A new beginning

This has been the year of water.  On the same day as our spring open house in March at PHO, our personal basement flooded due to a big run off at Consumer Square coupled with our sump pump giving out.  While it was a couple of weeks of hard work and frustration, and at the time felt horrible.  But it proved to be nothing to what came later in the spring for our area.  Lake Champlain rose to over 103 feet- it had never happened before, and the loss and heartache was substantial.

And then, at the end of August, Hurricane Irene came through upstate NY and especially VT with a vengeance.  My cousin's home had 7 feet of water in it.  She lives in Waterbury, VT and nowhere near the Winooski River, but it made it's way to her house.  She is among the lucky that were able to recover (relatively) quickly due to a good FEMA and friend response.  They are back in their home.  We just received a thank you from them, that is a photo of their back yard- the play gym all but under water- and tall sunflowers in the back.  The sunflowers survived, and had the water stains up their stems to prove their resilience.

A week or so later, Hurricane Lee ravaged the Binghamton NY area, and up the center of PA.  As a result the Manorwood Homes facility was lost.  The homes they had built that were ready to ship, homes that were being built, their parts, tools....everything....gone. 

Their response to such adversity has been amazing and they have shown their strength as a company.  They too were lucky, that they have a sister facility in Western PA that has been able to take over their production so their name and way of doing business will survive.  And while I'm sure this hasn't been easy on anyone, they have tried to make the transition as easy as possible for their builder base.

Eric and I needed to see the facility first hand to make sure we were comfortable with everything- our brand and reputations were on the line too.  And we were blown away by the product but mostly the people.  Their level of professionalism and enthusiasm was contagious.  It was a long couple of days there and back with the logistics of managing a business and kids proved difficult, it was worth it.

We are looking forward to this fresh start in a brand new facility.  The thought of every details when designing this facility from the ground up, which was exciting to see.  Here is a YouTube video showing the new facility. They move the module down the line on 'air bearings'. These air bearings enable them to push the sections from one station to another on air bags, similar to a hovercraft. Quite impressive.  http://www.youtube.com/user/toddgriffith7?feature=mhee.

So this year, we have seen the worst of mother nature, and the best in people.  It proves that good can come out of bad, afterall.