May 16, 2023
Jared Medaris, CERP
Happy May to all American Rental Association (ARA) members in Region Nine.
Although I am grateful for all the rain we’ve experienced this year, I’m looking forward to brighter skies. If any rental operation or its employees have been severely impacted by this year’s atmospheric river storms and their aftermath, be sure to access the ARA Foundation’s Disaster Relief Grants. There are grants available for both rental stores and rental store employees. This is a valuable service. To learn more, click here.
As president of the ARA of California board, I feel like it’s been a busy year for members.
In February, many of us attended The ARA Show™ in Orlando. I had a great experience meeting and reconnecting with members of our region. ARA Region Nine Director Alberto Pianelli, general manager of F & B Rentals in Santa Ana, Calif., and I were able to meet some active members from Hawaii and share with them our positive experiences while making connections with other members in our state.
Our region has also participated in ARA’s National Legislative Caucus, which was a wonderful opportunity for members to visit our congressional leaders and speak to them about issues that are important to our industry. In March, I was on a team of five from California who went to Washington, D.C., to represent our region. We fit in 14 meetings with members of the House and Senate in a day-and-a-half, which I felt was quite an accomplishment.
In April, the ARA of California held its State Legislative Day during which members participated in a fireside chat at Made in the Shade, an event rental company in West Sacramento, Calif., and went to the state Capitol the next day to visit our state legislators. It was another great experience to share our thoughts regarding the equipment and event rental industry with our state leaders.
You can learn more about these two events in this issue of the In Your Region newsletter. These events made quite the impact on all of us who took part.
I love opportunities to connect with other members of the association. Summer is around the corner and we have several events coming up at which we can strengthen those connections. The ARA of California would like to extend an invitation to all members of the region to attend these events.
On June 24, we will have baseball games in Northern and Southern California. We have reserved suites for the Giants vs. Diamondbacks game in San Francisco and for the Padres vs. Nationals game in San Diego.
In July, we are working on getting a MEWP (Mobile Elevated Work Platform) Train-the-Trainer program organized in Southern California. More details to come.
During the first week of August, James Auerbach [ARA vice president, event segment leader] and I will be hitting the road for our summer tour of California. James will be speaking at Encore Events Rentals in Windsor, Calif.; Expo Events in Fresno, Calif.; and Yennis Party Rentals in Anaheim, Calif. — all in the same week. We are also planning to visit lots of member locations from the north to the south of our state.
With such a large area to cover in our region, our goal is to keep our member-to-member connections strong. I want to encourage you all to take advantage of the opportunity to network and socialize with your industry peers.
Thank you and have a great summer.
Jared Medaris, CERP, ARA of California president
Expo Events
Fresno, Calif.
559-495-3300
jared@exporentals.com
