During the 2022 NWFA Wood Flooring Expo in Tampa, Florida, Sheoga Hardwood Flooring held a guitar giveaway as a fundraiser for the Gary Sinise Foundation and the National Wood Flooring Association Education and Research Foundation (NERF). Expo attendees stopped by Sheoga’s booth to purchase a ticket for the chance to win one of two guitars, which were handcrafted by Farnsworth Guitars and signed by Gary Sinise.
The giveaway successfully brought in a total of $10,000, with $5,000 of that going to the Gary Sinise Foundation and the other $5,000 going to NERF. Mike Welch of EJ Welch Company and Todd McDonald of Maple Ridge Handscraped were the lucky winners of the guitars.
Logan Cala with Sheoga Hardwood Flooring says Enos Farnsworth of Denver Hardwoods approached them with the idea of raffling the custom guitars to raise money for the Gary Sinise Foundation and NERF.
“To create the guitars, we collaborated with his son, Brian Farnsworth, who carefully hand crafted them and even attended the show with us. We chose both of these organizations as the recipients as we have donated flooring to several GSF homes and wanted to continue to support our veterans who have given so much for us,” says Cala. “Also, continuing education and research within our industry to continue growing the trade is very important to us here at Sheoga. We could not think of any other organizations more deserving of this than these two.”
The Gary Sinise Foundation R.I.S.E. (Restoring Independence Supporting Empowerment) program builds custom, specially adapted smart homes for severely wounded veterans and first responders. In partnership with the Gary Sinise Foundation, NWFA has provided flooring for 63 homes. Currently, 143 NWFA member companies have donated product, logistics, and installation services in locations throughout the United States, with a total value of more than $5.75 million.
The NWFA Education and Research Foundation was established to provide industry research and educate future generations of wood flooring professionals. Thanks to the generosity of its members, NWFA has conducted such research as the Life Cycle Analysis of Wood Flooring and awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships since its creation.