By Clint Iams, NAFCA Executive Director, Amity, PA
Our association takes great pride in our various philanthropic efforts over the years. Our recent project in Sebring, FL at the Florida Medal of Honor and Memorial is a perfect example of that.
Last year while planning for our annual Fence Training School, we decided to add an additional day to the school. The purpose of that day was to add what we referred to as the capstone project: a very real-world application of a fencer’s skill set. It would need to require considerations such as adjusting section spaces to account for gates, working around utilities, etc.
Fence Training School Director, Mart Prost found the perfect project for NAFCA with the Florida Medal of Honor. As the event drew near, and we realized Fence Training School was not possible this year, we shifted gears into the capstone project being a free aluminum installation clinic.
Long-time member and supporter Barrette Outdoor Living had already donated the material for this project. It was 650 feet of 4-foot commercial-grade ornamental aluminum. Sean Russell and Taylor Coley of Barrette were incredibly helpful in working with the site engineer to ensure all materials and gates perfectly fit within the various concrete pillars.
With the help of NAFCA member company, Mr Fence Academy, and other industry leaders, such as A to Z Fence and Modern Fence Technologies, NAFCA was able to provide installation training on two distinctly different methods of aluminum installation. Both installation methods are no dig. One utilizes the i-post system (courtesy of iFence LLC) while the other utilizes a donut system (provided by Modern Fence Technologies) over a driven round galvanized post.
We also demonstrated the use of expanding foam to set a few posts. This material was donated by NAFCA member company Royal Adhesives & Sealants, an H.B. Fuller company.
This site was in no way hospitable. It was a minefield of buried utilities. Further, the 650+ feet of fence was broken up into 24-foot sections with concrete pillars to be utilized throughout the site. Each termination required wall mount brackets and concrete tapcons.
It does not get much more real-world than this.
Despite the lengthy list of obstacles and issues, NAFCA members and industry volunteers showed up to complete this project in a day and a half. Everywhere you looked people were working together, sharing tips and tricks, and helping each other learn today’s best industry practices.
We had 26 people from 15 companies on-site participating in this project.
Project Volunteers:
A to Z Fence – Aaron Smith
AFSCO Fence – Tom Prosalik and Ronald Piper
Barette Outdoor Living – Glenn Butterfield
Fence Armor – Al Martins
Flordia Fence Co – Jason Bame
Getter Done Fence – Jonathan Bohdal
Log Cabin Fence – Bill, Judy, and Clint Iams
Modern Fence Technologies – Mark Knudson
Mr Fence/Mr Fence Tools/Mr Fence Acadmey – Shawn King
Penn Fence – Chad Galbreth, Matthew Nebel, and Fidel Santiago
Prost, Inc – Mart Prost
Revolution Fence Co – Jeff Wheeler and Logan Tuggle
South East Gates – Ross Holmes
Top Rail Fence South West Florida – Adam Krasne
Qual Line Fence – Ray, Harriett, and Jim Statz
We especially appreciate member companies who support our events such as these and make projects like this possible. Member companies are: AFSCO Fence, Barette, Fence Armor, Log Cabin Fence, Mr Fence, Mr Fence Tools, Mr Fence Academy, Penn Fence, Prost Inc, and Qual Line Fence
Finally, we could not complete projects like this without the help of Barrette Outdoor Living and longtime NAFCA board member, Mart Prost. Both went above and beyond to ensure this project was a success.
As an additional highlight, the site manager / project coordinator, Don Laylock let us know a day after the project was completed, another potential donor, Duke Energy, visited the site. They were so impressed by the site project and our provided fence that they provided an additional grant of $20,000. Laylock let us know “your gift to the Memorial is already paying dividends”. This is just another perk of being a NAFCA member and being able to give back in a project such as this.
Stay tuned as we will be looking for more projects just like this to complete around the country.
