Select Security lifesaver for nonprofit that helps disaster victims

This Thursday, on Thanksgiving Day, Tad Agoglia, founder of First Response Team of America—a nonprofit that uses specialized equipment to do rescue and recovery work around the nation for victims of such disasters as the deadly tornado that hit Joplin, Mo. in May—will be honored in a special television program called CNN Heroes. Agoglia's organization also was the winner of a Special Community Service Award at the Honeywell First Alert Professional 2011 Convention, held earlier this month in Scottsdale.

But Agoglia credits Patrick Egan, founder and president of Lancaster, Pa.-based Select Security, with helping to make the work he does possible.

That's because when Agoglia relocated his organization to Lancaster about 15 months ago—attracted by the hiring opportunities in the agricultural community of a workforce skilled in operating heavy machinery—Egan stepped up and volunteered to provide First Response with 10,000 square feet of warehouse space, for free.

The clean, heated, well-lighted space now provides a home for the tractor trailers and other heavy equipment that First Response, which Agoglia said is supported by companies such as Caterpillar Inc. and Peterbilt Motors Co., needs to mobilize at a moment's notice to race to the next disaster anywhere nationwide.

Agoglia said others in the Lancaster community responded to an ad he placed seeking donated space as a home for First Response with offers of rental opportunities. But Egan understood the organization needed a donation, Agoglia said.

�“The donation came with no strings attached,” Agoglia told me. He said that's actually a rare occurrence in charity work.

He said Egan told him he was donating use of the space—for which Egan could have gotten $10,000 a month in rent—because he felt that as a security provider, Select Security shared similar “core values” with First Response of helping people.

When I asked Egan about the donation, he brushed aside any praise. “It's worth it,” he said.