Chamber Award winner:O’Fallon’s Spengler Co. wins Community Service Award

For 44 years, The Spengler Company has had a foothold in the O’Fallon-Shiloh area, not just for being business savvy, but also for its community contributions.

Spengler is this year’s O’Fallon-Shiloh Chamber of Commerce’s Community Service recipient.

“Our philosophy has always been to leave things better off than when we found them,” said Spengler President Jason Spengler.

“That goes for our customers homes and business and our community, too.”

‘Born and bred’ in O’Fallon, the local metro-east native said he is bringing up the third generation of Spenglers for the family owned and operated company, and is poised to remain an O’Fallon mainstay for many years to come.

“I was raised here and so are my kids (two daughters and a son),” Jason said. “Taking care of our own, and new comers, is a part of what we do, and so using our resources to help with local efforts and projects succeed always makes you feel good.”

In 1971, Syd Spengler and his wife, Carol started Spengler Plumbing, Heating and Cooling in his basement.

“In the beginning Dad started with mom and one other plumber, but they grew pretty quick,” Jason said. “My Uncle Terry Spengler, my Dad’s little brother, came to work for the family business too, and did for a number of years until he retired.”

Through the late 1970s and early 1980s, Spengler honed in mainly on big commercial clients in O’Fallon and directly around our home town for schools, churches and businesses.

“Of course, we’ve always done residential work, but it wasn’t until the mid-to-late 1990s that we started channeling our focus on local residential service, repair, maintenance and replacement,” Jason said. “Then when the economy took a turn for the worse in the early 2000s (’07-’08) we really pulled out of commercial mostly.”

The company’s services has grown today even beyond Jason’s expectations, who in 2007, took over as head of the company following his father’s retirement.

Like his father, Jason and his sister, Julie Spengler have continued to take an active role in the community.

Among other things, they helped to create and later maintain the O’Fallon Veteran’s Monument.

Looking back to its inception in 2006, ‘a family’s monumental partnership,’ caught Julie’s attention, who served as the architect responsible for designing the star-shaped design of the monument space off Wesley Drive near the O’Fallon Public Safety Building.

“I felt it needed to be a place of reflection,” Julie once said when talking about why she chose the shape for the granite structure.

“I wanted to keep it low scale, so when you walk up to it, it’s not overpowering. But I also wanted to make it a presence from the air. I thought it would be neat if you were flying over and looked down and saw a star.”

In May 2015, wind with gusts up to 50 mph caused two of the stone pillars to fall over and crumble, which shocked the community because at the time many thought it was caused by vandalism. The O’Fallon Police Department even offered a $1,000 reward.

Osborne said the Spengler’s stepped in and spearheaded a community-wide effort to raise more than $10,000 in funds to replace the damaged pillars by selling red wristbands. He also started a Go Fund Me account, which had people from all over the U.S. make donations.

Less than two weeks later, the goal was surpassed as $20,000 was donated for the monument’s restoration.

“They didn’t have to do that,” Osborne said.

“But, I guess they felt they needed to for their hometown. And that’s what they’re all about. Spengler has been such a positive for O’Fallon, without them our Veteran’s Monument wouldn’t be as great as it is, period.”

Over the years, the Spenglers have also donated their services by providing free labor to build the O’Fallon Community Pool.

Through its Everyday Hero Fund, Spengler has awarded over $30,000 to local fire departments as part of The Men of Spengler Calendar.

Since 2013, we provided over $50,000 in service and repairs to women who are fighting breast cancer through our Think Pink Initiative. Each Thursday, our service technicians wear pink to help bring awareness to encourage women to have their regular mammograms.

Spengler has also adopted a special cause to help fight mental illness through the Karla Smith Foundation since 2014. In addition, through the Spengler Pet Saver Program, we have provided a new HVAC system and air purification systems to area Animal Shelters so that pets can breathe easier while they wait for their forever home.

In addition to these efforts to serve others, we have remained committed to helping local organizations and causes including the O’Fallon Marching Panthers, NickFest Community Festival, Trivia Nights for local schools and individuals.

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 11:12 AM with the headline "Chamber Award winner:O’Fallon’s Spengler Co. wins Community Service Award."