As COVID-19 slowed workflow or completely closed local businesses in Caldwell ID, Matt Salisbury, president of Valor Trailers, decided it was time to serve his community.
So the founder of the new trailer manufacturing plant in Idaho asked his team for volunteers and created the Good Neighbor Project.
As part of the effort, Valor turned its scrap metal into dumbbell and barbell sets that were sold on social media, an idea inspired by the closure of local gyms. The company then used money raised to support small restaurants and staff who were—and, unfortunately in many cases, still are—greatly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
And while looking for the next Good Neighbor Project, Salisbury came across a local farm where crops were going to waste due to the pandemic.
“I recently read an article in our paper that farmers in eastern Idaho were forced to dump potatoes due to a decline in the restaurant industry,” Salisbury said. “I called the food bank’s soup kitchen and asked if they could use the potatoes.”
Assembling a group of volunteers, Salisbury and the Valor Trailers team set out to pick up loads of the potatoes.
“When we got to the food bank with the potatoes, the volunteers at the Nampa Lighthouse told us that the board of directors read the same article a few days earlier but had no ability to get to the farm,” Salisbury recalled.
Valor has aided in several community projects since the onset of COVID-19, and Salisbury said he will continue to assist the community.
“We are turning our beliefs into action,” he said.
Please visit valortrailers.com or natda.org for more information.