APX Alarm Gives Back Through Hurricane Ike Relief
APX Alarm volunteers see firsthand Ike’s destruction.
Dedicated to renewing a sense of hope to victims of Hurricane Ike, APX Alarm Security Solutions sent 90 employee volunteers last month to the Houston – Galveston, Texas area to assist in relief efforts.
Employees traveled by bus nearly 30 hours from Provo, Utah to Houston, TX to assist in the massive cleanup campaign. During the 3-day project, volunteers were able to help and support 76 families who were displaced by the devastation. APX was able to identify many of its own customers who were hit hard but also worked closely with FEMA and other partnering agencies to help others in critical need.
APX Alarm Chief Operating Officer, Alex Dunn said, “Our employees expressed a desire to help the hurricane victims, and so we set up a plan to make it happen. While many are concentrating on the financial headlines that are dominating the news, there are people affected by Hurricane Ike who don’t have the most basic things: power, phone, or a safe place to live. We came to discover that making a small difference is how you make a big difference. We hope that other people will remember the victims as well.”
APX Alarm Vice President of Operations, Lindsay Grauling said, “We feel blessed to have been able to go to Galveston to help clean up the massive destruction that Hurricane Ike caused. The people there are hard-working, kind and optimistic in the face of this incredible hardship and it was truly our pleasure to work alongside them as they started to rebuild their lives.”
“What an honor it was to serve with our APX employees,” said APX Alarm Project Manager, Tom Coleman. “I’ll remember the work being very challenging yet rewarding. In serving others, we forgot about our own needs while we were there which liberated us to do more with less sleep, food or rest than we thought possible. We grew closer and respected one another more than any team building exercise could have.”
“It was very touching,” said Galveston resident, Steve Harris. “Those who came never once complained and helped me more than I can express.”
Tom Coleman, a Utah-resident also described his experiences supporting one of APX’s customers, a Spanish speaking family whose home had been destroyed by the seven-foot wall of water that left nothing but debris and the walls standing.
Mr. Coleman said, “To support the family, twelve of us worked with chainsaws and rakes to clear the scene. As we talked to the husband and wife, we discovered that they both were employed as janitors for the local school district that is now closed until January. This effectively eliminated this family’s jobs for the next several months. We were proud when APX Alarm stepped up and offered this family $1000 to help with their immediate needs during this dire time. My crew and I were impressed and touched to work for a company that would do this for their customers.”
APX volunteers have supported more than 75 individual families in their cleanup efforts through FEMA and handed out food to hundreds of families through the Red Cross. Many of those supported have been APX customers in need of help.
This was an awesome way to give back to our customers. It especially hit home because i was born and raised in this area, having seen the destruction that Ike caused the feeling was very overwhelming. The effort that all the volunteers put into this was tremendous, even though families lost everything we managed to put a smile on their face, when we pulled up and offered our help free of charge without asking anything in return. I will never forget the happiness we brought in such a traggic time. I want to thanks APX personally because the effort that given to help those in need without hesitation.
It is so crazy to think that over a year ago we went out to Texas to help with the Hurricane Ike relief but even though it was a year ago it still is changing my life. One momet that reallly stands out to me was the night of the second day that we were there we went to dinner at the Golden Corral and some customers at the restuarant saw all of our shirts and started asking me questions about what we were doing there and where we were from. I started to answer their questions and I was telling them that we were from Utah and our company called APX Alarm sent us out there to help cleanup and the lady that was asking us questions started crying and telling us what amazing people that we are and how grateful they are to us for our selflessness. These people who I was speaking to were not affected by the Hurricane in the sense that their home and possesions were fine but they still were so grateful.
This was an incredible experience. It was equally as beneficial for those of us that went as it was for the people we were able to serve.
What an amazing experiance it was to go to TX and to be a part of an awesome team. I am so thankful to work for a company that was so willing to send a group of us out there to help people who were in desperate need of our help. I remember working with this family that lived right near the water and their home was completely destroyed. We cleaned out the WHOLE thing and the guys even demolished the Kitchen for them. They had lost everything and we were so thankfull that we were there to help, even if it was just to take all their belongings and throw them away. They couldnt believe that we were there to help them, it was so awesome to be a part of this.
This was such an amazing and life changing experience. I am thankful that I was able to be a part.
I dont think any of us were truely prepared for the level of devastation that took place down there, at least not me. But when we got there none of us shrugged from getting our hands dirty from the time the sun came up until it went down. Even when it was one of those funky smelling fridges that made everyone gag, we did what was needed to help as many of the people affected by Ike as possible. The most rewarding part was seeing the impact we had on the families down.
I will never forget the amazing opportunity to help those victims of hurricane Ike. The devastation was horrendous and to be able to help those families was a life changing experience for me. I am so thankful to work for a company that truly cares about people, not just their customers but all people in need. I will never forget how F.E.M.A was calling on us to help them out because they were not equipped. I am so proud to work for APX and thankful to be surrounded by such caring, competent and selfless people. I would never trade this experience of 21 hour days, atrocious smells, hard work, endless driving for anything.
