An Extremely Good Cause

When the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition rolled into Lena, Ill. this September, Stephenson Service Company had a hand in making the Stott family’s new home a reality.

After learning the popular show would be tearing down and rebuilding a local family’s home, Gordy Williams, energy marketing manager, contacted Hasken Construction to see what the cooperative could do to help.

“We offered to donate an LP-gas tank and fuel, and within an hour they had called back accepting the offer,” he said.

Williams, Larry Hanson, Certified Propane Specialist, and LP technicians Rodney Randecker and Eric Meyer installed a 500 gallon underground tank in several hours during the 106-hour round-the-clock building project. The family’s new home is heated with a geothermal system, but several appliances are propane-powered.

Stephenson Service Company played other roles during the project as well. FAST STOP manager Roxanne Schultz and product manager Sheila Tehaar delivered coffee, donuts, and cookies each morning to the thousands of volunteers and spectators at the site. Keith Beightol, building foreman, volunteered his construction skills.

The episode will air Sunday, November 15 at 7:00 p.m. central time on ABC.

“This helped a family in need in our community, and being part of this community we were glad to be able to help out,” Williams said. “It was a gift of kindness.”

Visit Hasken Construction’s website at http://www.extremehaskenconstruction.com/ for photos and more information about the build.

Pictured with the Stott family's new home are Stephenson Service Company employees (left to right): Larry Hanson, Certified Propane Specialist; Rodney Randecker, LP technician; Eric Meyer, LP technician; and Gordy Williams, energy marketing manager.

Ontario's School Buses Run Cleaner Thanks to FS PARTNERS

This article and photo are courtesy of Janice Johnson, GROWMARK Ontario Region marketing and communications specialist.


After 14 months of negotiation, FS PARTNERS closed a deal with Student Transportation of Canada (STC) to provide more than 1,200 school buses with cleaner-burning biodiesel fuel.

Student Transportation of Canada began its transition to biodiesel with FS PARTNERS in 2008 with Simcoe Coach Lines in Sutton and Parkview Transit in Caledon.

“Since then, we have been supplying the school bus fleets with high quality biodiesel blends through GROWMARK's distribution channels and expertise,” said Andrew Troyer, FS PARTNERS director of energy. “Biodiesel is a fairly new product to most, but to GROWMARK, biofuels have been a major component of the Energy Division for more than ten years. I guess you could say we are veterans of a new product!”

Over the past two years, STC has continued to expand its cleaner fuel program throughout Ontario. Tom O’Neill, FS PARTNERS energy sales manager, said that being involved with STC at the beginning of its push to convert to bio-blended fuels gave FS PARTNERS the opportunity to get in from the ground up.

“What put us ahead of the competition is that we not only provide a quality product, but we also offer flexible services and are available to fuel up anytime of the day or night,” he added.

Established in 1997, Student Transportation of Canada is the fourth largest provider of school bus transportation services in North America and currently operates 6,300 school vehicles in North America.

This new account with FS PARTNERS will amount to sales of approximately 5.8 million litres (1.5 million gallons) delivered each year, resulting in countless reduced emissions. It represents a changing mindset and commitment to renewable fuels.

FS PARTNERS Energy Division works with Student Transportation of Canada in supplying biofuels to its school bus fleets in Ontario. From left to right: Ken Gill, Student Transportation of Canada Inc. (STC) regional maintenance manager, Chris Harwood, STC senior vice president – Canadian Operations, Andrew Troyer, FS PARTNERS director of energy, Tom O'Neill, FS PARTNERS energy sales manager.