Trash Bandits stand ready to jettison your junk

By Jeff Morrow for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Israel Moore was always interested in owning his own construction company, and that dream came true in 2014.

But something interesting happened a year later: he found a second business in hauling people’s junk away.

Moore launched Trash Bandits, a professional junk removal service, eight years ago.

“My construction company (MyPROcontractor) had bins for tossing away junk,” he said. “Other companies started asking for the bins. I had a dumpster that I rented out to a company.”

Suddenly, Moore found that junk removal was big business.

“And then Jennifer got involved, and she has taken it to another level,” said Moore.

Jennifer is Jennifer Freund, Moore’s friend and business partner. She also has a personal organization business, and she’s helped streamline Trash Bandits. Services provided

So just what does Trash Bandits do?

For a fee – depending on what needs to be removed – the company will take away the following items: furniture, yard waste, electronics, appliances, some hazardous waste (such as paint), wood debris, metal, old lawn mowers, cardboard, newspaper, concrete and brick, dirt and gravel, mattresses and hot water tanks.

The company serves the following areas: Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, Prosser, Finley, Burbank, Walla Walla, Moses Lake and Pendleton.

They’ll do their best to recycle products to places such as Habitat for Humanity or Goodwill.

“We treat people’s stuff like we’d want our stuff to be treated,” Freund said.

That also means following the latest ecological guidelines with dumping.

“And concerning your sensitive identification, with us it’s secure when we drop it off. No one is going to go through your stuff,” Freund said.

Trash Bandits helps a lot of elderly peo- ple, many of whom can’t move their own stuff.

“We go through a lot of these people’s personal items,” Freund said. “We take care to go through their personal stuff for them. We’re making community connections. When you let people into your own home, that’s trust.”

Freund talks about the time while moving an older person’s belongings, they came across an old recipe box that was marked in the toss out pile.

They got the box back to the owner.

A growing business

Moore said that Trash Bandits’ services have been on the rise over the last year.

“We’ve been advertising on Facebook and Google,” he said. “And a lot of word of mouth.”

The company has four trailers, two rolloff dumpsters and eight junk bins to carry off that unwanted excess on your property.

“We’ve doubled in trailers in a year’s time,” said Moore, who is quick to credit Freund for much of the company’s growth. “This has been Jennifer’s baby. Over the next year, she expects to hire more people.”

Trash Bandits currently has two fulltimers (Freund and Moore) and two parttimers.

“My five-year plan is to have at least five full-time junkers, and at least one office person,” Freund said. “I want to do marketing.”

With success comes imitation.

Freund says there are a number of people in the Tri-Cities who have a truck and trailer. Those people advertise that they’ll remove your junk for a lot less money.

Freund says that’s OK.

“But the majority of them are not licensed, bonded or insured,” she said. “If they break something of yours in the house while removing the junk, you have no recourse.” uTRASH BANDITS, Page A36 cork + Create in Richland after its owner Becky Brice died.

In a community of more than 300,000, there should be plenty of work for all junk haulers.

Trash Bandits has developed a reputation in the community.

“I feel like her spirit is here with me,” Zepeda said. “I hope I’m living up to her.”

Zepeda said Brice had reached out to her to take over her watercolor paint-and-sip studio in Richland prior to her death.

“We just couldn’t make the numbers work,” she said.

Still, Zepeda felt honored by the gesture. She also wasn’t sure about taking on a space with a kitchen, which is required by the state to host parties that serve wine.

“I can only serve beer, hard seltzer and cider,” she said of the Pasco location that’s available for birthday parties, private events, scheduled paintings or drop-ins.

Art YOUR Way sells ceramic figures that can be painted on site and glazed to give the appearance of firing, and wine glasses are also available to paint and take home.

Zepeda hopes to invite other artists to her studio that can act as a blank canvas to teach classes showcasing mediums besides acrylics, including oils and watercolors.

“I just spoke with someone who wants to do wire wrapping, so it’s kind of giving an opportunity for artists who don’t have their own space, they can come in. It’s safe, it’s comfortable and it’s fun, right? Plus, I can still make a little bit of revenue selling snacks and drinks.”

