A First for Owner Jeff Hutton
By Jeff Hutton, Owner, We Clean 4 You, The Woodlands, TX – May 2016
It was my first clean. Not just for Cleaning For A Reason, but for any client. I was a bit nervous as I met Rebecca at the house to “help out.” It was our second time at the home of this woman, who quite simply was battling for her life. She had gone through surgery, radiation, and was fortunate enough to have skipped chemo, but you couldn’t miss the pills all over the house, that she hoped would extend her life.
She met us at the door and had the deer in the headlights look at seeing a man at her door, although she recognized Rebecca who explained that I was one of the owners of the business, and just there to help. I thanked her for letting us clean for her.
I had my bucket and limited supplies and off I headed to the master bathroom. Of course, I wanted to do a fabulous job, so I did my best to give her a deep clean on every little thing on the countertop, made the toilet look brand new, and wiped every surface I could find. Even the bottles of magic potions hadn’t looked that good since they lived at Wal-Mart.
I was cleaning around a doorknob that was still in the package laying on the counter when I noticed a matching hole on the closet door. I asked the lady if she had a screwdriver and could I put it on for her. She said her husband had been meaning to put it on for a long time. We shared a laugh, as I reminded her to only remind him every few months. A few minutes later the closet door was as good as new and I moved onto the second bathroom.
We always tell our applicants how cleaning for someone else is really hard work, but this time I got to experience it firsthand. After an hour and 45 minutes, I was pretty exhausted. It was very hard, not like building some project in the garage with power tools! We got to share a few minutes chatting about her journey, before I had to head out to check out a job on which we had a new house cleaner. Rebecca did a great job of finishing up the things I didn’t get to as I drove off into the sunset.
As I pulled away, I felt how lucky I was to have a healthy life and especially how lucky our business is that we get to give back to someone who just needs the help. We’ve cleaned for about 14 patients and over 40 jobs to this point. The beauty is that although on paper we are the ones who gave, the reality is that we are the ones who gained. What a great feeling.
