Sukup Safe T Home®: The Culture of Giving
Jun 20, 2023
As Sukup Manufacturing Co. celebrates 60 years we want to reflect on a life-changing moment. The culture of giving back is inGRAINed in the Sukup family. After an earthquake hit Haiti in 2010 and caused major damage to the homes of the people, Sukup’s president and CEO, Steve Sukup received an email to see if something could be done. “It was a simple decision when our safety director asked me if he could pursue bin homes for relief efforts,” said Steve Sukup. “We are a family-owned company with family values and felt proud to contribute.”
From there our staff spent the next year and a half developing the Sukup Safe T Home® and we partnered with GoServ Global to help bring the idea to life. Safe T Home is virtually earthquake proof, hurricane proof, fireproof, termite proof, and machete proof. Each home can sleep 10 or more people and can be adapted for schools, churches, hospitals, and more.
With over 500 Safe T Home structures in Haiti and continued efforts to build them in developing countries, they have already made a huge impact. Eddy Constant, Director of GoServ Global Haiti, explains how the Safe T Home not only helps keep people safe from the dangers of weather in Haiti, but they also help protect people from gangs and violence. Eddy says, “Only God can do that, and we are very thankful, and we are very pleased with what God is doing in Haiti.”
Ken DeYoung, the Co-Founder of GoServ Global has been in awe of growth and the positive change the Safe T Home has made. “My vision of what GoServ was going to be way back when we started was pretty small compared to what the Lord’s done today.” When Ken and his team first started GoServ Global and began working with the Sukup Safe T Home he thought there would be around 50 homes. We have all been pleasantly surprised to see that we continue to add more and more Safe T Homes around the world.
Emily Schmitt, Sukup Manufacturing CAO/General Counsel has been personally involved with the Safe T Home project. She has been grateful to be part of a family-owned company that values faith and uses that culture to make an impact around the world. It’s important to Emily and the rest of the Sukup family that we use the opportunities available to us to make a change and have a physical embodiment of what we want to represent. The work being done is a group effort, and without the engineers that helped design the Safe T Home it would not have been possible. Emily says, “The best part of Safe T Home is you can see where God is moving, and we go where God is moving when it comes to the Safe T Home.”
Safe T Home would not be possible without all the kind donations we have received. With the cost of a Safe T Home being $7,500 per home any help is appreciated. If you would like to donate and sponsor a Safe T Home® or learn more about GoServ Global and the work they have done you can visit https://goservglobal.org/safe-t-home/
