COCHRANE— A new full-service property maintenance company is starting up in Cochrane with the aim of helping out special needs and developmentally disadvantaged persons by giving them an opportunity at employment and fulfillment through hard work.
Make a Difference Maintenance is a new start-up founded by Tony Moores and James Darby, a long-time veteran of the Calgary Police Service, and a retired military veteran respectively.
The company will offer the full gamut of services, from taking your trash to the curb, to snow clearing and yard maintenance.
“The vision is to form crews with either me or James as a supervisor, and then grab a couple of these young adults as partners to get them out in the community to provide a worthwhile service, and get a financial reward to let them do some things that can let them enjoy this great place that we live.”
The founders of Make a Difference Maintenance want to provide a three day work week for their partners, and a few days of recreational activities like meditation, snow showing and hiking, or cross country skiing through the winter.
“The more people we spoke to, the more we found that there are quite a few of these kids,” Moores said.
Moores, who has spent 40 years in uniform, either working in the military or as a police officer in the United Kingdom or with the Calgary Police, wanted to get his son, who had trouble maintaining work, engaged in a meaningful way and thought providing a maintenance service was a good path forward.
“I have four children, but one of my sons, he’s 24 now, he suffers from a cognitive learning disability. He really struggled, he didn’t really fall into the normal routine of getting a diploma and going on to post-secondary and university,” he said. “So he got a little bit lost along the way, and sort of, like— I think a lot more than we think, a lot of young adults are sort of left floundering a little bit with no of direction.”
Moores said getting his son involved in maintenance was a way for him to find direction and engagement, and now he wants to share that experience with others who might be in a simliar situation.
Darby said he feels like there are a lot of people who do not find their way so easily. A lot of young adults, those on the spectrum, people facing barriers and day-to-day challenges with maintaining a job, need an opportunity to thrive, he said.
Make a Difference Maintenance, he said will give those people an opportunity to be part of a team and give something back to the community.
“I think the value of, not just getting them out and doing something, but the value of delivering something back to their community will be really powerful,” he said.
Moores said he feels like western society has shifted away from its helping nature. A lot of people will help indirectly, through things like monetary donations, but when it comes to hands-on help, a lot of doors get closed quickly.
As he wraps up his tenure with the police service, he wants to continue toward his own goals of helping others, and Make a Difference Maintenance is how he wants to achieve that.
“I think everybody deserves a chance. We’re a very affluent, you know, Canada and Cochrane especially. I think my son sometimes feels like he’s failed through no fault of his own,” he said. “It’s about stepping up and taking that ownership of your community— It won’t look after itself. Giving these young adults that opportunity … hopefully that will put them back on a track of picking up something that they actually want to do, be it staying with us or picking up another passion.”
To find out more about Make a Difference Maintenance, you can visit their website at makeadifferancemaintenance.com or call 403-690-7740.
