McKinney

McKinney Brothers Wash Trash Cans to Help Family, Fund College

The brothers first thought they’d wash windows until Roberto took a look around the neighborhood and got an idea

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When brothers Roberto and Marcelo Gonzalez learned their mother lost her job at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and that their father would work reduced hours, they put their heads together.

Roberto was home from West Texas A&M after the campus shut down following spring break. Marcelo was finishing his senior year of high school.

“We started thinking, what we can do to help our family,” Roberto Gonzalez said.

“Yeah, brainstorming ideas,” Marcelo Gonzalez said.

The brothers first thought they’d wash windows until Roberto took a look around the neighborhood and got an idea.

Looking at a line of trash cans waiting to be emptied, he figured there had to be someone who cleaned them. Still, he’d never seen a service that did.

With the help of their parents, the brothers bought a power washer and got to work going door to door advertising their services.

“Due to the situation we obviously had to think outside the box and pick something that no one else was doing,” Roberto said.

That was in mid-May. Since then, the brothers have expanded their business to include a second power washer and have grown beyond their hometown of McKinney.

To date, they guess they’ve cleaned around 300 trash cans, earning thousands to not only support their family but also to secure their college futures.

“I wasn’t going to go back to school if it wasn’t for our business,” Roberto said.

Now, even as they return to the classroom, it’s likely they’ll continue to lean on the lessons learned from their time of need this summer.

“There’s always a way to succeed. You’ve just got to look for it, really look, and try,” Marcelo said.

The brothers said they hoped to eventually provide more jobs by expanding Wash Bros Company via an app.

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