Tragedy leads to a small business holiday miracle
The tragic story of a kind man who used a portable toilet one day in a park and ended up paralyzed inspired nearly 90 small business owners to embark on one charitable mission.
For six weeks, plumbers, roofers, and painters, just to name a few, worked hard at transforming Pedro Toala’s home into an accessible dream house. This former bus driver was the victim of what was deemed a prank, when a bunch of kids tipped over the portable toilet he was using in Wilmington, Delaware.
His story got lots of press attention locally, and many were moved when he forgave the men who ended up breaking his spine.
How were so many busy small business owners able to join forces and do something good for Toala?
It was Pedro’s story, says Cher Przelomski, who spearheaded the project and is co owner of
the Planning Factory International, a corporate special events company that employs six.
The Planning Factory reached a milestone this year, having been in business for 25 years, but instead of throwing a party the owners decided they’d rather get involved in a community service project.
“I thought we could apply our skills of planning and coordination and do something and suddenly it dawned on me…it was Pedro. We needed to rebuild his house,” she says.
That’s how the “Pedro Project” was born.
Toala lived in a split-level home and was unable to get to certain floors because he was now in a wheelchair.
Przelomski started calling everyone she knew and even people she didn’t know to ask for help. Everyone said yes, “except one t-shirt guy.”
A local construction firm called
Wohlsen oversaw the building, a high-end furniture store, Pala Brothers supplied the furniture, and the list goes on and on.
William Hart, senior project manager for Wohlsen, was moved by Toala’s story, especially since construction workers spend lots of time in portable toilets at job sites. “That could have been any one of us,” he says.
We typically hear about how large companies throw money at charitable causes, but small business owners rarely get the attention they deserve. It is true, a smaller company has fewer hours and dollars to spare, but it can happen if you put your mind to it.
“You can get involved. You can spare the time,” says Przelomski. “The way I looked at this, it was a short-term project.”
And she also admits she was quite the taskmaster, making sure all the businesses involved stayed to the tight six-week schedule they had laid out at the beginning of the project. “I created a production schedule, day by day, what was happening and who was doing it,” she explains.
I asked her how much money and time her firm has shelled out. She laughed out loud and said, “it’s impossible to calculate. I’ve been off for the last six weeks working on this.”
So what did Toala say when he saw his revamped home with brand new furniture and a new kitchen: “Dios mio!” “Oh, my God?” “I don’t believe it. I can’t believe this.” “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” (This according to a news account in the local paper.)
How did Przelomski feel when she saw Toala crying?
“I was so proud we were able to pull the community together and rebuild the house and give him a more livable, workable life,” she says.
