In this Heartware Story we hear how Greg opened up an Ace in his hometown. The store opened in 2020, in the heart of a pandemic. Greg made a commitment to his community, donating 1% of his first year sales right into the town of Loomis. The donation rejuvenated a community, see how this family run business helps their small town.

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[Music] Greg's character is very very Dynamic he Grew up here he went to school here went Off did his stuff and and came back to Really contribute back to the community That he grew up in [Music] Decided he wanted to talk about a career Change I was 50 years old and looking For a rewarding career for the second Part of my life and we decided to make a Garden in our yard and right then is When I knew I wanted to open up an Ace Hardware he talked about that his Grandfather used to run a hardware store And he was curious about running a Hardware store and I was like okay it's Just another crazy idea but he was very Inspired and we went with it I always support him in whatever ideas He has because I know he's going to be Successful with it Loomis has been without a hardware store Since Um 2008. so you know there was this long Period where downtown Loomis was just Kind of empty and vacated Because it's such a small community Everyone was very excited about it I Teach at the local high school and so We're really invested in the Loomis Community one of our goals in opening The hardware store was to give back so In every business model there's always a

Light item to spend for marketing what We decided to do instead is spend that On marketing we were going to spend that Budget on giving back to the local Community and schools in a small town Like this giving back is more important Than spending the marketing you know During the pandemic giving up an extra Portion of profit the the one percent That went back that's a hard thing to do Margins are tight things are tough and I Think the town responded when they found Out about that in a fantastic fashion we Have given to the elementary schools or The high schools or earned victims Institute we've given to football and Baseball and basketball and cheer and Dance and water polo lacrosse and the List just goes on and on this town we All take care of one another we know one Another and we support one another Everybody in the community supported us So much and the hard part about being a Small town is we tend to have a fairly Underfunded education systems whenever Anybody at the school needs something They know they can come to their local Ace Hardware and ask and Greg usually Says yes Since opening Ace Greg has been one of Our key community members in stepping up To help and volunteer by contributing Financially to our programs this year Delaware hosted a senior culminating

Event which ended up being a senior mock Interview experience so our students had The opportunity to interview with local Businesses and Industry experts we Brainstormed and he came up with the Idea of we really should incentivize This for students and I'm going to Contribute to a scholarship for those Students that are participating Football is really big here in Loomis Sponsors like Ace they get to have a Certain number of people come and enjoy The touchdown Club Greg just called us and said I want to Be involved with the touchdown Club but I don't want to just be a sponsor I want To be a partner and he said well I want To I want to be involved I don't want to Just give you money at Del Oro we have a Lot of aging infrastructures and one of Them is our scoreboard down at the Stadium and it's about 15 years old and Falling apart so Greg has decided to Help out and sponsor part of our Scoreboard the contribution that they're Making to the new sports board Marquee Is really going to impact our campus as Well our community comes out to support Football and they're able to see our Local businesses advertised and our Students highlighted and our community Events highlighted on that Marquee we're Going to have a better way to Communicate with our families and be

Able to encourage more of that Collaboration by giving back to them it Helps them give back to other people and It's just a full circle that makes a Really healthy happy Community for a Business to succeed you need the town to Succeed communities succeed and the Schools to succeed so giving back was Always a part of the the plan just Giving back the amount that we're able To give back was not [Music] Foreign [Music] Foreign