Each year during The Unified Group’s Annual Meeting & Owners’ Forum, one member company receives the annual Making the Difference Award.

Ormond, Florida-based Air One Heating and Cooling installed a York HVAC system, donated by Johnson Controls, in the home of U.S. Army Sgt. Stephen Pyle in Port Orange, Florida.

York, Pennsylvania-based Double ‘D’ Roofing & Sheet Metal won an award for its charity efforts.

A New Jersey contractor has given more than $52, 000 worth of HVAC equipment and installations to area military families in the past year.

Carrier Corp. donated HVAC equipment and employees volunteered their time on a Habitat for Humanity building project in northeast Indianapolis. 

Johnson Controls and a Florida contractor gave a U.S. Air Force captain’s new home a heating and cooling system.

Mechanical Services Inc. of central Florida raised more than $100,000 for Frontline Outreach Inc., a Florida-based charity that helps children.

Through its Innovation Awards program, the expo donated $20,700 to Chicago Lighthouse, a nonprofit organization that serves with visually impaired individuals in the Chicago metropolitan area.

In my years at Snips, I’ve learned that the HVAC and sheet metal industry is a pretty charitable one. Not every company or association talks about it, but many people who work in this field like to give back.

A longtime sales and marketing manager with stints at Titus, PCI Industries and Lennox, Groh was out for a bike ride on Father’s Day 2008 when he took a turn too sharp and flew off the bicycle.