Maid Business Owner Debbie Sardone Makes Generosity A Company Policy

In the early days of Buckets & Bows, it was easy for Sardone to get caught up in the day-to-day duties of running the business. While taking phone calls from prospective customers one morning, Sardone was running through a typical sales call, informing the caller of the company’s services and cleaning rates.

When the woman on the other end indicated she couldn’t afford the services because she was receiving cancer treatments, Sardone says she “hung up the phone in business mode,” with a no-sale.

Immediately she was struck by the thought: Why hadn’t she offered to clean the woman’s home for free?

“This was before the days of Caller ID,” Sardone says. “When I hung up that day, I met with my staff and I said ‘If this happens again, and a woman calls us and she has cancer, we are going to give a cleaning for free.’” 
Sardone knows all too well the effects of the disease: her own father died from cancer when he was just 52, and her mother is breast cancer survivor.

“I implemented a company policy,” Sardone says. “I had no idea it would become a nationwide non-profit.”