At BFW, part of our culture is continuous improvement. We take it upon ourselves to constantly evaluate our performance in our service to others while challenging the status quo. This past summer our region experienced ongoing flooding and severe weather. With over 18 years of responding to disasters, this was like nothing we ever experienced.

What made this summer unique is that we experienced ongoing individual weather-related events continuously for nearly two and a half months starting in July. Our most experienced team members were often saying, “I have never seen anything like this!” The first one to say this was Project Manager, Chad Moyer, who has lived in Fleetwood, PA his entire life. He woke up on a Saturday morning in early July to see mass destruction caused by severe flooding. Little did we know this was only the first event that would ravage our area for the next several months. Although our area was not headlined in National news, the devastation experienced in our community was real and it was heart-wrenching.

As the summer continued the severe weather events continued, some hitting the same area repeatedly. Our experiences of managing past catastrophic events helped us as we employed practices and procedures to best serve our customers during these difficult times. Our calling to serve extends beyond deploying our services. It is equally important to us to provide support, expertise and guidance to the community at large.

When it was all over we stopped, huddled up and reviewed our performance. Kobe Bryant said it best: “Find things you could’ve done better, find things that you’ve done well that worked. Figure out how they worked, why they worked and how you can make them work again.”  View the video we showed our team here.

We are not perfect. We make mistakes and sometimes fail to meet the expectations of those we serve. That’s when we lose. We stand behind everything we do and are committed to continuous improvement. We harshly evaluated ourselves and developed plans to improve where there was opportunity. We celebrated our successes and what we did well.  

We are continually grateful for the opportunity to serve others and fulfill our purpose to make a meaningful, positive impact on the lives of others. We are committed to continuous improvement and demonstrate that every day.

It is with gratitude and respect that we applaud the men and women of BFW who worked tirelessly over the summer to help people in our community that experienced the devastation of the summer’s wrath of severe weather. Through it all they remained supportive, empathetic and served with purpose to all those who turned to us during a difficult and emotional time. 

Thank you for your support and confidence in us. 

Very Truly Yours, 

Ted and Lisa Lavender