Case Construction Equipment and heavy equipment dealers, Titan Machinery and Sonsray Machinery, donated the use of skid-steers, a compact track loader and an excavator to Team Rubicon for Operation Big Iron—a veteran-led disaster cleanup operation in response to the “Tinder Fire,” which swept across more than 500 acres in Coconino County, Ariz.

Team Rubicon volunteers provided heavy equipment operations, debris removal and sawyer services to affected communities. The organization deployed 40 members who logged a total of 2,592 hours on the operation. Team Rubicon’s heavy equipment operators used the equipment to help move more than 54,130 cubic feet of debris.

“This operation required equipment and resources to be brought in from numerous locations, and both Titan and Sonsray showed their commitment to helping rebuild communities in the Southwest in the face of disaster,” said Michel Marchand, vice president—North America, Case Construction Equipment.

Kubota Tractor Corp. completed the purchase of nearly 318 acres of land in Ponder, Texas, in Denton County, roughly 30 miles northwest of its North American headquarters location in Grapevine, Texas. The newly acquired property, Kubota Ranch, will strengthen the company’s roots in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth region and allow it to bring its dealers closer to its headquarters for previews of new Kubota products.

The four small utility buildings located on the property today will remain, and Kubota has a vision to build additional amenities to make Kubota Ranch a dealer destination and testing ground to preview and unveil Kubota equipment to dealers.

“Kubota has considered a land purchase of this nature for quite some time, and with our Grapevine headquarters in such close proximity, the opportunity to expand our operations and research and development capabilities here in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth region makes solid business sense,” said Masato Yoshikawa, Kubota Tractor Corp. President and CEO. “With this land, we will now be able to expand our physical footprint and build out our vision for the ranch to evaluate and test our equipment. Best of all, we can bring our dealers to Dallas to unveil and operate our new products, versus creating the experience for them in various cities around the country—it’s exciting that we can now offer this experience here at home in our own backyard.”

At this time, the company does not have plans to build manufacturing or distribution facilities on the property and intends its use to be strictly for testing and showcasing equipment.

Cherrylake, located in Groveland, Fla., has been named one of the 2018 Best Places to Work by the Orlando Business Journal. As a leading wholesale nursery and landscape contractor in its industry, this recent recognition joins the list of Cherrylake’s many other accolades, including the Top Employer in Lake County (2017), Largest Family Owned Business in Central Florida (2017), Top 100 Companies for Working Families (Orlando Sentinel 2013) and the prestigious CARES Award (Florida Farm Bureau 2016).

For more than 30 years, Cherrylake and the Sallin family have been farming 1,000 acres of land in Groveland. The founders began as citrus growers, but after the devastating freezes of the 1980s, they relocated their citrus groves further south and began farming the land with ornamental trees. Today, Cherrylake is a multimillion dollar diversified agribusiness with operations in wholesale trees, shrubs and palms, as well as a landscape construction and landscape maintenance for many high-profile properties in central Florida.

Cherrylake’s employee base is diverse but consistent, including field labor, horticulturalists, construction project managers, accountants, IT administrators and sales representatives.

The Best Places to Work Award was determined based on career growth and opportunity, richness of employee benefit plans such as 401(k), health insurance and life insurance, as well as a survey that was sent to all employees to get a true pulse of the culture and employee engagement at Cherrylake.

Greenworks Commercial is stepping up to help out a teen entrepreneur whose burgeoning landscaping business recently fell victim to a devastating theft.

Michael Bonza, Jr. (also known as Lil Michael) is the founder and owner of Bardstown Mowing Co. in Bardstown, Ky. Earlier this month, Bonza had his trailer full of landscape and lawn maintenance tools stolen from his home in an overnight theft that temporarily crippled his business. The loss of $5,000 worth of landscaping tools would be crushing to anyone, but especially to a 15-year-old entrepreneur who built his business from the ground up throughout the past 7 years.

Having learned about the theft after reading local news accounts and seeing that Bonza’s GoFundMe page was trending, Greenworks Commercial decided to completely replace Michael’s stolen gas-powered tools with its new lithium-ion battery powered tools, including the batteries and chargers.

“In a time when teen summer employment is at an all-time low in this country, hardworking young people like Michael Bonza should be celebrated, not victimized,” said Tony Marchese, director of independent retail—Greenworks North America. “When we learned of Michael’s story, we immediately knew we wanted to help, and we were in a unique position to do so. Not only could we get Michael whole again with the donation of brand-new tools, but with our proprietary lithium-ion battery platform, we were able to help Michael’s business propel forward with more profitability, never having to purchase another can of gasoline.”

The donation included Greenworks Commercial’s GM 210 push mower, GH 260 hedge trimmer, GS 180 chainsaw, GT 160 string trimmer, GBB 500 handheld blower and GBB 700 dual battery port backpack blower (along with the necessary batteries and chargers).

Husband-and-wife team Preston and Ginger Miller have purchased the rights to a new Monster Tree Service territory in the Salem, Ore., area. The Millers were awarded the territory in March and will be launching in the month of June.

“I’m excited to be on board with Monster Tree Service. I’ve spent years working in the corporate world, and I’m looking forward to this new chapter as a small-business owner,” says Preston. “Monster Tree is the perfect fit for us. We love to spend time outside, and through the nature of this investment, we will be able to spend more time away from a desk while still pursuing our entrepreneurial dream. The business model has proven to be profitable, and the franchise system is full of hardworking, genuine people. We can’t wait to get started.”

Photo: Case Construction