Written by Helen Strickland // Photo by Macy Cox
In September, XPO Logistics built and donated a shed for children to use while they wait for their bus. The shed is located across the street from XPO Logistics on Benton Avenue. Employees built the shed when they noticed children waiting at the nearby bus stop in harsh weather.
Michael McChristian, the maintenance superintendent at XPO, said their original plan was to build the children a small school bus, but the idea grew with time.
“My boss, Paul Reed, he approved it,” McChristian said. “I have a guy named John Northcutt that worked for me who builds houses and shops on the side and I gave it to him and he kind of ran with it. Now it looks like a tiny house: four windows and a door and everything.”
Northcutt, an XPO maintenance specialist, said XPO paid for the building material and he built the shed. After it was built, XPO donated it to the community.
The team added to the shed during their spare time at work, and it took around three weeks to build. McChristian said the shed was installed at the bus stop in the first week of September.
“Those kids are safe,” McChristian said. “They’re off the street now … probably 25 feet back from the road.”
Betsy Bailey, school and community coordinator of Searcy School District, said the district is thankful for XPO and other community partners who invest in education.
“Searcy School District was touched that XPO provided a safe and covered space for some of our students who ride the bus each day,” Bailey said. “We are grateful to businesses like XPO who see a need to help children and take it upon themselves to meet that need.”
As a business with ties to Searcy, XPO emphasized a community effort to provide for other Searcy citizens.
“It feels great to give back to the community we have,” McChristian said. “We have roughly 400 employees who all live in Searcy, so any time we can give back to the community, we try to.”
Tim Huggins, who works in the maintenance department for XPO Logistics, said maintenance specialist John Northcutt was responsible for designing and building the shelter. Once their supervisor gave them the idea, Northcutt started the project as soon as he could, Huggins said.
“John jumped on it, and within a few days of working on it in spare time from keeping the plant up and running, he had it complete,” Huggins said.
