At Agentis Plumbing, a third-generation, family-owned company based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, “giving back” is a central tenet of the company’s culture.
Of course, a lot of companies say that. But owner Nate Agentis does more than pay lip service to the concept, as evidenced by a trip he took in May 2023 with eight technicians to build houses in Nicaragua. The mission was organized by a local church and the company donated $10,000 to fund the construction of two houses.
“Giving back is part of my faith and who I am,” Agentis says. “It’s one of our core values, along with compassion, excellence, purpose and integrity. God has given us talents and the ability to make money and we want to use those for a bigger purpose than ourselves. There’s more purpose to life than getting a paycheck on Fridays.”
The trip also left a lasting impression on the technicians. Agentis says some of his technicians have endured hard times during their lives, but standing on a smoldering landfill and watching people who live under tarps and pick through garbage to find scrap metal and food provided a valuable perspective.
“The people who live there do this every day,” he says. “I saw grown men crying while we stood on that landfill. Some of them told me it was one of the most life-changing things they’ve ever experienced. That’s worth more than any money we can make back in the Lehigh Valley where we live.”
The company also partners with Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian organization that provides humanitarian aid both locally, nationally and abroad.
Agentis estimates the company spent about $21,000 on the Nicaragua trip, including food, airline flights and lodging. And that doesn’t include the revenue lost by having eight technicians gone for a week, which equates to about a 10% staffing decrease.
“It’s a sacrifice as well as a commitment,” he explains. “To handle the staffing shortage, we shift people around, don’t schedule longer jobs and schedule as much emergency work as possible for the following week. We also left enough key people behind.”
This year, Agentis plans to take another group of employees to Honduras. And once again, he expects the results will far outweigh any lost revenue.
“When you go to foreign country like Nicaragua, you see how few opportunities there are for people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and better themselves,” he says. “There basically aren’t any jobs. So when we go into a community and build someone a home and give them the deed, it creates a new life for them — gives them a chance to break the cycle of poverty. It’s truly amazing to see.”
Read more about Agentis Plumbing in a future issue of Plumber magazine.
