RIDGID Donates Over $8,000 to the PHCC’s Educational Foundation

Since 1923, RIDGID has been a symbol of certainty to dedicated professionals of the expert trades, manufacturing power tools of all sorts. Now the company is helping a new generation of construction-focused workers, donating over $8,000 to the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors National Association’s (PHCC) Educational Foundation “Invest In Your Future” campaign. The proceeds were raised by selling customized K-1500 sectional drain cleaning machines on eBay.

In celebration of 75 years of RIDGID drain maintenance innovation, RIDGID assembled three employee teams to customize K-1500 sectional machines. These creative designs were named “American Power,” “RIDGID Venom,” and “Top Fuel Drain Eliminator.”

The three machines competed against each other for the “Best in Show” award and were voted on by attendees of the Pumper and Cleaner Expo and through RIDGIDForum.com. Voting took place through the month of March and the Top Fuel Drain Eliminator machine was voted most popular with 73 percent of the votes.

All three machines were listed on eBay for ten days and raised $8,101 in donations for PHCC’s Educational Foundation. The Top Fuel Drain Eliminator machine raised over $4,550, the American Power machine raised over $2,000 and the RIDGID Venom machine raised $1,500.

The PHCC’s Educational Foundation engages in workforce development, management education and technical training activities for the growth and career success of those employed in the plumbing and HVAC/R industry. 

“Being able to partner with PHCC and to donate to its Educational Foundation ‘Invest In Your Future’ campaign is one of the ways RIDGID is reinforcing its commitment to industry education and development,” said Steve Dyer, director, marketing communications, RIDGID. “This project was even more exciting because we were able to involve RIDGID employees and customers in the constructing and voting of the custom K-1500 sectional machines.”

As incentive for voting for the best machine, participants were entered into a contest to win a new K-1500 drain cleaning machine upon casting a vote. Bruce Francisco (Pikeville, Ky.), was randomly selected as the winner of the new tool earlier this month.