As businesses of all sizes continue to take financial hits due to the increasing spread and impact of the novel coronavirus, some enterprising souls are finding time and space to do the right thing.
For GreenWay Exterior Cleaning owner and boss Jamie Schmidt, it’s nothing new. Schmidt, who started the company himself four years ago, wanted to make an impact beyond the beautification and cleanliness of township homes. He decided to take his brand of expertise into public spaces.
“I started a couple years ago through a social media post, saying I wanted to give back to the community. I saw there was a need because, through a lot of use, playgrounds get mucked up with a lot of algae, dirt and grime,” Schmidt said in a March 23 conversation with the Sun.
“It’s a need for the children because they need a clean open space to play. A lot of times a church or whatever entity doesn’t have it in the budget to build one. It’s not hard to give back to the community a little bit. We all like to play on clean spaces no matter what the age.”
Washing and cleaning exteriors is in Schmidt’s blood. Both his grandfather and father had similar businesses, and he decided to follow suit. But community service isn’t just a personal responsibility — it’s written into the professional code, as well. That’s why it didn’t take much prodding for the company to up its game once coronavirus made it absolutely necessary to be as sanitary as possible, both indoors and outdoors.
“I’m the president of a business association, and our members throughout the country and in Canada, we encourage them to go out and to give back to the community given our skills. We stepped up for this,” Schmidt said.
“We’re not doing Cherry Hill yet, but the township has 42 playgrounds and we’re aiming to clean them all for free. Their idea was for the public works people to take care of them, but it’s a tough job, a lot of manpower, hours and equipment involved.”
GreenWay has made its impact felt in the community, though, having already serviced Trinity Presbyterian Church on Route 70 with its intensive power-cleaning process. Schmidt said the next project is an apartment complex in Maple Shade.
“We’re ready and able to do whatever wherever you need it. Even with this virus going, we can’t expect the situation to be completely solved (regarding playgrounds and other open spaces). We’re just washing things down to keep them clean for now and then when they’re opened up again, we’re going to do a thorough job with washing, cleaning and sanitizing,” he added.
GreenWay is also going out of its way to prop up the food-service industry in Cherry Hill, which will be losing money as long as residents are told to stay in their homes and not gather at all in public.
“We just started a program for local restaurants. If someone gets take-out, they should hold the receipt, and whoever that is, can have any service done by our company and we’ll take that amount off the final bill for service. We’re going to have it for two weeks through April 3, but we’ll probably end up doing it until restaurants are able to open their doors to the public again,” Schmidt revealed.
“It’s going to cost us money, but at the end of the day, helping others is more important than profit. I want to help my fellow man and don’t worry about my bottom line right now.”
Until given the OK for person-to-person interaction, GreenWay is serving its customers with online estimates and payments. Already ahead of the curve regarding personal protective equipment before the pandemic arrived, the company’s workers are taking extra precautions based on safety measures already in place.
For more information about GreenWay services or to ask about the restaurant-aid program, visit www.greenwaysj.com or call (856) 512-0008.
