Elkhart welcomes new sandbag company to the area

ELKHART, Ind.- The city of Elkhart welcomes a new Illinois-based company. It’s a story we first brought to you late last month.

Midwest Sandbags stocks one of the largest inventories in the Midwest of sandbags. Sandbags can be used for construction zones and of course for emergency flooding.

Dane Willman, a disabled veteran and CEO of Midwest Sandbags say moving to Elkhart County opened up more opportunities for his business.

“I went from one market, the Chicago market, to now I’m in 6,7 different markets depending how you divvy them up, but the sky is the limit,” says Willman.

Willman adds there was something else that sparked his attention: Middlebury’s sand quarry. “I like their material, I like their price. They give me all the right material when I need it and it works,” says Willman.

Midwest Sandbags started moving-in in March of this year. These two brothers work alongside each other and both say it’s a pleasure working for this company.

“We got good owners. The environment is nice. The people I work with, we get along great,” says Terry Jones, an employee.

“There’s a minimum amount of people, easy going and easy flow,” says D’Micah Jones, another employee.

According to Willman for the last 15 years all of their work was outside. “We don’t have very good winters, it’s not very nice to us,” says Willman.

But that all changed as soon as he got the ball rolling on making this move this priority. “Now I have a building, I am more centrally located,” says Willman. “I can handle the Midwest a little better and we can extend our reach a little bit.”

Willman says the three rivers in Elkhart County pose a possible risk, but that’s exactly what they’re here for. “If there’s ever a flood you don’t have to wait three hours to bring the bags here they’re already here,” say Willman. “There are over 10,000 different sandbags, we do them all.”

Employees here finish about 3,000 bags a day. Right now, they have 12 employees, plus additional positions available.