Getting to know the VanPolen family over the past year has been both heartbreaking and awe-inspiring for me. The road they have had to travel as they coped with the illness and death of their husband and father, Bill, in October, 2007, has been difficult, to say the least.
Readers of PRO met the VanPolens last December when we ran a profile story about their company, VanPolen Portables in McBain, Mich. The other day I gave a call to Bill’s wife, Dollene, and their daughter, Mary, to see how things were going as they soldiered on with the company that Bill had started many years ago. It was good to hear the entire family — including Mary’s sisters, Kathy Vana and Shari Benthem — have found a few bright spots amid the grief and turmoil of running a business without its leader.
SUPPORT FROM A PRO
I had the good fortune of being witness to one of those special moments at the Pumper & Cleaner Environ-mental Expo in Louisville earlier this year. That’s when the VanPolens met Russ Gulliford, a portable restroom contractor who was so moved by their story that he reached out to help them.
Gulliford, owner of Illinois Portable Toilets, Gulliford Septic Service and Quality Plumbing, Heating and Air in Urbana, Ill., called the VanPolens after the story ran in PRO and offered to pay for the family to attend the Pumper & Cleaner Expo. He sent money so they could bring the entire family to Louisville, where they met and walked the exhibit hall together.
“It touched me,’’ Gulliford said of the family’s story. “I thought, my gosh, if anything ever happened to me, I would want my kids to get involved and go with it if they could. I was just trying to offer some encouragement and I wanted to meet them.’’
Gulliford said he was impressed that the VanPolens’ youngest daughter, Mary, sidetracked a career in the dental field to join the portable sanitation business; that all the VanPolens would pitch in and show a family’s pride in a challenging service industry. He could envision the same tragic situation happening to any of the hundreds of family businesses in the portable sanitation industry.
His support of a grieving family was simply an extension of the support he’s felt in the industry over the years, Gulliford said. He hopes any advice he shares with the VanPolens will help them through a difficult decision about maintaining or selling the business now that its patriarch is gone. He encouraged Dollene and Mary to work through some difficult times and not make a hasty decision.
“This is what makes the industry unique, how people bounce ideas off one another and share information,’’ Gulliford said. “When I was small, I was intimidated by the big guys, but now I’m not afraid to ask other people for opinions. I hope I’m able to help companies that are smaller than I am.’’
ADJUSTING TO LOSS
Dollene VanPolen was thankful that a stranger reached out to her with financial support so her family could attend the Expo. She also welcomed the advice.
“I think God just sends some really neat people into your lives and this gave me faith in mankind again,’’ she said of meeting Gulliford and his crew. “He put forth quite a bit of effort to help us go and that was really something.’’
Running the business by herself has been a struggle for Dollene as she deals with grief. She and the girls have joined a grief support group recently to deal with the loss.
“Some days it goes really well and some days we really miss him like crazy and wonder if we can do this without him,’’ she said. “If it weren’t for the grieving, we could probably get out and do more.’’
As the VanPolens shared with Gulliford and his crew, staying on top of equipment maintenance has been the biggest challenge to keeping the business afloat. Bill VanPolen always kept the fleet in tip-top shape, while Dollene kept the books and the kids pitched in during the busy summer season. They’ve had to look outside for help with the vehicles.
“As far as the day-to-day running the business, we know how to do that, but if a truck breaks down, that’s another story,’’ Dollene said. As for Mary, Dollene said she “drives that truck and trailer around like it’s nobody’s business.’’ But it’s up to Mary whether she wants to stick with the business.
For Mary, the transition from being a summer worker during college to being a major part of the business has been an eye-opener. Not having her father’s wisdom as a backup has been hard, as has coping with the slow winter months.
“If I can just get through the winter months, I’m golden,’’ she said. “It’s hard when you only have two days of work. I don’t relax very well. I want to have something to do every day.’’
LOOKING AHEAD
She may have found the answer to the slow months, however. During the past winter, Mary started promoting herself as a fill-in freelance dental hygienist to several clinics in the area. She found a demand for her services and she could imagine pursuing that work while continuing to operate the restroom business in the summer.
The Pumper & Cleaner Expo showed Mary many new possibilities for equipment and services, and networking with Gulliford and others at the event gave her hope for the future of VanPolen Portables. She plans to stick with the family business through the next year and see what happens.
One thing she knows for sure, she inherited her father’s pride in a job well done and the reward of working for herself.
“You always want to take pride in what you have, and you want to do the best job you can for your business,’’ she said. “The other day I was running a route and I was thinking, it’s exciting just to be outside and doing my own thing and enjoying it.’’
