Season 2 EP 23 - Newman Roofing, Alyssa Newman

Welcome to Season 2 - Episode 23 of The Bridge to Kindness Project Podcast.

On this Episode you will hear from the following organization:

Newman Roofing - Alyssa Newman, Marketing Director                        00:00 - 18:00

Each episode features interviews on how you can be involved, volunteer, donate and make a difference being a part of these non-profits in our region.  To learn how your organization can become a part of The Bridge to Kindness project send an email to theBridgetoKindness@gmail.com.  Thanks for listening!  New episodes air each week at 1pm on Saturdays.

You can also find out about The Bridge to Kindness Project by visiting our website at www.TheBridgetoKindness.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Welcome to season two on episode 23 of the Bridge to Kindness Podcast and Month. This podcast is made possible through the generosity of PPS, signature coffee care, Pathways Financial Credit Union, Expression's Oracle Design, and Lindsay Hotel. On our website, the BridgeToKindness.com, you'll find out more about our mission and have access to links to the organization's website that we spotlight, as well as an archive of the interviews we have here on the podcast. We would love to hear from you. Whether you're a volunteer or you lead a nonprofit organization, you can reach us through the website or email us at the bridge tokindness at gmail.com. Our guest today is Alyssa Newman, marketing director of Newman Roofing. Newman Roofing is celebrating 34 years in business this year here in the Columbus region. The founder of Newman Roofing, Tim Newman, has built a solid foundation for Newman Roofing based on the principles of quality, character, integrity, and honesty in all that they do in serving our community. Alyssa, share with us about how the company began.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Newman Roofing was started in 1992, so we're celebrating 34 years this year. It was founded by my father, Tim Newman. He was just 22 years old when he founded the company. We started Newman Roofing because he grew up on his father's roofing crew. He was a laborer grounds crew member. And when they found out they were expecting me, he had to find a way to provide for his family. And there was a growing family. So they he decided to start Newman Roofing because that's what he knew that was the trade he knew and grew up in. He will tell you first person that he never imagined it would grow to the size that it is today. So he says he'll tell you himself that he didn't realize at such a young age that just doing the right thing would impact so many people. And it's funny because I've I've been on the phone since I was 16. I took a break for my personal career and came back to Newman Roofing. But it's funny because even after all these years, it's been 34 years, people will still tell us stories of when he came out at 22 years old. He's not 22 now, but who's counting? Um, but it's funny because we've even been out and in person and community events, and they come up and say, Is Tim Newman here? And he's like, I'm standing right here, but might look a little different than he did at 22. Um, but it's been a wonderful journey. Um, my mother joined the company 15 years ago. Um, my sister and I joined the company, and her husband works here as well. So my brother-in-law works here. So it's truly a family affair. We are committed every single day. We we often asked, do we work in the office every single day? And I'll tell you, we do. Um, even Tim Newman himself will be the first one to sign up for a Saturday shift to make sure this company is running smooth and our customers are taken care of. So it's everybody always wants to know what it's like working in a family business. And I'll tell you, our family business operates like our family does, our values are incorporated into the company. Um, our passion is incorporated into the company. Our drive every single day to be excellent and provide excellent customer service is incorporated into the company. And it's actually brought us closer as a family. People say, Do you guys bicker as a family? And we and we really don't. Um, and I'm I'm not just saying that. It's brought us closer as a family. It's my sister and I, we always talk about how it's truly special. We never saw ourselves being in the roofing industry as children, um, but being able to join as adults and build upon the legacy that our father started and continue to build a reputable company and show that honest companies do exist. Good customer service still exists, quality products still exist. Um, it means a lot to us, and we take a lot of pride in what we do every day.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

What is the fun role that you get to do in the organization? And what makes it so special each day that you come to work?

SPEAKER_01 4:29

My role in the company is I oversee the office and marketing. So I oversee all of the scheduling team and all of the marketing, whether that be radio, TV, print, um, digital, all the fun stuff. My passion for my position is I get to share the story every single day. I get to be authentic in our marketing, I get to represent what our family and our company represents and show the consumers who we are and what we do. And getting to tell our story and getting to share all the efforts that my father's put into this company is something that really drives me every day for marketing.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

How does kindness play a role in your business?

