Many team members of Massey Services participated this past Saturday in the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk. In the weeks leading up to the event, we encouraged all of our team members, as well as their families and friends, to get moving to improve their health.

Walking for as little as 30 minutes a day will improve circulation, lower cholesterol and blood pressure and promote weight loss. There are countless physical activities out there, but walking has the lowest drop-out rate of them all! It’s the simplest positive change you can make to effectively improve your heart health.

And exercise is not just for adults! Experts suggest that children should accumulate from 60 min. to several hours of physical activity every day. Dr. Stephen Sanders, author, professor and director of the School of Physical Education and Exercise Science at the University of South Florida says, “The amount of time children spend daily in physical activity is decreasing and it will take a determined effort from parents to reverse this trend.”

With the weather cooling off, now is the perfect time to get your family moving! Don’t just send your children out to play – go with them and participate in the activities. Play four-square or hopscotch, blow bubbles and chase them around, go on a walk or turn up the volume and dance! Provide the family with an abundant supply of balls, hoops, hockey sticks, bats, paddles, racquets, bean bags, etc.

Here’s to your family’s heart health! For more tips on how to get moving, click here.

Research shows that you can gain about two hours of life for every hour of regular vigorous exercise you do. I challenge you to find a better two-for-one deal!

Massey has enthusiastically joined the American Heart Association’s Start! movement as one of the key event sponsors of the Greater Orlando Start! Heart Walk. As the signature fundraising event for the AHA since 1994, the Heart Walk raises funds to fight heart disease and stroke, the No. 1 and No. 3 killers of our community and all Americans.

More than 1 million walkers participate each year in more than 350 events across the country, raising funds to save lives. Over 100 companies in Central Florida have already formed Heart Walk teams including Massey Services! We’ve put the word out on our team members in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana and have set a hefty goal of raising $10,000 for the AHA. I know we can do it!

Registration is now open for Greater Orlando residents to take steps to improve their heart health at 8 a.m. on October 2, when the 5K (3.1 mile) walk will be held at Loch Haven Park. Teams from local companies, along with friends and family members of all ages, will participate in the non-competitive walk, following a program emceed by Dave Collins & Leslye Gale of Magic 107.7. A one-mile route is also available for survivors.

Walkers can plan to visit three communities set-up throughout the park that morning with festivities kicking off at 7 a.m. The communities, Create Hope, Inspire Change and Celebrate Success, provide family fun and education. Everything from health screenings, kid’s activities, healthy snacks, survivor celebrations, massages, company photos and more will be available. Be sure to stop by Massey Services’ tent at the company photo booth!

To learn more, join a team or to form your own team, visit GreaterOrlandoHeartWalk.org

During the month of July, Massey Services team members donated school supplies and/or cash through our popular Jeans Day Fundraisers for A Gift For Teaching (AGFT).

Donated supplies were dropped off last week and the team at AGFT could not have been more appreciative! We were able to donate over $100 in cash, in addition to 757 pencils, 205 pens, 100 folders, 24 boxes of crayons, 68 spiral notebooks and much, much more! We also received great news that, because of a grant the organization received, all donated funds are matched 100%, increasing our cash donation to over $200!! What a great way to kick off the new school year!

AGFT’s concept is simple: local businesses take unwanted office supplies or surplus merchandise that would otherwise get thrown away and donate it for distribution through the Free Stores for teachers. More than 8,673 teachers from Central Florida’s 324 public schools can then “shop” for free to make sure that  more than 155,051 students in our community have what they need to learn.

Click here for more information on how you can donate supplies to AGFT.

By encouraging team members to wear their favorite pair of jeans on two Fridays in May, Massey Services was successful in raising $600 for Kids House of Seminole! Kids House is a non-profit organization that provides all necessary services for children who are victims of abuse (from report and investigation through treatment and prosecution) in a kid-friendly, non-threatening environment.

Massey Services’ mission statement includes the phrase “Our People Make the Difference” – and do we ever! All team members are encouraged to volunteer with organizations that give back to the communities our company serves. Several team members are involved with Kids House in various volunteer capacities and Massey Services looks forward to continuing to support Kids House well into the future.

If you are interested in supporting Kids House of Seminole, click here for more information.

