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Niles office supplier gives back
NILES Thursday Feb 21 2013 Garvey Office Supplies (clockwise starting left,) marketing vice president Sheila Garvey, vice president Ken Garvey, president Bernie Garvey, vice president of business development Dan Garvey and vice president of sales Kevin Garvey sit by one of the office designs set up inside of their new furniture supply warehouse. | Michelle LaVigne~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: April 29, 2013 2:15AM
Raised with the belief that giving back to the community is very important, the Garvey family has been busy supporting various charities through The Recycle for a Reason program.
Garvey’s Office Products, located at 7500 N. Caldwell Ave., has been in business for 86 years. Bernard Garvey Sr., who is now retired, worked for the original owner starting in 1954 and he purchased the business in 1964. The business has been located in Niles for 13 years, and at its current location at 7500 N. Caldwell Ave for the last five. The business was previously located in Chicago.
Garvey’s offers many kinds of office supplies, from ink to furniture to janitorial supplies
Sheila Gartland, who runs the business with her five brothers Mike, Bernie, Ken, Kevin and Dan, said the whole family’s involved.
“All of us gradually, over time, joined the business,” she said.
In 2007, Gartland started taking empty toner cartridges from their clients, recycling the products and donating the earnings to charities.
“We were raised with the importance to give back to the community,” said Gartland, who said another great aspect of the Recycling for a Reason program is also to keep the items out of the landfills and help improve the environment.
What started out with recycling just cartridges has expanded into recycling many other items, such as batteries, cardboard boxes, computers, printers, telephones and more.
Over the past five years, the recycling program has raised about $100,000 for various charities.
Gartland said that the charities they support are either current customers of Garvey’s or former customers. The long list of organizations Garvey’s has supported includes The American Heart Association, Girl Scouts of America, the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Salvation Army, The Chicago Lighthouse and more.
Each quarter, the company makes a donation to a new charity. This quarter, Garvey’s will support Inspiration Corporation, located in Chicago. This organization runs Inspiration Café, which feeds the homeless and also helps them find jobs.
“It’s very exciting to see what started out with 10 cents per cartridge has amounted to a great thing for a lot of these charities,” shared Gartland.
Gartland said Garvey’s recently opened a 4,000 sq-ft furniture showroom that contains everything from school furniture to office furniture to furniture for a break room. The showroom will be open on Wednesdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. starting March 1.
The 84,000 square-foot warehouse in Niles has 22 trucks that make deliveries each day.
Her father, Bernard, is planning to come out to look at the new furniture showroom soon.
“We’re very excited to have him come out and see it,” said Gartland.