Following her grand opening earlier this month, Zepeda is offering a smattering of children’s workshops on watercolors and drawing, and she hopes to provide a free story and craft time aimed at toddlers once a week.

“That way people can come in and do something with kiddos, but also get a chance to see, ‘Oh, I could come back and do something for myself.’”

She also intends to host classes on advanced acrylics and painting using oils.

With her studio opened, Zepeda doesn’t expect to be on the move providing mobile classes or paint parties as much.

“I will be sending other artists instead. It gives them a new job and a new way to get their style out. It will be a nice touch to be something different from me,” she said.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. TuesdaySaturday.

Search Art YOUR Way: 6303 Burden Blvd., Suite A, Pasco; artyourway.org; 509-4059879.

“We work with 80 Realtors and property management companies,” Freund said. “We have done removal in places involving hoarding cases.”

They also get a lot of jobs from people who live outside the area, whose parents in the Tri-Cities have recently passed away and need their parents’ places cleaned out.

“They don’t know what to do,” Freund said.

Trash Bandits also moves personal belongings from place to place, and the company has helped some older folks by helping move furniture inside their homes.

The company also works with the nonprofit iMPACT! Compassion Center, setting up clients with case workers to help meet their needs, whether it is diapers, microwaves, freezers or baby clothes.

“If we hear from specific organizations that they have needs, we keep an eye out for those needs,” Moore said.

Then there are the unpleasant jobs that need to be done, like cleaning out a tenant’s apartment after being evicted. Or cleaning up an apartment that was used to make drugs such as fentanyl.

That’s when the Trash Bandits put on their hazmat suits and dive in.

Still, the No. 1 job for business seems to be junk pickups.

“That’s what most people want,” said Moore. “But No. 2 is full clean-outs.”

Those are usually storage unit cleanouts, when customers don’t want to pay another month’s rent for that storage unit.

And they always happen at the end of a month, and in bunches.

Junk hauling in the Tri-Cities has become big business.

“We put in 10 to 15 hours a day, six days a week,” Freund said.

But they both love it.

“I love a customer’s response when they say it’s money well spent,” Moore said. “What could take someone a number of trips to the dump in their pickup truck, it’s gone in minutes with us. And I like the fast pace of it.”

Freund agreed.

“Every day is different,” she said. “I love how what we do lifts the weight off of a customer’s shoulders. That pile of junk sitting in their garage for three years is suddenly gone. I just love seeing the relief on their faces.”

Search Trash Bandits: 509-416-0141; trash-bandit.com.

Please

uDONATIONS

• Bechtel is donating $10,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs to support the organization’s College Tours program. Each summer, dozens of high school students tour universities, community colleges, and technical schools across the Northwest to learn about different degrees and educational opportunities available to them. This summer, thanks to Bechtel’s support, more than 25 teens will tour eight colleges across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Stops include Boise State University, Portland State University and Lewis & Clark College.

uFUNDRAISERS

• The Junior Achievement Bowling Classic fundraiser raised more than $184,500.

Costume contest winners were: Getaway fun winner: Don Persinger, Northwest CPA; Costume contest winner, Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, National Program Unicorns; Top fundraising company: Hanford Mission Integration Solutions, $20,000; Top fundraising team: Bechtel/team captain, Kent Ozkardesh, $3,695; Top fundraising individual, Kent Ozkardesh, $3,108.

uAWARDS & HONORS

• Pasco City Television, or PSC-TV, earned the Alliance for Community Media’s Hometown Award for its extensive coverage of the Pasco City Council meetings. The ACM’s annual awards program celebrates and encourages community media and local cable shows aired on public, educational and governmental access cable television channels.

PSC-TV has been serving the Pasco community since 2006. This award adds to a string of national programming awards won by PSC-TV in 2014, 2016, tory. He was in Leadership Tri-Cities Class 17. He served as board chair of the leadership organization for more than half a decade.

2018, 2019 and 2020.

• Several drivers took home awards during Ben Franklin Transit’s annual “bus roadeo,” an obstacle course competition. In the category of Dial-ARide paratransit, Del Long placed first and Dale Engles placed second. In fixed route bus service, Gabe Beliz placed first, Nathan Miller placed second and Raya Phelps placed third. Beliz and Miller will go on to the state competition held as part of the Washington State Transit Association’s 2023 annual conference in August in Vancouver.

