2020 was a difficult year for many. A global pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding it had lasting effects on families, schools, businesses, and communities. During the holiday season, QFloors offered critical assistance to people in need.
Members of the Navajo Nation living in the Four Corners region were hit especially hard by COVID. Situated in the rural area where Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico meet, people living and working here have seen high mortality rates in addition to taking an economic hit, thanks to a drop in tourism. QFloors employees offered humanitarian assistance by donating clothing and supplies, such as diapers, toiletries, and other essentials.
Closer to home, a local family, the Augustines, had pressing needs of their own. Like countless families all over the country, the Augustines have been working and schooling from home since the onset of the pandemic and navigating all of the hurdles that come with the territory.
Unlike many of those families, one of their nine children is 12-year-old Eli, who is terminally ill with cancer.
Uplift Mission, a nonprofit group headed by QFloors CFO Trent Ogden’s daughter and son-in-law, Lexi and Parker Walbeck, learned about their situation and wanted to offer assistance.
“Since COVID, all of the kids are homeschooled, and Adam has had to work from home as well. The family spends all day every day in their home. There’s a lot of people in a small space,” Lexi shared.
And that space was quickly being overwhelmed. A lack of adequate storage led to clutter, and the home was suffering from issues with mold as well.
“There was just a buildup of things. To me, it was kind of representative of how Elaine and Adam must feel,” Lexi said. “They needed help. We wanted to make their load a little lighter.”
Countless people and businesses pitched in to join the Walbecks in their extreme home makeover for the Augustines, including QFloors. With his technical skills and knowledge, president and CEO Chad Ogden offered to help with the Augustine children’s homeschooling setup. After sifting through the equipment the Augustines had on hand, Chad realized much of the hardware was a bit old and not up to the task of remote learning. Rather than send the Augustine kids back to remote learning in the new year ill-equipped, QFloors decided to donate new monitors and cameras to help them succeed. Chad also set up a remote learning station in the family’s living room to help keep the equipment organized.
“It changed the whole look and function of homeschool. It made everything look so clean and run so well,” Lexi said.
Trent Ogden pitched in with the renovation work and helped throughout the project. “Trent was very instrumental in this project coming into being,” Lexi said. “That really opened us up to help make the project a lot bigger than it initially would have been.”
Lexi also reached out to extended family connected with Ogden’s Flooring and Design, who donated all of the flooring and carpet to the project. A countertop distributor offered a generous discount on materials for the Augustines to have new countertops as well. Many other businesses and people donated time and materials. A video overview of the home makeover can be found here.
Lexi expressed gratitude for the generosity shown by QFloors leadership. “Chad and Trent both love to serve, and they’re very generous. I know that their customers at QFloors are well aware of that, but it was really exciting to watch them give so much to the community and to people that were strangers to them,” she said. “They really made a huge difference in the outcome of this project and were essential to its success.”
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