COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Ajax Paving takes pride in giving back to the communities we live and work in. What makes a great community outreach program is not only donating money but also donating sweat equity. At Ajax, our employees are not afraid to try new things, recommend new charities, and most definitely not afraid to get their hands dirty. 2020 was a challenging year for everyone. Ajax employees were ready to step up to the plate and give back anyway they could. Ajax participated in multiple food drives, toy collections, donations of services, sponsorships, and hands on volunteer work. Shout-out to our employees for getting involved and giving back!

Myakka River State Park Cleanup

On Saturday, August 1, 2020, Ajax employees volunteered at Myakka River State Park. Volunteers spent the day focusing on invasive plant control, weeding, and disposal of air potatoes. In total the group put in 160 hours of volunteer time and sweat.

The Brotherhood Ride

In the month of September, Ajax’s Ft. Myers and Venice offices collected donations and supplies for The Brotherhood Ride. The Brotherhood Ride is an organization that consists of firefighters, police officers, and EMS personnel who ride bicycles to honor first responders who have died in the line of duty. Their mission is to provide emotional and financial support for their families. The 2020 ride was dedicated to 25 Florida Fallen Heroes. Cyclists took the challenge of riding 500 miles over 7 days. FHP Officer, Greg Bueno presents at Ajax’s Safety Day and is a friend to the Ajax family. Ajax employees attended a press conference to show support. Thank you to all who donated!

Ajax Paving’s Fill-that-Truck Food Drive

Ajax Paving hosted it’s first annual “Fill That Truck” Thanksgiving Food Drive in the Fall of 2020. In the past, Ajax has hosted holiday food drives but this year employees wanted to do it even bigger and better! Ajax Paving purchased 25 yellow drum barrels and had them placed at every Ajax shop, plant, and area office. Ajax also partnered with outside businesses and placed barrels at local restaurants, and locations within the community. Ajax also invited all subcontractors, customers, and vendors to donate via drop-off locations or online through Amazon. The goal was to fill an Ajax flow boy and drop off donations at each areas local food pantry. The Tampa donations benefited Metropolitan Ministries, Fort Myers donations benefited Gladiolus Food Pantry and Ajax’s North Venice donations benefited South County Food Pantry and The Charlotte County Homeless Coalition. In total Ajax donated 24,000 tons of food. Thank you to all of our employees and outside partners for making Ajax’s first annual “Fill that Truck” Thanksgiving Food Drive such a success!

Pictured: Brian Pittman, Tom Daquanna, Dejan Vujaklija, Jacob Gouveia

Group shot of Ajax’s Main Office. Special shout-out to our area shops and drivers for helping with logistics and transport. Thank you Mickey Cox for capturing these photos!

Thank you to our friends at South Florida Milling for this beyond generous donation! Our friends at Turtle surprised Ajax’s Tampa office with multiple pallets of food!

CONSTRUCTION CAREER DAYS 2020

ON February 20, 2020, a group of Ajax employees attended the 5th Annual Tampa Bay Construction Career Days at Hillsborough County Fairgrounds. In total, Ajax had two learning labs, three pieces of equipment and an informative career center booth.

The “Asphalt Cookie” learning lab was led by Alfredo Castro, Arielle Zazik and Mario Lentsch. Students were able to get hands on and create edible “asphalt” while Ajax employees explained how each “ingredient” represented an asphalt mixture.

Ajax’s second learning lab was centered around equipment operation and safety. This lab was led by Mike Morgan, Jeffery Case Mumby, Andrew Cary and Stefan Maldonado. Andrew Cary said, “I had a great experience at construction career days, interacting with the students who may be working in the construction field someday. It was rewarding in many ways. Showing different equipment, explaining the daily procedures along with discussing safety topics. We made a point to express how our job is a high demand and how important the construction industry is to Florida’s infrastructure.”

Along with the learning labs, Ajax had a career center booth. The career center booth was led by Kara Coggins and Linda Bailey. They did a wonderful job answering any questions students had about Ajax. The ladies talked to so many interested students, they ran out of Ajax brochures, applications and of course candy!

All in all, it was a great day and would not have been possible without the support of every Ajax volunteer. Way to represent the A-Team!

ON October 29, 2020, for the first time in Ajax Florida history, we were able to invite ALL females that work at Ajax to a luncheon to discuss how Women can Raise the Bar at Ajax. Jamie Simmons our Credit Manager and Mandy Kustra our Safety Director chaired the meeting.

In all 31 Ladies were able to attend from noon until 3:00 at the Ajax Barn at our main office in Venice. After lunch, we each gave a brief description of how we came to Ajax and what our role is within the company. We were amazed to hear how many of the Ladies have been with the company for 10 plus years.

Once we finished the introductions we had a general round table discussion on how we can get other females interested in applying to be a part of the Ajax family, how we can help more in the local communities, and what opportunities are available to those women who currently work at Ajax. It was great to hear ideas from women representing all levels of seniority and spanning all departments of the company.

Everyone concurred that they would like to be a part of female representation for Ajax at local job fairs. We feel that all in attendance have a newfound respect for all women at Ajax and the key roles we each play. We plan to meet quarterly and set some detailed goals for next year. We want to thank everyone that attended and we look forward to seeing you at the next meeting in 2021.

Habitat For Humanity

On October 20, 2020 a group of Ajax employees participated in Habitat for Humanity South Sarasota County Women’s Build Week. The ladies spent the day framing out the inside of a home, sawing wood, and installing windows. Shoutout to the employees who took the time to participate and get their hands dirty!

Thank you to the following Ajax employees for participating: Jennifer Kline, Natalie Woody, Kara Coggins, Sandy Philipps and Sandy Figueroa.