Johnson City, TN, August 17--Hundreds of residents from the Tri-Cities region lined up at the Mullican Flooring Warehouse in Johnson City early Saturday morning eagerly waiting for the gates to open at 8 a.m, according to the Business Journal of the Tri-Cities.
The publication said they came for the Mullican Flooring Children’s Hospital Event during which the flooring manufacturer opened its warehouse for the first time in its history to the public.
People crowded the Mullican warehouse to buy from over thirty samples of high quality hardwood flooring that was being sold from 99-cents a square foot with nothing over $4 a square foot. Another incentive for many of the shoppers was that for this event, they would not have to pay any Tennessee sales tax on their purchase. Many more buyers said they were inspired by the fact that their money would help build a new Regional Children’s Hospital.
When the dust had settled at 2 p.m., Mullican Flooring had sold over 108,000 square feet of hardwood flooring which added over $110,000 to the capital campaign for the new Regional Children’s Hospital at Johnson City Medical Center (JCMC). Mullican executives expect that total to climb a little higher when all of the paperwork is finished by the end of this week.
The highly successful sale was the result of a team effort from many of the Mullican Flooring employees. Mullican Flooring president Neil Poland said the company was honored to be involved in the region-wide effort on behalf of the new Regional Children’s Hospital.
"The company was proud to sponsor this one-day, one-time event to the public. Our staff members volunteered their time to man the sale, working on their day off. The new Regional Children’s Hospital will benefit the many children in a four-state area it serves. When you realize that 24 counties are served by our current Children’s Hospital, it’s easy to see why a new hospital is needed. Mullican Flooring will be happy to continue to support the new Regional Children’s Hospital."
Poland said the Mullican Flooring employees had approached him, led by Mullican employee Brandi Wynn to do some sort of fundraiser for the new Children’s Hospital. The group discussed different options and settled on this one-day event selling hardwood flooring with the proceeds going to The Children’s Hospital.
The event itself was managed by Mullican’s Customer Service Manager Lisa Durbin with nearly three dozen Mullican volunteers and their families. While Mulligan Flooring is not a retail outlet for the public, the team work on the warehouse floor was impressive in closing sales on over 108,000 square feet of flooring in the 6 hour period.
Mountain States Foundation (MSF) met with the Mullican team to coordinate the event, including the Capital Fundraising Campaign Chairman Marcy Walker. "From all of the buzz this event was creating in the community, we believed this was going to be a big success," said Walker. "When we saw the long line waiting at the gate before 8 am, we knew this was going to be very busy but it was easy to do the work for such a wonderful cause.
"The people who came today were able to save a lot on their flooring, not have to pay any sales tax and help build a new Regional Children’s Hospital. A good day all around I would say which could not have happened with the support of Mullican Flooring."
MSF is leading the fundraising campaign for the new hospital and also had numerous volunteers on hand for the event including the MSF president Larry Warkoczeski. "Mountain States Foundation cannot thank the Mullican Flooring family enough for their desire to help create a fundraiser and then, their drive to make this historic event a reality," Warkoczeski said. "I do not think anyone has ever sold over 108,000 square feet of hardwood flooring to the public in such a short period before, and especially as a fundraiser for children."