SPEAKER_01 5:11

So, being a family company, we have often weaved the standards, ethics, and morals of this business around our family values. So, growing up, we were raised as children to give back to the community. Um, my mother is she's heavily involved in volunteer. She's won several community awards for volunteering. She believed in giving back to the community. We were raised to make donations, to volunteer our time, to find um individuals in need who may have just needed a friend or needed somebody to talk to. We were we were taught to seek those individuals out and, you know, maybe give them the hello that they needed that day. So when it came to the business, we it just became natural to interweave that kind of mentality and that kind of perspective into the business every single day. So with that, we've started our initiative called Commitment to Community here. And it's celebrating those who make a difference in the community. It highlights ways to give back to the community. And it's really taken off in our culture here at Newman Roofing because our employees want to be involved. They want to, they want to volunteer at that community event, they want to take their time. And every time they work it, they all come back and say, Wow, that was just so fun because we got to interact with the community, we got to hear stories of individuals in the community. And it it goes back to supporting the communities that supported our business for so long. How do we make a difference in the community? I often say, Don't talk about it, be about it. How can we talk? We want to make a positive impact in the community. Talking about it only does so much. Take the actions and give back.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

When we come back, we'll talk with Alyssa about the impact they have made through kindness in our area. That comes your way next. As the Bruce the Kindness podcast continues, I'm Ron Smith. We'll be right back.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Today's episode is made possible through the generosity of EPS, Pathways Financial Credit Union, Signature Carpet Care, Expressions Floral Design, and Lindsay Honda. For additional information about today's guests and the organizations we spotlight, go to www.thebridge tokindness.com. That's thebridge tokindness.com. To reach us, you can email us at thebridge tokindness at gmail.com. We would love to hear from you whether you want to nominate an organization to be on our show or share with us your own experience in the nonprofit industry. That's thebridge tokindness at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Welcome back to the Bridge to Kindness Podcast. I'm Ron Smith. With us is Alyssa Newman with Newman Roofing. Can you share with us how you've seen the impact you as a company have made through kindness in many communities here in the Columbus region?

SPEAKER_01 8:44

There's so many stories that we've heard. Um really what we've done in terms of our commitment to community, we've focused on supporting organizations that mean something personally to us as a family. So when it came to supporting organizations or supporting um in-person events, community events, we wanted to make sure that it was something that aligned with us personally and that we were not doing it solely for marketing purposes. And I think that's something that's huge because often you hear a four calls marketing. To us, it has to mean something. So we align with organizations. So for example, we uh support Western for Fourth Fridays, Delaware First Fridays. We're a big sponsor of a lot of PAL community events. We wanted to create a safe place for families to go out and enjoy events that don't cost them a ton of money, a safe place for them to take their children, create memories, enjoy the outdoors, get some fresh air, get out in the communities, see the good in the communities. And we've also done other initiatives. For example, our Raise the Roof initiative that we do every spring honors local heroes, whether that be teachers, first responders, veterans. The feedback that we've heard is it's nice to hear positivity again. We're we we as a community, we as a country, we have faced a lot of challenges in the last several years. And to see the communities reunite, to see positivity, to hear positivity, there's a lot of good going on in the world as well. So we just try to highlight those people who are making a difference. Uh, we also partner heavily with the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio. We sponsor quite a few of their events. My middle sister and I were both speech language pathologists who worked with individuals of all abilities. So being able to support those organizations that we saw the direct impact of means so much to us because it's still our way to give back to that community that we have a love and passion for. Just going out into the community and they and the families coming up and saying, you support our child, you support our family member, you support our friend of all abilities. We also feature individuals of all abilities every October as part of our Down syndrome awareness month. And we feature individuals in that community giving back and making a difference. So it's just been our commitment to community initiative has just continued to grow and grow. And the feedback that we've heard is truly amazing. Just people wanting positivity, people wanting to see businesses standing up, giving back, getting their employees involved and giving back. And really that's what we think the America was built on is businesses giving back to the communities that they're in.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

How has that work impacted you personally in doing this work?

