Northeast Site Contractors Ensures Warm Lunches for Monroe County Students
Bringing Joy and Warm Lunches This Holiday Season
Does Santa Claus always have to wear a red suit and ride a sleigh?
In one Pennsylvania county at Christmastime 2016, he might have donned a gray hoodie and ridden a Caterpillar dozer, instead, but the effect was the same, surprising families with joy and holiday cheer.
In this case, Santa’s agent was Northeast Site Contractors, which donated nearly $4,000 to settle delinquent lunch accounts in 14 Monroe County elementary schools. While struggling families experienced the relief of one less bill to pay, the gesture was also recognized region-wide as an inspiration for others to follow.
Northeast Site Contractors, based in East Stroudsburg, PA, celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2015. Today, the longtime Cleveland Brothers client performs excavation and paving services ranging from $50,000 paving jobs to $6 million complete site work.
Giving Back to the Local Community
Northeast President Brian Winot, “a ditch digger from way back,” says he learned excavation and work ethic from his father, who served as a U.S. Army equipment operator in Vietnam. Winot and his wife grew up in East Stroudsburg, and he and his partners, Northeast Secretary Craig Hendricks and Vice President Phil Coventry, “feel very strongly about giving back, especially locally.”
“We try to keep it right here, where we know the money’s going, and it’s going to have an effect in Monroe County,” Winot said. “We have over 50 employees, and the vast majority live in Monroe.”
With Winot’s devotion to healthy activities and his pursuit of triathlons, many of the causes Northeast supports promote healthy lifestyles. The firm sponsors local triathlons and running races, donates to the Poconos Medical Center’s cancer center, funds a swimming scholarship at East Stroudsburg University, contributes scholarships for the children of a slain state trooper memorialized in a race every year, and buys 2,500 t-shirts a year for Girls on the Run, the program that helps girls build self-confidence and skills by training for 5K runs.
Winot sees the impact every day, even in the recent loss of a friend’s friend to a heart attack at only 46 years old.
“That healthy lifestyle goes a long way to making sure you’re here for your friends and here for your family,” he said.
So with the holidays approaching, Winot’s wife, Victoria, had a novel, nutrition-related idea for helping struggling families at Christmas time – paying off delinquent lunch bills. Initially, they thought they might aid one school, but with help from state Rep. Rosemary M. Brown, the idea grew to cover all 14 elementary schools in four Monroe County school districts.
Winot suggested elementary schools because the parents are usually younger and “just starting out.”
“At a young age with kids, you’re living a little bit closer to the cusp than an established family,” he said.
The check for nearly $4,000 covered delinquent lunch accounts, ranging from an overlooked 10 cents to $40 or $50 accumulated from the start of the school year to early December. No child goes hungry at the schools, Winot said, but those whose families are behind might get just a cheese sandwich or PBJ.
“This time of year, parents are trying to figure out, ‘Do I get a Christmas present for their kids, or do I pay a school lunch bill?’” he said. “Hopefully, we’ve helped a couple of families not have to make that choice.”
When Rep. Brown called a news conference to announce the gift, Winot was shocked at the media attention generated. The Pocono Record’s editorial page gave the gesture a thumbs up, saying it “did more than make the accounts whole. It found a novel way to show us something about the spirit of giving.”
Winot hopes the donation will inspire similar generosity in others, including local contractors.
“It’s not a handout,” he said. “I don’t believe in handouts. I believe everybody has to earn their way, but I firmly believe everybody has to get a hand up.”
Northeast Site Contractors
www.nesitecontractors.com
3240 Oak Grove Road
East Stroudsburg, PA 18302
570-420-2831