• Garrick (Rick) Redden was named the Alumnus of the Year for 2022-23 by Leadership Tri-Cities. Redden works as a manager in instructional System Design at Pacific Northwest National Labora-

• The recent graduates of Leadership Tri-Cities Class 26 are Jon Blodgett, Banner Bank; Becky Burghart, National Park Service; Elizabeth Burtner, Columbia Basin College; April Culwell, city of Pasco; Adrienne Fletcher, Academy of Children’s Theatre; Trish Herron, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Emilia Keener, Lifepoint: Trios and Lourdes Health; Jenna Kochenauer, Washington River Protection Solutions; Kristy Leitze, Lifepoint: Trios Health; Mariana Marquez, Sital Community Leader; Brooke Myrland, Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce; Jamie Ohl Turner, Providence Health System; Kendra Palomarez, Catholic Charities; Brady Quinton, Franklin County; Jet Richardson, TriCounty Partners Habitat for Humanity; Beau Ruff, Cornerstone Wealth Strategies; Shannon Sackett, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Alice Schlegel, Columbia Basin College; Meegan Tripp, U.S. Department of Energy; and Tracy Wilson, Pasco School District.

• The U.S. Department of Energy has chosen Washington State University Tri-Cities as one of six grand-prize winners in the final phase of its Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize. WSU Tri-Cities will use the $250,000 award to continue its Empowering the Future Energy Workforce plan, which includes developing an energy and environment certificate for students.

• Kennewick School District presented John Perkins, a community volunteer and advocate for public education, as this year’s Southeast Washington Association of School Administrators Community Leadership Award winner. He has been a sounding board for the district’s superintendents, administrators and school boards throughout the years. His leadership, perspective and decision-making has guided the district through the development of 22 capital projects which include four completely new elementary schools, one new middle school and 17 other schools that were either remodeled or replaced, including the new Kennewick High School.

• Trios Health has appointed three of its residents to serve as chief residents for the hospital system’s family and internal medicine residency programs. Dr. Candice Pollard has been selected as chief resident for the Family Medicine Residency Program, and Dr. Lexi Capers and Dr. Raymond Lam have been chosen as co-chiefs for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. The physicians were selected by their fellow residents and will serve as chiefs for one year, through June 30, 2024. Chief residents provide leadership within a medical residency program by teaching, facilitating conferences, supervising, scheduling, implementing policy, mediating and serving as role models for other residents. The residents are supervised by attending faculty and their program directors.

• Richa Sigdel is Pasco’s new deputy city manager, effective June 19. She previously served as the city’s finance director, revitalizing the finance department, spearheading numerous projects and helping to earn the department multiple recognitions from the Government

Finance Officers Association, said a statement from the city. She also spent 10 years in the national laboratory system. Sigdel has a bachelor’s in accounting and a Master of Business Administration from Washington State University.

• Laurel J. Holland has been sworn in as the first federal prosecutor appointed to serve full time in the newly staffed U.S. Attorney’s Office in Richland. Holland will serve as assistant United States attorney in the Criminal Division, which handles federal criminal cases. She previously served as a deputy prosecuting attorney for Benton County from 2009-15 and again from 2019-23. In between, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Yakima, from 2015-18. From April 2022 until now, Holland served as a special assistant United States attorney, handling cases in both state and federal court. Throughout her career, Holland has been recognized for her work prosecuting cases involving the exploitation of young children.

uGRANTS

• Heritage University, which has a campus in the Tri-Cities, received a $7,500 grant from Pacific Power Foundation. This is the fifth year in a row Heritage has received the grant, which will be used to fund scholarships for students pursuing degrees in the health sciences field.

uRESIDENCY

• Trios Health welcomes the Trios Health Residency Class of 2026. The new residency class joined Trios Health earlier this month for their respective three-year residency programs and in- cludes four new family medicine resident physicians and five new internal medicine resident physicians.

