Local Army Veteran serving community in a new way

Local Army Veteran serving community in a new way Kristi Blake News10NBC ROCHESTER, N.Y. — An Army veteran is helping the Rochester community in a new way. Brian’s Service Brian Puff enlisted in the Army in 1997 at 19 years old. Puff said he wanted camaraderie and adventure. He did most of his training at Fort Drum before heading to Fort Hood in Texas. “The year that we did active duty was during Iraqi Freedom. We loaded the trains, in Fort Hood that were going to get material on the ships. So we loaded, it was basically a 9 to 5 job working at the rail yard. And we loaded all the equipment, all the tanks, all the jeeps, Humvees, to be sent overseas. We did just over a year then came home,” Puff said. Puff spent seven years in the Army and then spent 18 years working behind a desk. He always wanted to be a business owner and knew he needed to take a risk to make it happen. “Right before this, it’s been 18 years, behind the desk. I loved it and it was a great job, but I wanted something that had a little more, excitement to it, something that was a little more challenging. I think I found that because every day is different, every day is a new challenge,” Puff said. Junkluggers He now owns the local Junkluggers franchise, which clears out unwanted items from homes and businesses across the greater Rochester region. “We do a lot of residential jobs. So we take a lot of, you know, just furniture, household items out. We help a lot of people when they’re transitioning, whether it’s because they sold the house or because they have a family member that’s going into a nursing home or, things of that nature. And then the other half is a lot of commercial business. We do a lot of, warehouse clean outs. We do a lot of, apartment cleaning for, for property managers. We do a lot of retail space clean outs when they’re, either, moving to a new location or they’re, upgrading their current location. We’ll take out the old stuff. So it’s kind of a 5050 split,” Puff said. Puff said he tries to instill Army values in his team. “I’m trying to build an organization that is, is good. Is is high standard is I want it to be, and I try and instill that every day, and that, a lot of those values come from the Army. I tell my guys all the time, if you do the three big things, if you show up ready, if you execute and if you own the outcome, then the customers are going to love us,” Puff said. Sustainability Junkluggers aims to keep as much as possible out of landfills by donating items to local charities. “We have goodwill restore. We do sweet charity. We do a big brother. Big sister. We do wherever is, closest to us that will accept what we’re trying to to get,” Puff said. Giving and sustainability is a core part of the company’s mission. Puff says the process takes extra time and effort but is worth it. “Yes, it does take a lot more effort because we have to plan, we have to segregate all of the material. We have to stage the truck in a certain way. We use a storage facilities to temporarily place things, before we can bring them where they need to go. So it’s a lot of extra time. A lot of extra driving. But we feel it’s worth it because it’s the right thing to do. So we do try and donate as much as we can,” Puff said. More information about Junkluggers can be found here.