IHP donates manufactured home to drug unit
State and local officials gathered with representatives from Innovative Hearth Products and the local law enforcement community on Wednesday for IHP’s donation of a manufactured home to the Franklin County Drug Unit.
Thanks to a generous donation from a Russellville business, the Franklin County Drug Unit will now have its own office and training space located behind the Franklin County Jail.
On Wednesday, officials with Innovative Hearth Products (IHP) donated a manufactured home, previously used by the company to showcase their products, to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to be used by the Franklin County Drug Unit.
Mark Klein, CEO of Innovative Hearth Products, said he was glad his company had the chance to support local law enforcement.
“This manufactured home was originally purchased so the company could showcase our products at different venues,” Klein said. “It has gone to Florida, Atlanta and even Salt Lake City.
“Recently, the opportunity became available to donate the property to a good cause, and when the sheriff’s office expressed an interest, we felt it was the right thing to do.
“We want to be a good corporate citizen to this community, and we were more than happy to support our local law enforcement in this way.”
Mike Madden, the landlord for the IHP property, is also donating sheetrock and other materials to complete the inside of the manufactured home to make it usable as office and training space.
“When Sheriff Oliver and Inv. Nathan Weeks inquired about this property, I thought it would be a good thing to do because these guys do so much for our community,” Madden said.
“I appreciated that they were taking the initiative to better their department so that they could better serve the people in this area.”
Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver, who partners with Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett to supply the manpower to staff the Franklin County Drug Unit, said he appreciated all IHP had done to make this donation possible.
“It takes a lot of community support to make our local law enforcement great, and we are very grateful to Mark Klein, Mike Madden, and to IHP for providing us with this nice facility,” Oliver said.
“We plan to use this as a place where the drug unit can conduct their business, but there will also be many other uses that this building will serve.”
Oliver said the sheriff’s office hosts different training sessions with other law enforcement agencies and the new building would be ideal in those situations as well.
He said with the donation of the building, the donation of the sheetrock and other materials, and the donation by Cooper Development to do the full set up and underpinning to get the manufactured home in place behind the jail, local law enforcement wouldn’t have to spend any funds on this project.
“This building is going to be a real asset for our local law enforcement and we can’t say thank you enough for the generosity of all those involved.”
Chief Hargett said he was also appreciative of IHP for caring enough about the local community to make such a large contribution in the form of the manufactured home.
“This donation is really representative of what the city as well as our police department and the sheriff’s office strive for,” Hargett said.
“This donation is the result of teamwork and people working together, and that’s what we have tried to do with this drug unit. Our department and the sheriff’s office have joined forces to work together to combat the drug problem in this area, and having a dedicated space to be a sort of headquarters for this unit will be very beneficial.”
Probate Judge Barry Moore thanked the IHP officials for their generosity.
“Our drug task force does a great job serving and protecting this community,” Moore said.
“I want to thank IHP for recognizing that fact and for being willing to donate this manufactured home to help them do their job even better than before.”
Sen. Roger Bedford, who was heavily involved in the process of IHP choosing to expand their plant in Russellville and add up to 245 new jobs by May 2014, said this donation was one of the results of having a good company located in the community.
“I just want to thank Mark and IHP for supporting Franklin County so strongly,” Bedford said.
“Their decision to expand their company here in Russellville made a positive impact on this community and they continue to have a positive impact by being involved with and concerned about our local people.”
Russellville Mayor David Grissom agreed that IHP was more than living up to the expectations city officials had for the company when they announced their expansion in August.
“We were so grateful when IHP made the decision to bring 245 new jobs into our city and our area, and that fact alone made us thankful to add them to our business community,” Grissom said. “But it’s an added bonus that this company is choosing to also be civic-minded and to care about the people who make up this community. We are honored to have them as part of our team here in Russellville.”
