At T ‘N G Plumbing, we recently celebrated the 10th season of our Pay It Forward program, taking on home renovations for families in need in the Mower County, Minnesota, area.
To celebrate this accomplishment, we opted to tackle two homes this year and didn’t have a problem getting enough nominations to find the right people to help. These projects are done in the middle of March and normally take place over a five-day period so we do not have to displace homeowners for too long. This year the project for the Konken family was done in five days, but the second project for Joel Henricks took eight days due to some extra work.
Cassie Konken is a paraprofessional at Oakland Education Center. She works in the SUN program (Students with Unique Needs) and cares for students in 6th through 11th grades. She is a single mom to four children. Her bathroom for bathing and showering was in dire need of help. The bathroom was improperly remodeled several years ago and was failing, creating mold, falling tile and an unfit area for her and her children. We completely gutted the bathroom and reconfigured it to add additional space. A tub/shower unit was donated by E.L. Mustee and faucet fixtures with accessories were donated by Delta Faucet. We also installed new flooring in the master bedroom as well as some finishing touches throughout the home. Cassie was also gifted a new furnace, air conditioner and water heater by Johnstone Supply Bloomington Group and water softener by WaterSoft.
Our second project was for a 47-year-old gentleman, Joel Henricks, who has worked for Cedar Valley Services for over 25 years. He was using a very crudely assembled shower in his unheated basement due to leaking in his second floor tub/shower. We wanted to give Joel the ability to stay in his home. Joel also had problems with his kitchen sink area freezing up in the winter as it was on an outside wall and our Minnesota temps are not suited for such a setup. Joel did have to be out of his home more than our average five days as we had decided to completely gut and expand his bathroom, as well as gut and flip his kitchen around to prevent further freezing. The extent of work for Joel’s home was more than we had tackled on a project, but what a way to celebrate 10 years of giving back to our community. T ‘N G Plumbing is so proud to be partnered with so many amazing local businesses as well as international companies that support our work.
Over the past 10 years, we have been able to give over $1 million back to our community members’ homes and personal needs. We can't wait to continue this work and expand as much as financially possible. We help those in need throughout the year with things ranging from groceries to car repairs, plumbing work to heating repairs, pay for prescriptions to vet bill aid, funeral services to medical bills. There is really only the requirement of living within our community and needing help due to no fault of your own. Still, most people in our area know us for our large renovation project we charter every March for a family or person in need. In a short amount of time, we compile numerous businesses and volunteers to donate their time and experience. We put blood, sweat and tears every year into creating safer homes and reminding our neighbors that they are loved by their community.
Pay It Forward started in the fall of 2014. Todd and I had a house fire on Nov. 8, 2010 ,that took our home and all of our belongings. It was after that incident we were shown the love of the community when friends, family and even strangers donated items to help our family of six. Our business was also voted Best of Mower County in 2014 and at that point we decided to find a way to give back to the community. Our kickoff was a very large bathroom remodel for a gentleman that was paralyzed.
We now also undertake multiple smaller projects throughout the year, which has included plumbing work at the About Face Sober Living home, a grill donation to a recovery house for teenage boys, medical money donations to an infant with brittle bone disease, money donation to a young girl who wanted an adaptive bike to suit her cerebral palsy, water heater installation for a senior who was also a vet and purchase of a snowblower for an elderly gentleman who had his stolen.
Our work in 2019 is a good example to show how much we have grown beyond just our annual large remodel. In December 2019 we paid a large car repair bill for a young mother who was just diagnosed with cancer. We also moved a laundry room to a main floor for a woman who physically wasn’t capable of using her basement anymore and needed drainlines repaired throughout her home. We installed a new water heater for another woman who worked as a first responder, and since she had only been in her home a month couldn’t afford such an expense already. We purchased hundreds of needed diapers and dozens of toys for our local Parenting Resource Center. We also donated over $800 to Operation Christmas to help in-need families celebrate with their children.
Our work is everywhere and our hearts are on fire with desire to continue that work. We always need help. We even started a Pay It Forward Veteran Program last year where T ‘N G Plumbing offers free installs of kitchen and bathroom faucets and toilets or grab bars as needed. All of those fixtures were furnished by Delta Faucet. We have helped over 25 veterans in our area over the past several months. Giving our fellow community members a sense of worth is the most fulfilling result of what we do.
We encourage other plumbing companies to start something similar in their own communities. It’s not easy, but the end results in the lives we change are immeasurable.