After visiting the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey yesterday in Maitland, it’s easy to see why Massey Services is proud to support this amazing organization.

From caring for injured birds and continuing research and scientific programs to connecting people with nature, the Center soars as one of Central Florida’s hidden gems. Opened in 1979, the Center has treated over 12,000 injured or orphaned raptors and released more than 40% of these birds back into the wild. The Center handles the largest volume of eagles, owls, falcons, hawks and kites east of the Mississippi River, and remains a leader among all North American rehabilitation centers for specialized eagle care.

In addition, the Center provides environmental education programming to over 20,000 local students, teachers, and visitors annually, while promoting a culture of conservation toward birds of prey and their habitats. A nationally renowned research institute, the Center is a leading voice in the ongoing fight to save endangered and threatened birds of prey.

It has often been said that our future is intertwined with the fate of birds. If that is true, then it is crucial that we join forces with the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey to not only care for injured or displaced raptors, but also to shape our future.

If you would like to visit the Center or are wondering how you can help, please click here for more information or call 407-644-0190.

As Theodore Roosevelt, 26^th U.S. President and Honorary Audubon Vice President, said, “Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources…the history…the romance, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”

Our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Harvey L. Massey was recently presented with a very special award from Florida Citrus Sports – the Howard Palmer Award. This honor is given annually to a member of the community who, without regard for personal recognition, has maintained a long and active relationship with Florida Citrus Sports, continuously supporting and contributing to the success of the organization. This award is the organization’s highest service honor and recognizes a “lifetime” of service to Florida Citrus Sports. Congratulations Mr. Massey!

Mr. Massey has been involved with Florida Citrus Sports for nearly 25 years and has held various positions within the organization such as president (1998-99) and chairman (1999-2000). He currently serves as president of the Florida Citrus Sports Foundation, while his son Tony, President and Chief Operating Officer of Massey Services, presently serves on the Florida Citrus Sports Executive Committee.

For more information on Florida Citrus Sports, visit fcsports.com.

Massey Services truly believes in giving back to the local communities that we serve. Today team members went casual for a good cause. All who wanted to wear their favorite pair of jeans to work were encouraged to donate a few bucks to Junior Achievement. We ended up raising over $350 in just ONE DAY! Great job team!

JA is dedicated to educating students on workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. And it’s an organization that we are proud to cheer on - in more ways than one. Massey supports JA not only through Jeans Days, but also with an annual Bowl-a-Thon for Team Members and volunteer programs that utilize Massey’s finest to teach students in local schools through experiential, hands-on programs.

For more information about JA and how you can get involved, visit http://www.ja.org

Bob Belmont, Massey’s Training & Technical Director and a Board Certified Entomologist, recently walked the grounds of the Central Florida Zoo with Sandi Linn, the Zoo’s Director of Education, scoping out the best spot to place a special insect trap. In partnership with the Zoo, Massey will soon begin an insect biodiversity study that will hopefully lead to a complete biodiversity study of the entire zoo grounds.

Massey’s eco-friendly insect trap (similar to the one on the right that Bob has behind his own moth lab in Sanford, Fla.) will randomly attract night-flying insects to a walk-in screened cage. The special trap allows for the collection of a few bugs and the release of other insects during the day. Massey will be teaching interested Zoo employees how to run the trap, collect the samples, and then preserve and label the specimens to be of scientific value. Various other trapping methods will also be utilized throughout the year.

The Zoo will learn a great deal from this study about their local insect fauna and will begin to better understand insects, their food plants and adult flight periods. The published data will also likely spur similar studies and attract local and out-of-state scientists to the location.

Thanks Bob! We look forward to hearing more about this study as it progresses.

Some Team Members having Heart Healthy Fun on GO RED day!

As you may know, Massey truly believes in giving back to the communities in which we do business. That’s why this past Friday, we joined the American Heart Association’s fight against heart disease and held WEAR RED day. Team Members donated $5 to the American Heart Association and in turn were able to wear jeans and something red to work on Friday. I just had to post this because I am SO PROUD of our Team Members – we ended up raising over $300 in just ONE DAY! Now that’s a lot of green for a WEAR RED day!!!