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Grosh President, Amanda Uhlein Shares Her Philosophy for Giving

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What are the  causes Grosh supports?

Amanda: We support a variety of causes to assist individuals and survivors afflicted with various challenges in their health. It’s important for our company and our staff to contribute to causes that are meaningful to us personally and to our customers. There are times when we will match a percentage of the amount raised from our clients or we will in most cases do an additional donation later in the year.  

 Why these causes?

Amanda: This initially started with Grosh and my family personally donating to the National Stroke Association   after loosing my mother to a stroke in 2006 at the age of 58. Once we did this we thought that the following year, we should do something that can get our customers involved with other charities meaningful to them. We had started getting feedback and selected Stroke Awareness, Breast Cancer, Red Cross and St. Jude to name a few. Each year we will be selecting different charities by getting feedback from our customers and staff and continue to support those survivors and those who’ve had to survive without their loved ones.

amadaMOM
Amanda Uhlein and Mother

Tell us more about the Grosh name and history in the business. How important is it to you to carry on traditions started by your family?

Amanda: The company was started by my Great Grandfather, Robert L. Grosh in 1932 after moving from Ohio to California in the late 20’s. He set up a studio in the heart of Hollywood, where we still do our business today. Robert and his 4 sons (Robert, Bill, Jack and Don) were all talented tradesmen in painting, metalworking, rigging etc.  Jack Grosh (my grandfather) worked with the business during the development of what we now know as the “entertainment” industry. R.L. Grosh and Son’s, as it was known, had a hand in most of the major production companies film, television and theatrical endeavors which lead to business relationships with 20th Century Fox,  Warner Brothers, Universal and Disney. In fact, many of the original dark rides at Disney Land and work at Epcot Center was handled by Grosh.  Jack Grosh’s son-in-law, Robert Lindoerfer (my father) took over the business in the late eighties and the company went through a whole new evolution; renting backdrops and drapery. We now have the largest rental inventory in the country and are looking for many new opportunities to come.

I think traditions are an important part of recognizing where our history and this company started from. It’s equally important to me though to realize that all businesses and people evolve over time and to change with those times. I think Grosh Backdrops and Drapery has found a good balance with the past and present as we stand now and hope to continue a healthy balance in the years to come.

In terms of philanthropic involvement, what other activities in the industry are you excited about?

Amanda: We’ve thought a lot about other ways we can get our customers more involved  by supporting the industries they’re in. Our goal is that in our 80th year we will be introducing some new programs to help students, schools, business owners and clients in general with ways to make their events easier and more impactful.

 How can people get involved with the charitable efforts Grosh supports?

Amanda: We welcome charity requests for consideration from all our customers. Normally we start researching these in the spring for our “Grosh Gives Back” campaign between May and June of each year.

 

 

 

 

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