With more and more Sedona businesses closing their doors during to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bill Johnson found a way to keep some of his staff on the payroll while helping the community.
Cleaner Quicker Carwash in West Sedona is not only offering to disinfect vehicles, but they’re also acting as a hub to drop goods off for the Sedona Community Food Bank.
“Life goes on and people are at risk just doing basics like shopping, much less those who are especially vulnerable like seniors or those who are out of work,” Johnson said. “So each community has to band together to help itself and especially those in need. Beating this comes down to people helping people. In times of crisis that is what makes the difference and the only way to beat this pandemic.”
Johnson went on to say that everyone has to choose whether they want to be part of the solution — and if so, find ways to contribute — and that every bit matters.
“I will absolutely guarantee one thing — you will never feel as good as you do when you are helping others, and you will come through this feeling better about yourself and closer to those around you,” he said.
They realized they had opportunities beyond the car wash to do more to help those in need.
“Seniors are right in the bullseye for COVID-19 and extremely vulnerable to infection and dire outcomes. So we volunteered our staff to make deliveries of food and medicine for the Verde Valley Caregivers as well as keep their volunteers’ vehicles clean and disinfected for modest cost.”
With so many people out of work, Johnson said the food banks were becoming overwhelmed. Because of their convenient location on State Route 89A, they set themselves up as a collection point for food or cash donations.
“In the first few days we’ve gotten almost $400 from our generous customers, and food donations are just starting to come in as the word gets out that we are collecting,” he said. “We hope for a lot more, and pass on collections daily. In addition, we joined a group of wonderful Sedona citizens who hosted a drive-thru event at the two food banks to collect donations.”
This past weekend, someone on social media asked if the car wash had extra masks they could give to the Verde Valley Medical Center.
They did.
“They can only accept unopened packaging, so we scoured the facility last weekend and found unopened boxes with 150 masks that we took to a grateful ER on Sunday,” he said.
Their latest project is hand sanitizer, which is in short supply everywhere. They located adequate alcohol, aloe, tea tree and lavender essential oil, and they have set up a manufacturing operation to make small squeeze bottles of hand sanitizer. They give one to each customer and to groups like police, seniors and food bank users.
“All I can say is that we are all excited and feel great about the opportunities we’ve been given to make a difference,” Johnson said. “When you’re doing something you love, it’s not work, it’s a pleasure.”
