By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
Good people attract good people. Never more is that true than when a private company, built on integrity and providing exemplary service to their customers, teams up with a non-profit outreach that embodies similar values.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a story about the Veterans Rural Outreach (VRO), a group in Shelbyville that supports unhoused and at-risk military veterans. Transitional housing, meals, counseling, and other services to those in Shelby County and other nearby areas are provided. Besides having a large multi-purpose building, VRO offers six “tiny homes” in a place they call Veterans Village, serving as temporary housing for veterans in need.
VRO is a privately directed nonprofit and the product of many competent, helping hands in the Shelbyville community. Because of that effort, it is a compelling success and a sterling model for other communities so inclined to help those who served to keep our country free.
Recently, VRO’s work attracted the attention of EightTwentyEnergy, a leading provider of solar energy solutions in Kentucky who offered to donate solar panels and installation of them to the outreach’s buildings. The offer was accepted and through the company’s “Give Solar” project, Veterans Village now has the six tiny homes and the larger community building powered by solar energy, “lowering overhead costs for the nonprofit to better direct funds to support the veterans they serve,” noted the company in a press release. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the initiative was held at noon on Friday, May 10 at Veterans Village.
Kent Cissell, president of EightTwentyEnergy, explained that when he and his business partner started the company, they “wanted to make a difference. Our core tenets essentially are (that) we are making sure that (the customers) become raving fans of ours… and for us to build relationships in some of these communities.” A Shelbyville community advocate was an important bridge to the effort. “Ray Leathers is someone extremely well-respected and when Ray understood how we were doing it and how we could help the community he represents, he got really excited. Ray, to us, opened the door to his community.”
There is also a “story within the story” that I find special and connected to VRO’s mission. EightTwentyEnergy employee Sam Amos served as the lead installer in the project, and he demonstrated great passion for his assignment. Why? Sam served in the U.S. Marine Corps for eight years and was on five deployments—four to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. After his service time, he attended school for a while, then decided to seek employment at EightTwentyEnergy. He was hired and it became a wonderful fit.
Sam relishes the idea that the company has a motto of “respect, quality, and focus,” and they embrace, he said, the idea of “doing quality work and not just wanting to go out and take advantage of people.”
While on the VRO installation site, Sam had a chance to meet some of the veterans being served and, he said, “really got to spend some time and go back and forth on their stories and how they got there.” Sam listened with understanding. “Basically, anybody could be in their position where something ‘has happened.’” And that’s where VRO (and other outreaches such as it) come into play, he intimated. “It’s amazing because it (VRO) allows people who have served and done so much to be able to get back on their feet and have a sense of ‘being.’”
Challenges veterans face after re-entering civilian life are real, according to Sam. “We do pretty good, it’s just that initial shock of when you get back, nothing is the same as when you left. You’re in a different mindset, a different drive, and a lot of the stuff that you left doesn’t interest you or appeal to you when you return. The transitional period can be quite challenging. I know (with) the crew and myself going down there and working on the project, it was awesome to be a part of something so much bigger than ourselves.”
Kent praised Sam for his humility as a person and skills as an employee. “He’s an incredible leader for our company. The values he brings into our company, based on his character, have been transformational for us and our team. He sets an example for the rest of the folks who work here with us.”
The sun often shines most brightly when people of noble mindsets collaborate for noble goals. The Give Solar project in Shelbyville is an illustrative example.
For more information on the partners and this initiative, visit eighttwenty.com and Facebook.
