Iowa Business Gives New Meaning To Family Business
Back in late February, many lives were turned upside down when Russia invaded Ukraine. People immediately were looking for ways they could help Ukraine as they prepared to fight.
For one grain bin company here in Iowa, this meant looking for ways they could help their business partners in the area, Emily Schmitt, CAO & General Counsel for Sukup Manufacturing Co.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, in late February, we immediately thought about the employees and their families and were hoping that there was a way for us to help.
This was not a one-man job, but two that spearheaded the operation were Sukup Europe’s Managing Director/Sales Manager Jens Erik Iversen and Andriy Semenovych is co-founder of Grain House Company.
Sukup is a family-owned business that has a history of helping others.
Back in 2010, Sukup was able to help Haiti after an earthquake devastated the land. By designing the Safe T Home, which used the same engineering principles that farmers use to protect their crops in the Midwest, they were able to provide more than 300 homes to people affected by the tragedy.
So, when the invasion happened and there were families that were needing help in Ukraine, Schmitt said they were at an advantage when it came to giving aid.
We were able to say yes at the right time, and I think having the Safe T Home initiative really puts us at a landing point to say yes, clicker
Their efforts over the past month helped get 64 people out of Ukraine and into Denmark.
And that ranges from different a couple of employees of grain house some families of the spouses and children, elderly, but we also through our communication just to our own employees here. We found out one of our employees also had five family members in Ukraine. So, we were actually able to have a direct employee impacted.
And their support for those families doesn’t end when they get to Denmark. Schmitt says they have set up a GoFundMe to help those families assimilate.