crew leader, and a genuinely nice person, he has also engaged in a pattern of very quietly giving back. Our company has a history of being involved in charity projects and Lony is often one of our staff members who can be found volunteering his time. He does this without fanfare or expectation, he simply does what he can to help.

Lony recently approached me with a question about buying a drum kit. As a longtime drummer, musician and general noise maker myself, I was more than happy to have the conversation with him. I assumed that he wanted to learn to play and that he needed the requisite gear. I was wrong. It turns out that word had gotten back to Lony that the members of a church in his hometown in Haiti were interested in forming a worship band. Due to several circumstances, they couldn’t get all the equipment that they needed. Lony being Lony let them know that he’d investigate it.

Fast forward to my recent conversation with Lony. I was thrilled to talk drums with him, and we started discussing what the needs were. We put together a list of gear that they’d need and talked about the budget. At one point Lony said that most of his budget was already spoken for. I was confused as we’d only just started putting the list together. He let me know that he’d already purchased a slew of other gear for them. As I’ve spent far more on equipment over the years than I’d care to admit, I know all too well how easy it is to spend A LOT of money on equipment, especially if you’re buying quality gear.

I was so touched to learn that Lony not only was continuing to freely give his own time and resources to better others’ lives, but that he was going far above and beyond. As I’m a musician it was particularly heart warming that he was helping others to share the gift of music. I shared with Lony the company who I use for all my equipment needs and we got in touch with them to see what we could put together. They were very kind and offered some additional discounts on what we needed. Unfortunately, given the current price of gear we couldn’t quite get everything that Lony wanted to provide the church with. So, we made a few adjustments to our order and managed to locally source some drum shells to get a complete kit together. The shells, along with the other haul of items that Lony had purchased are being packed up and ready to be shipped out. Hopefully they’ll soon be in the hands of musicians, ready to spread the musical word with the world.

As a company, we’re grateful and so fortunate that we get to have staff members just like Lony with us who not only serve as great representatives of William C Huff Companies and take great care of our clients, but who are also caring, loving individuals who work hard to maintain a connection to their communities, whether it’s here in Naples or in any other part of the world.

If you’re a musician and you’d like to be a part of Lony helping his hometown community and you have some extra gear or equipment that you’re ready to part ways with, please reach out and let us know!