GROWTH, CELEBRATION, AND CHALLENGES

So far, 2012 has been an incredibly busy year at WOR. We are continuing to experience growth which comes with some challenges of course, but growing pains are certainly not a bad problem to have. We have a strong, dedicated team of high quality individuals who continue to rise above any difficulties that come along. Since the purchase of the entire property in Modena last year, we have been in the process of leasing space to several businesses, including Fred's Fine Cars owned and operated by Fred Sinton, who specializes in converting diesel engines to run on WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil) Fuel Grade. We are also assisting the borough of Modena to create a community day in the park later this summer. The hope is to bring the residents of Modena together for a fun day of bonding and fellowship.

Rob Mastrippolito, Mark Highland,
Hon. Chris Ross, Brenda McNeil, Mike Betterly, Ted Reed
and Jim Bricker

On May 20th, WOR along with the Organic Mechanics Soil Company hosted our 4th annual Energy Independence Day festival, and it was our biggest yet. We began the day with a joint ribbon cutting facilitated by the Western Chester County and Southern Chester County Chambers of Commerce celebrating our expansion and our newly built outdoor concert stage. State Representative the Hon. Chris Ross joined us along with Modena borough manager and all around great guy, Ted Reed. Later, a crowd of approximately 300 people enjoyed delicious sandwiches, funnel cakes and smoothies provided by Brenda Brittel, deep fried Oreos prepared by Brendan Steer and delicious cupcakes baked by Robin Mastrippolito, confectioner.

The crowd enjoying food and music.

Also, Victory Beer provided samples of their award-winning Headwaters Pale Ale. The attendees were entertained by the sounds of the Rolling Thunder Blues Revue, The Wallace Brothers Band, and Mason Porter. The twenty vendors in attendance were visited by a good group of like-minded individuals who hopefully learned more about all of the local efforts surrounding sustainability and making our community and planet a cleaner place. The kids enjoyed a variety of activities, including face painting, plant potting, and our refurbished dumpster painting project, which was a huge hit. As you can see, the finished products are beautiful artistic planters that will be displayed near the front of our property in Modena.

Our biggest challenge currently is the theft of our product at various client locations. You may be thinking 'why would anyone want to steal used cooking oil?' As strange as it seems to many, used cooking oil is a very valuable commodity right now and the competition in our region and across the country is fierce. Although there are many companies like us who are doing the right thing and recycling the product into biodiesel, not all of our competitors are as green as we are. We have several investigations in progress and have moved toward containment that is more difficult from which to steal. But as you can see, even this high quality, locally built Paulson dumpster is susceptible to someone with the right tools and opportunity. All we can do is continue to feel proud that we are doing the right thing while moving to expose and prosecute those who are stealing from us and our clients. In many cases, the thieves actually tell the clients that they work for us. For any client who may be reading this, ALL of our trucks have our logo on the side and our employees wear uniforms with our company name and logo on them. And for our friends, if you ever happen upon someone taking oil from what is clearly one of our containers, (they are all marked) please try to get their license plate number and contact us immediately. It is great to have extra eyes in the community and we appreciate the help.

All in all, we are thriving at WOR. Every day comes with challenges and opportunities, but we will continue to push forward with our commitment to our clients, the community and the environment. Many thanks to all of you who support our efforts.