2018, In Review

2018, like most of the past 8-10 years, was one filled with change and improvements at the William C Huff Companies. Our commitment to our people, our communities and to our environment is a driving force which propels us ever further into being the company we want others to follow. Here is a glimpse of what was accomplished in 2018.

• PEOPLE

We began 2018 with a commitment to digitalizing our company so that more “would be clients” could find our services. In doing so, this will ensure guaranteed employment and job advancement for our staff. After reading a Forester Research report in late 2017 on the importance of digitalizing companies in the coming 3 years, we hired someone who knows quite a bit about this process. One of the things the Forester Report indicated was that we would begin seeing the demise of companies with 100 year old histories close their doors in 2018…boy they were right. Sears and Robuck was a prime example and another well-known company, Toys R Us, closed its doors in 2018! About 75 blogs and 100’s of social media posts later, our company is beginning to see the results of these efforts. Often my staff will come into the office early to get ready for a road trip and find me typing away on the computer with the next blog to be posted (like this morning at 5:30). I remind everyone on staff that, even though they likely know more about how to navigate the world of social media, I am committed to making sure we stay on-track to transform our company into a “digital giant”…J They always just laugh but, I know they appreciate what I try to do for them.

• COMMUNITY

For many years we have made a commitment to support various local community groups. Each year it seems we get involved with one or two more because it is hard to say “no” to a good cause. Although we do logistics and financially support more than 20 different organizations, I would like our clients and potential clients to know what we were able to accomplish this year with just a few of the groups.

1. Friends of Rookery Bay – We, through collaboration with the Conservancy, the Community Foundation and the United Arts Council, were able to donate a prized, locally decorated, turtle sculpture to the great folks of Rookery Bay Estuary. This helps bring awareness to their undying efforts to preserve a small part of our natural paradise in Collier County.
2. NCEF and the Winter Wine Festival – For the third year we have provided logistics support for the world famous annual Naples Winter Wine Festival. Collectively, over the past 3 years, the Wine Festival has generated over $30 million for many local charities who help educate and support underprivileged children in Collier County.
3. Friends Of Foster Children Forever – Probably our greatest passion is for children who are born into “at-risk” families. These children, many of whom end up as “wards of the state” in foster care, will have less than a 50% chance of finishing high school. Through direct involvement with tutoring and mentoring these foster children, we are starting to see the pendulum swing and last year we had some of our first high school graduates commit to post high school schools. Friends of Foster Children Forever met more than 1100 individual needs last year. With the opioid crisis at an all-time high, the needs have increased more than 25% in the last year. This organization needs all the support they can get in 2019!!

• ENVIRONMENT

This is, by far, our greatest challenge. 2018 saw record changes in our local environment with the impact of Irma lingering throughout the year and a Red Tide of epic proportion. Unfortunately, politicians and, even “environmentalists” waste way too much time pointing fingers but do NOTHING about our climate problems. If 2019 has similar environmental issues the local economy will be in grave danger. I often say that if everyone who publicly announces the problems actually personally did something, than the problem would be on its’ way to being solved. Here’s what the William C Huff accomplished in 2018 for the environment:

1. CO2 – By generating our own electricity for the 3^rd year in a row, we were able to reduce our carbon footprint by 640,000 pounds of CO2… 213,000 of this in 2018 alone.
2. Wood – Because our company receives wooden crated items from around the world on a daily basis, we are often overwhelmed with wood. We reuse close to 80% of all the wood that comes into our warehouse by building other wooden crates and also by donating all of the wooden pallets to get reused. This probably totaled well over 250,000 pounds in 2018.
3. Cardboard – Our Company also receives literally tons of cardboard boxed-inventory a week. In addition, we provide boxing service to many of our clients, utilizing tons more cardboard and paper. We reuse or recycle almost all of cardboard and this totaled more than 300,000 pounds in 2018.

I reviewed the total number of clients we had in 2018 and compiled a list of things that were accomplished in 2018 because of what we have given back. Here is what each of our clients was able to do individually by hiring the William C Huff Companies:

1. Saved 245 pounds of CO2 from polluting our environment.
2. Reused 287 pounds of wood.
3. Reused/recycled 345 pounds of cardboard.
4. And, all of our clients combined had a direct impact in;
5. Transforming more than 1100 at-risk children’s lives.
6. Supporting 20 full-time staff and their families.
7. Helping to build schools and orphanages in Guatemala.
8. Provide summer and after school programs for needy children.

I would have a very good case to state that the William C Huff Companies is the “Greenest Moving and Storage Company in the US”. And, that we, dollar for dollar, give back to the local community more than any other company in our industry. As a good friend of mine pointed out in a great re-post of an article on Facebook, where a well accomplished athlete gave credit, not to himself but, to the team which supported him, I would like to do the same by thanking our incredible clients for helping us to do so much for so many others. We could not be who we are without the AWESOME clients we have. Thank you, thank you, thank you for choosing our services in 2018. You have made a world of difference and we look forward to doing even more in 2019!!