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Published: September 14, 2009

BY LAURA J. MONDUL
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER

A big idea has started with the owner of a small business in Washington County, Va.

Ike Mumpower, owner of Mumpower Sign Supply, has developed a program to support America’s troops overseas and hopes the idea will catch on with big
business to make a big difference.

“These days, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are kind of out of the news, and no one is doing much for a support-the-troops program that amounts to anything,” Mumpower said.

Born and raised about a mile from his business, Mumpower and his wife, Susan, started their company in 1979 with $500 in their pocket and a small 12-foot-by-40-foot building in his backyard. In 1981, he moved the business to the property where it now operates, which includes the old Valley Institute High School building. He rented the building from an old friend for $100 a month – cheap even by 1980s standards. As the company grew, Mumpower wanted to add on to the building, so the owner offered to sell it to him.

“I told him I didn’t have the money to buy it from him, but he offered to finance it for me,” recalled Mumpower. “He was really a good neighbor. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have the place.”

The business continued to grow and now employs 11 people; it supplies sign companies across the country. Most of Mumpower’s employees have been with him for 20 years or more.

“They say behind every great man is a great woman,” Mumpower said. “That’s true. That’s Susan. She does all of the graphic design and accounting for everything. She’s the backbone of the company. If it wasn’t for her, I’d probably retire, but she won’t let me. She likes to work.”

She also handles all of the Web sites for both the business and their support-the-troops.

Recently, Mumpower developed a new product through his company and started donating 1 percent of the proceeds to support the troops. Called Freedom Cal, it is a vinyl product used for computer cut letters for signs.

The proceeds are donated to such organizations as Soldier Angel, supportthetroops.com, the local VFW and others. Though Freedom Cal was just put on the market last month, it already has earned approximately $5,000 in sales – a number Mumpower hopes will increase, though he notes that his company has been making donations to the troops since Desert Storm.

“This is just something I wanted to do on my own,” he said. “We use only American-made companies to do it. It may cost a little more, but we want to support our troops with American-made products – you’ve got to pay more to get the good product.”

The support-the-troops organizations use the money to send care packages overseas or providing services to veterans at home. But Freedom Cal is just the beginning of Mumpower’s brainstorm to support a cause he feels very strongly about. Even the delivery trucks for his company are labeled with support-the-troops stickers rather than his own company name.

“Ike is not a veteran, but if he was, he’d probably be the best you’ve ever met,” said Richard Ball of Bristol’s chapter of the American Legion. “He’s gone above and beyond the call of duty for the vets.”

Mumpower’s latest idea, like Freedom Cal, utilizes his personal and professional interests to help support the troops. He has written numerous songs, performed along with several area musicians, Though Mumpower does not consider himself a musician, he writes and sings the “tribute” songs and often plays the guitar parts as well.

“I sit in my living room on the couch, and I pick guitar and I can make up songs, but I’m not interested in performing,” he said.

A Web site devoted to the tribute songs allows listeners to hear the songs for free. The site also features links to other sites such as the Soldier Angel program and others. One song featured on the CD is the “Eat More Chicken” song, which is a tribute to his longtime friend Tom Carol, who passed away recently and was a long-time supporter of bluegrass music in the Bristol area. Carol was also a fan of Chick-Fil-A, and was known for shouting “eat more chicken” during performances at the Pickin’ Porch at the Bristol Mall.

To further his cause, Mumpower offered the song to Chick-Fil-A to use for their business, though he hopes they can use it as a fundraiser for the troops as well. Mumpower himself is also a supporter of the fast-food chain, and jokes that eating at Chick-Fil-A helped him lose 95 pounds last year. A regular at the Bristol Mall restaurant, Mumpower came up with the idea that if fast-food restaurants like Chick-Fil-A would jump on board with 1 percent donations from their product, it could make a huge difference to America’s troops.

“One percent of sales is hardly anything,” Mumpower said. “Even if these fast-food chains offered 1 percent of sales off of one sandwich, it would help so much.”

Ray Parlier, owner of Chick-Fil-A at Bristol Mall, said negotiations are under way for his restaurant to incorporate this idea into their sales. Parlier is also a friend of Mumpower’s and says he believes in the cause and hopes to be able to help make it a reality.

“Ike is a unique, energetic person,” Parlier said. “He really believes we need to take care of our troops and believes in supporting them. We’ve just got to work out the details on implementing his idea at our store, but I’m sure we’ll do it.”

Mumpower hopes his idea will catch on, both at a local level and ideally at a national level.

“I just hope we can get some companies motivated to do a similar thing like what we’re doing here,” Mumpower said. “Sometimes I think people forget about our war and our soldiers. We’re here today and we can do what we do because of our troops defending our country, and we need to appreciate them and the
sacrifice they are making.”