Employee Spotlight: Patrick Brown
Have you ever attended a luncheon or other function at The Salvation Army Tustin Ranch? If so, I'm sure you have noticed how clean, bright, and well maintained the property is. That’s because of Patrick Brown, OC Facilities and Maintenance Manager and his team. Patrick works with the officers, his supervisor, and his team to maintain the 18 properties the Army owns in Orange County.
But most importantly, he says his job is to “Ensure we are good stewards of the resources the Lord has blessed us with to enhance his Kingdom and transform lives.” For the past five years, he has been responsible for a variety of properties: Corps, officers’ quarters as well as the social service buildings for homeless and human trafficked individuals. He works with an incredible team of two facilities tech and many different vendors.
Oddities
He has witnessed and dealt with issues such as:
Why would an elevator shaft fill with water when there are no broken pipes?
Probably due to heavy rain the winter of 22-23 and a low water table that may have resulted from construction next door.
What is the best way to keep a squirrel from eating plastic fencing?
A mixture of cayenne pepper and water.
How can you change a light bulb that is 25 feet high if the scissor lift works best with someone under 150lbs?
Find the lightest person on campus and see if they are willing to go in the lift bucket and change the bulb.
How does one get a boa constrictor off the property?
Use our maintenance tech who likes and is familiar with snakes. He took the creature home as a pet.
Family
Patrick is married with four children and four grandchildren. Unfortunately, everyone is spread throughout the western US, so he doesn’t get to visit as much as he would like. He is looking forward to retirement so he can visit his family more often.
He says his favorite part of the job is to make sure our facilities are in top shape so the people who run the programs in those buildings can concentrate on their task of transformation. We are so thankful to have such an amazing Facilities and Maintenance Manager here in Orange County!