The Trios Health Residency Class of 2026 includes:

Dr. Eseoghene Adun, family medicine, Meharry Medical College. Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Rachel Donaldson, internal medicine, American University of Antigua College of Medicine. Hometown: Dawson Springs, Kentucky.

Dr. Matthew Lee, internal medicine, Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Hometown: Moreno Valley, California.

Dr. William Mortell, internal medicine, University of Pikeville, Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine. Hometown: Lake Tapas, Washington.

Dr. Costina Papatheodorou, family medicine, Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine. Hometown: Bay Area, California.

Dr. Nicholas Sanseri, family medicine, Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine. Hometown: Redmond, Oregon.

Dr. Cody Sellers, internal medicine, Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dr. David Van-Thai, family medicine, McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Hometown: Houston, Texas.

Dr. Ryan Wertz, internal medicine, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine. Hometown: Altoona, Pennsylvania.

The Trios Health Family and Internal Medicine Residency Programs are 36 months in duration and include both inpatient and outpatient experiences. One-on-one training is provided by faculty who work at Trios Health and in the community. Both programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

uNEW HIRES

• Mark Rhoads has joined the Hanford Vit Plant as the new maintenance and technical staff training manager, reporting to Owen Peters. He brings a wealth of the knowledge, including 26 years of submarine nuclear Navy experience and more than 30 years of instruction experience. Most recently, he served as a training specialist at HAMMER Federal Training Center, where he held a variety of training responsibilities, including managing the conduct of the operations training program and creating the remote switching operator course. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in workforce education and development from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale.

• Daniel Mendoza has been hired as the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant’s employee concerns program and ethics and compliance (E&C) manager. He reports to Heather McMurdo. Mendoza brings over 20 years of experience in leadership and management to his new role. Most recently, he served as a project special- ist in E&C and a senior human resources specialist with Washington River Protection Solutions, where he developed new initiatives to continually improve the effectiveness of the E&C programs and conducted numerous E&C and employee relations investigations.

• Brian Cable is the Hanford Vit Plant’s new senior legal counsel. He takes over as WTP senior legal counsel for Leslie Droubay, who will be taking on other responsibilities with Bechtel. The transition will be completed over the next few months, with Droubay retaining primary responsibilities for a few special projects through the remainder of the year. Cable joins the team with more than 22 years of experience in law. Most recently, he served as associate general counsel at Battelle at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington State University and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Lewis & Clark Law School.

• Heartlinks hired finance director Michael Dunlop to its leadership team. Dunlop brings financial experience to Heartlinks from previous work with both for- and not-forprofit health care organizations specializing in medical device manufacturing, privacy laws compliance, grant writing, as well as strategic business planning. Before joining Heartlinks, he had retired as the chief financial officer and director of special projects at Columbia Industries in Kennewick. He holds a Master of Business Administration from California State University, a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Walla Walla University and is a former Washington State Certified Public Accountant.

• Angie Brotherton joins the Hanford Vit Plant team as the deputy communications manager, reporting to Staci West. She replaces George Rangel, who left the project earlier this year to lead communications at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Brotherton most recently served as the assistant vice president of community relations and impact for Gesa Credit Union, the state’s second largest credit union. In this role she managed publicity for the construction and opening of new branches across the state, employee communications, statewide charitable giving and partnerships and executive communications. She worked in Gesa’s marketing and communications department for nearly 18 years. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Washington State University in digital technology and culture, with a minor in business administration. She serves on the board of the American Red Cross serving Central and Southeastern Washington.

• Alane Wilkerson is the new marketing and communications supervisor at Chaplaincy Health Care. A Tri-Cities native, she studied at Eastern Washington University. Her previous experience includes working as the public relations manager at Visit Tri-Cities.

• Dr. Jacobo

Rivero has been hired to provide occupational medicine services full time at Prosser Memorial Health’s Prosser Clinic. He has been with the Prosser health system for more than a decade, serving as the chief medical officer from 2017-20. He served as the site occupational medical director for Medcor at Bechtel since 2020. Rivero earned his medical degree from the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City and completed his residency at Family Medicine Spokane, a program affiliated with the University of Washington. He is board-certified in family practice and is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He’s also a certified medical examiner by the Federal Motor Safety Carrier Administration and a member of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.