A Table Comes Full Circle: The Story of Ground Guys of Valparaiso and Beth Blaga

ground-guys-beth-2016_01The story Beth Blaga tells about the Grounds Guys of Valparaiso began years before she even met them. The project they worked together on began and ended in Spring of 2016, but her experience was so much more than just another job.

The Grounds Guys are a personal business; franchise owner Nate Bray took the time to learn about Beth Blaga and her yard. He listened to her story. In the time it took him to sculpt her lawn, they had built a relationship that is atypical with a corporate landscaping company.

“It looks fantastic,” she said. “He stands behind his work and that means a lot. Nate is a good, stand up quality man.”

The exterior of Beth’s yard has seen a lot of change in the past few years.

In 2012, Beth needed to add a wheelchair ramp. A nearly fatal medical issue left Beth paralyzed on the left side of her body. She would need years of physical therapy to regain full function. Beth was able to return home for the hospital only after her father actually built a wheelchair ramp she needed.

“It’s a sign of unconditional love. He dropped everything to come take care of his daughter,” she said.

The ramp was special to her. Beth went to therapy three times a week to improve the use of her limbs. She switched to a leg brace and a cane after six months in the wheelchair. In spring of 2014, she was able to regain some strength, eventually earning the ability to walk on her own. The removal of the ramp would be bittersweet.

So, her father used his construction expertise to turn the pieces of the ramp into lawn furniture. He made a table, some chairs, and a bench.

ground-guys-beth-2016_02Beth did a lot of yardwork herself after regaining her motor abilities. Every year, she would redo the border around her landscaping and her pool on her own, but she intended each time for it to be a permanent solution. It needed a professional hand.

So, she hired The Grounds Guys.

“I had different contractors come out and give me quotes,” she said. “It was an easy decision when I found out Nate is a God-fearing man. There is an excellence involved in the work, and I know the money I’m paying will go back to the church, to God. It was the right decision for us.”

Nate and his team leveled Beth’s yard, added sod, and did some landscaping. They put in the border Beth had been trying to achieve. They showed her she was a valued customer.

Around the same time, Beth and her husband had redone their deck and bought new patio furniture for it. Beth knew Nate was looking for a table for his office, and she asked him to take the one her father had crafted.

They still text each other sometimes, and Nate will come over to help the Blaga family with yard work or issues. When she sees The Grounds Guys crew in her neighborhood, she stops in to say ‘hi’.

“He tells me about the table,” Beth said. “‘He says, ‘I put my head down on your table and remember that no matter what I’m going through, it could be worse’.’”

Beth put her father’s table in the hands of someone she could trust: the same man she trusts with her yard.