We recently connected with Joseph Groh and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joseph, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

On June 15, 2008 I was on an aerobic bike ride around the trails of Lake Grapevine, Texas. At one point, the trail turned sharply left, and sand on the sidewalk because my front tire is skid off into the rough. I was thrown headfirst over the handlebars, which broke my neck at the C4 vertebrae. As a result, I was paralyzed from the shoulders down. While I was still at Parkland Hospital in ICU, a neighbor who was well-connected in the physical therapy world contacted a local 501(c)(3). What happened next was nothing short of extraordinary. Working with my wife, they replaced the steps into my house with a concrete ramp and poured a sidewalk from there to our driveway. They also widened doorways and put in a roll in shower and tankless water heater. If they had not done these things, I would not have even been able to get back into my house when I was released from the hospital weeks later. I also would not of been able to take a shower. There are no words for how humbling it is to be on the receiving end of such generosity. At the time, I was only 53 years old. It took six months before I was medically stable. At that point, I began to think of my future. What would I do, more correctly, what could I do? I knew all of the things I couldn’t do, so there was no point in focusing on that. I had spent my entire career in the construction trades, specifically HVAC. I had held positions which provided deep contacts in the industry and across the country. The generosity bestowed on us gave me an idea. I could utilize these contacts to do for others what had been done for us. Once I received assistive technology including voice operated computer software, I began to research spinal court injuries and disabilities in general. Some business friends had put together a golf tournament fundraiser to benefit us personally, and all of this coalesced into a plan. There was no charitable organization dedicated to helping individuals who had worked in the construction trades. So with family and friends we formed a 501(c)(3) in 2009, and dedicated our philanthropy to individuals from the contracting industry who are living with life altering disabilities. We started fundraising with a golf tournament in the DFW area, and over the years added another in both Chicago and Minneapolis. We focused our grants on items not covered by insurance, items which would help individuals become more independent, more productive and live with greater dignity. These items include wheelchair accessible vans, home and bath remodels, and rehabilitative and assistive technology devices.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I represented the third generation of my family to invest my career in the HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) industry. My grandfather, father, an uncle and aunt, and my brother have all found a home in this discipline. Now, one of my sons works for a general contractor, another son works for a homebuilder, and my daughter is in the HVAC industry. One of the characteristics of the construction trades is that they are often “family businesses” from the standpoint that multiple generations often follow each other’s path. The trades are characterized by hard-working, salt of the earth, community oriented people. With my dual understanding of both the trades and a debilitating disability, I felt I was in a perfect position to help solve the needs of these folks at their most trying time. Our foundation successfully navigated the startup phase, and now is moving into the NexGen phase. We are in the process of transforming ourselves from a “friends and family” philanthropy into one that is positioned to continue well into the future. As of the present time, we have helped over 80 families in 32 states with grants approaching $850,000. To this point, we have been an all volunteer organization, and all of us have first-hand experience in the construction trades, with disabilities or both. As one longtime supporter told me recently, our organization has not changed the world at large, but for the people we have helped, it definitely has.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I write about this in my book, From Two Wheels to Four. Following my accident, I lay unconscious for about 45 minutes or so. When I came to, I realized I could not move any of my limbs. I knew life had suddenly and inexorably changed. I thought about the fact that I would need to be strong for my wife and children, even as I knew I would have to rely on them in a way I never had before. I gave myself until the ambulance arrived to feel sorry for myself, but vowed after that to never give up, never look back and remain positive. That is a pledge you have to live up to by consciously working on it every single day, but 13 1/2 years later I believe I am still living up to it. That pledge has become the motto of our foundation.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

As mentioned earlier, fundraising started with a single golf tournament in 2010. We then partnered with an HVAC organization called the Service Roundtable. They are a business consortium that offers business and marketing services to contractors. They made our foundation their official charity, which offered opportunities for fundraising at various of their events. Within a few years we added a second golf tournament in Chicago. One of my former business customers had approached us about a grant for an individual who works for a mechanical contractor. After we successfully helped this individual acquire a wheelchair accessible van, we worked with this customer to put together the Chicago tournament. A couple of years after that, I worked with a former business associate who was a high level executive for Daikin Applied to start a third tournament in Minneapolis. Last year we began offering a subscription giving platform targeted to individuals who don’t play golf that we are calling Luminaries. Later this year we are launching a Business Partner Program, which is a multifaceted endeavor to engage businesses in a variety of ways that will help drive the foundation’s mission. I also have written two books and offer speaking engagements on our website to help spread awareness about our foundation and to raise money.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.josephgrohfoundation.org/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephGrohFoundation/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-groh-5842871b/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/19sullivaned55
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
Snips Magazine