GoServ Global Completes Sukup Safe T Home
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Build at Living History Farms
URBANDALE, IA
- On Thursday, May 16, Living History Farms, GoServ Global, Polk County Farm Bureau, and Sukup Manufacturing Co. built a Sukup Safe T Home
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as a new permanent feature of Living History Farms. The build occured while the museum was open, allowing guests—including hundreds of Iowa schoolchildren—to observe the process.
Several special guests gathered to commemorate the addition to the museum including: Communications Director from the Office of Senator Joni Ernst, Dustin VandeHoef; State Senator Zach Nunn; 3
rd generation Sukup family member and general counsel for Sukup Manufacturing Co., Emily Schmitt, Iowa Assistant Secretary of Agriculture & Land Stewardship, Julie Kenney; GoServ Global Executive Director, Paul van Gorkom;
former President of the Board for Polk County Farm Bureau, Brad Moeckly;
Living History Farms President, Ruth Haus; Living History Farms Board Chair, Kelsey Knowles; and Director of Partnerships at Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area, Candy Streed.
Thanks to contributions from Polk County Farm Bureau and Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area, Living History Farms will also install interpretative signage to explore how this structure, a piece of Iowa's agricultural heritage and innovation, serves the world as grain storage and as an invaluable shelter for communities around the world.
"GoServ Global is very excited to donate a Safe T Home
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to Living History Farms to tell how innovation by Sukup Manufacturing Co. turned a grain bin into a home that is helping people enslaved by poverty or victims of natural disasters," says Paul van Gorkom, GoServ Global executive director. "The story of how Eugene Sukup started Sukup Manufacturing Co. back in the early 1960’s is an integral part of agricultural history in Iowa, so it fits well with Living History Farms."
“We like to say that giving back is inGRAINed at Sukup, and one of the best examples is our Safe T Home
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,” says Emily Schmitt, who serves as general counsel for Sukup Manufacturing Co. and is a third generation family member. “The Safe T Home
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allows us to use our talent for manufacturing high quality product from steel to provide a secure shelter for places like Haiti. We are thrilled that the Safe T Home
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story will be shared at Living History Farms, an institution that shares Sukup’s deep commitment to the agriculture industry in Iowa.”
"Living History Farms is grateful to our terrific partners, who have made this exciting project possible: Sukup Manufacturing Co., GoServ Global, Polk County Farm Bureau, Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area, and Integrated Power Corporation," says Ruth Haus, Living History Farms president.
Sukup Manufacturing Co. produces Safe T Homes
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which GoServ Global, as a 501 (c) (3) faith-based nonprofit, then purchases through donated funds and ships to needy families around the world.
About the Sukup Safe T Home
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After the January 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti, Sukup Manufacturing Co. designed the Safe T Home
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to house displaced families. The Safe T Home
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measures 18-feet in diameter and is made entirely of metal, making it resistant to termites and moisture.
In 2016, Hurricane Matthew devastated Haiti with winds in excess of 145 mph, putting the homes to the test. Yet, all 200 Safe T Homes
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prevailed with just minor damage, while the vast majority of traditional homes in the area were destroyed.
Earlier this year, an Iowa FFA team built GoServ Global’s 300th Safe T Home
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in Haiti in memory of Sukup Manufacturing Co. founder Eugene Sukup. In Haiti, the Safe T Homes
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serve as orphanages, a birthing center, as well as housing displaced families. GoServ Global has also built homes in Uganda where they house refugee orphan children who have fled war-torn South Sudan. In Peru, Safe T Homes
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serve as a bible camp.