Being able to go to Texas to help those affected by Hurricane Ike was an incredible opportunity that changed my life. It was awesome to be a part of the team that went down. After getting back from Texas I wrote down two experiences that hit me the hardest…
**My “team” was helping a lady clean out her garage. It had been easy the whole day to be in “work mode”, and just get things cleaned up…but as we were cleaning out her garage we were throwing out baby photo albums and baby clothes that she had saved. It moved me to tears to realize that we were not only throwing away moldy stuff, we were throwing away people’s memories…the things that meant so much to them. It was so touching to take a moment and realize the impact that the hurricane had on the individuals.**
**The last home that we helped was one where 5 teams met and worked. There were about 25-30 people there helping. When our teams arrived at the house the family told us that their home had been under 67 inches of standing “water” for at least 3 days. They let us know that they would need to tear everything out in order to start over. We went to work demolishing their home…in about an hour and a half we left the home in studs. We took out drywall, insulation, doors, sinks, toilets…everything. After we completed our work in the home we were able to give this husband and wife some money to help them start rebuilding. The money and the help that we had given them moved them both to tears. I don’t think there was a dry eye as we left the house.**
I am so grateful to work for a company that provides their employees with opportunities to change the lives of those around us. I am forever grateful for the chance to go to Texas and meet and help some incredible people whose lives were changed by Hurricane Ike.
Being able to help is such a blessing. I never would have guessed the amount of help we were able to provide. Not only did we help with hard labor we were able to be a source of comfort. I will never forget the relief we saw in the eyes of the people we helped. We had amazing people on our team which allowed us to accomplish months or work in amount of days or even hours. We had an opportunity to help people get back on their feet and it was an amazing experience. With little sleep and full days of hard work most of us came home exhausted. I felt as though I could go and work for another week, maybe even months. There was so much to do and so many people to help. I love working for a company that jumps at an opportunity to serve and make a difference.
Serving the people in Texas after Hurricane Ike had a huge impact on my life and my perspective on what is important in life. The experiences we had their made me want to volunteer and serve where I can. I am grateful to work for a company that gives me opportunities to do so, and even encourage me to do so consistently.
Being a part of this rescue effort digging customers and others out of eight feet of sea water and two week old refrigerator muck left me with a great respect for the character of APX employees. At no time did any of them I was around shrink back from entering the worst smelling dwellings I have ever been in. Had one person quit on us from doing their best to serve total strangers, I would have probably joined them because this was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. This experience was the single biggest factor in deciding to forego my own consulting business and go to work full time at APX Alarm. I wanted to be around the kind of people who’s personal commitment to serve others was central to who there are. I saw that we made a real difference by working hard on behalf of others overwhelmed to even start to dig through all their destroyed possessions. More importantly, I saw people’s hope restored. What a privilege it was to serve with our APX team.
It was so amazing to travel down to Texas to help those who were impacted by Hurrican Ike. It makes me so proud to work for APX Alarm, a company who truly cares about others and has compassion for what trials they may be faced with. This experience brought everyone who was involved a little closer- strangers, co-workers and friends. It was an amazing opportunity and one I will never forget!
It was such an amazing experience to be able to go and serve those that really needed the help. It benefitted us just as much as we were able to benefit them. I will never forget this experience!!
This was such a great experience. To see how people responded with this tragedy upon them was inspiring. Being able to work alongside people that were trying to rebuild their lives from this disaster was something I will never forget!
The trip to Galveston was amazing and a great opportunity to serve. I am honored to be part of a company who cares about their customers through all experiences and I am grateful for the opportunity APX provided to serve. It was amazing to see how the community members in Galveston gathered together to support one another throughout this traumatic time and I learned so much from their example and positive attitudes. This was an experience that will forever have an impact on my life.
The trip down to Texas was memorable for many reasons. Besides the long busrides and lack of sleep- the opportunity that APX provided for us to serve not only our customers but our fellow countrymen in a time of disaster was life changing. Driving in and seeing the wreckage made me feel grateful that I never have had to deal with that kind of temporal desctuction. Meeting those whose suffered at its hand made it even more real. Dispair was definitely one of the many emotions portrayed by the suffering. When we came to help I believe they truly felt hope again.
I remember the last home we worked on. Most everyone was there working with all the might we had left. When it was all done and the drywall dust still lingered thick in the air, Josh handed the already grateful couple some money. They broke down in sobs and just couldn’t be more humble and grateful for the help. It was a true blessing to be able to serve and to help people have hope again. I thought to myself this is what life is all about.
In April, 2009 we hosted or first annual Field Service Area Conferences.
All of the Techs that work full time, from their respective markets and areas gathered together for training and awards. Maybe the most memorable was my Southern Area Conference… since 6 of the techs are from the affected area, and another 4 or so got to be involved and may others had friends and families affected.
It was more like a moment of reflection and faith than a training when we watched the Hurricaine Ike APX video. Tears were shown, and testimonies of being a part of “APX” we shared. The “APX” in the comments always hung there like something more than just a name, much more. What an idea and way of life APX has become. I wish the moments in that meeting with those techs could be have been captured and shared with everyone… most of the Service Techs are life long Texans… it was something amazing.