SPEAKER_01 11:47

You know, I've never been asked that question before. And it's it's really honestly everything to us because we are in the business of serving people. Yes, we install roofs, yes, we do siding, and yes, we do gutters. But at the end of the day, we're here taking care of families, we're here protecting families, we're here building trust, building relationships. And we often hear, well, you're in the industry of a one-time transaction. One, we never look at it as a transaction. That's not how our business is developed. Our business is to develop friendships, cheerleaders, relationships. We want to have a long-standing relationship with every family that we interact with here. And that's our goal for me personally. My mission here when I joined the company was to get involved in the community because I know we did so much as a family that we felt that bringing that into our culture as a business was important. And it makes you feel good. Just getting to see the impact that you have on individuals. And oftentimes we don't know how great that impact is. So when you think that, oh, I'm contributing this to help them, it often goes beyond that. And even just posting some of the videos that we've shared, or even on my personal page and stuff like that, people the response that we've got is just beyond what I've ever would have imagined. And there's a lot of people in need, and there's a lot of people who are they don't know where to go, they don't know who to turn to. Um, it's been wonderful. I also am sometimes still on the phones and getting to hear some stories. Particularly have some older individuals, maybe older widowed women, who are said, you know what, honey, I've seen you on TV. I've seen what you do to the community, and I trust you. I this is my first big project I'm taking on since my husband has passed. He handled all of the home projects. But we but we know that we can trust you. To me, that that's everything that our company represents. At the end of the day, it's our last name that stands on the side of the on the front of the building, on the side of the trucks. And it's really neat to see that we can take our family values and put them into a business and see the impact that it can have in a community.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Why do you feel being kind and kindness is important today with both businesses and on an individual personal level?

SPEAKER_01 14:24

There's a lot of reasons why being kind is important. One, we need positivity in the world. There's a lot of good people, there's a lot of good initiatives, there's a lot of good organizations, and there's a lot of wonderful things being done, no different than the bridge to kindness. The number of lives you have impacted through volunteer volunteers, that's astonishing. And people need access to resources without judgment. How can we get resources? How can we get help? How can we receive these items and not receive judgment for that? Um people need a safe place in the community. Where do kids go? How can families afford to take a family of four to an event? Let's let's provide a community event that they can go out and the kids can make memories and you can enjoy, and and you get to see fireworks and you get to hear live music, and it's a fun Friday night for the whole family to enjoy in a safe space. And individually, when you take and you give back to the communities that you so that you I grew up here locally, being able to give back. I live, I moved back, I live in this community. It means so much when you get to see that you can have a direct impact in people's lives. And like I said, the impact that you have is often greater than you anticipate it being. And that to me is when you hear that story, it's it's like wow. I I don't we don't do it for the pat on the back, we don't do it for the recognition, we do it to make a difference. And that's ultimately our goal is we're committed to giving back, we're committed to the families that have supported us.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

Thank you so much for sharing with us today and why kindness is so important and the role your business continues to have impact and provide for here in the Columbus region.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

We do really appreciate being able the opportunity to be able to tell our story and to be part of the bridge to kindness. Um, when you reached out, I I looked at the website and I was it was really honorable and it was it was a proud moment for us because we really do care about what we do in the community. We really are passionate about being an honorable business that gives back and cares about people. And we aren't just saying that. We we live it every single day. So we really appreciate you reaching out to us and recognizing that.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Thank you, Alyssa. And it's our pleasure to work with you and companies like yours that make that impact. That brings to a close this edition of the Bridge to Kindness podcast. This podcast is made possible through the generosity of EPS, signature carpet care, Pathways Financial Credit Union, Expression's Floral Design, and Lindsay Honda. Special thanks to Alyssa Newman with Newman Roofing for being with us today. Take a moment and think about how you can engage with a nonprofit or an organization in your community to make a difference to those around you. Join us again on our next episode and we'll profile more individuals and nonprofits in the Columbus region. Until then, from all of us to the fruits to columnists, I'm around Smith make a difference, make an impact.