July 21, 2025 • 11 mins
We spoke with Rodger Mort, COO of Packaging And Crating Technologies (PACT); For the past two years, Packaging and Crating Technologies, LLC (PACT®), a family-owned manufacturer in Watertown, CT, has raised over $20,000 for America’s servicemen and women.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Allison Demurz. This morning, my guest is Roger mort He
is COO of Packaging and Creating Technologies or Packed. Good morning,
how are you doing good?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Thanks for having me on you BET.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
For the past two years, Packaging and Creating Technologies are Packed,
a family owned manufacturer in Watertown, Connecticut, has raised over
twenty thousand dollars for America's servicemen and women. The Corrugated
Create and Lithium Battery Packaging Company is hosting its third
annual Military Heroes charity program to benefit both the Tunnel
(00:36):
to Towers Foundation and the American Legion of Thomaston Post
twenty two. Tell me all about it.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So, I've been donating the Tunnels for Towers for probably
ten plus years, and a couple of years ago, me
and my business partners were talking because we do a
lot of business with the military industry and people that
make our remove military equipment, and we decided to give
a percentage of everything we make sales towards the Tunnels
for Towers because the things they do are just amazing,
(01:05):
like they'll go in to the first responder or a
military member lose a limb or lose their life. They'll
go in and pay off mortgages, pay off cars, give
the kids college scholarships, build a house that suits the
person's disability so they can live a full life. They're
just incredible people, and they give ninety eight percent of
(01:29):
everything you donate, ninety eight percent goes directly to the
folks that need it. They don't do a lot of
overhead and some other charities. They basically, you know, like
fifty cents on the dollar goes to somebody. But not
with tunnels for towers, it's ninety eight percent of the money.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
We're going to get into more of tunnels for towers.
But let's go back to Packed. Tell me the background
of Packed. How did it all come about?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So we started out as a company that was looking
to make green trading stuff that at the end of
the life could be one hundred percent recycled, and very
quickly people started asking about other things, and we just
kept looking into it and venting new products. We have
a lot of patented products and making things that save
(02:14):
people a lot of money wait wise, because they're made
out of carrugate it but they're stronger than would And
then also at the end of life, get one hundred
percent recycled so you're not throwing these things in landfills.
And then other folks came to us in the moving
industry and the military and saying, well, we need some
kind of thing to replace bubble rap because you really
can't recycle bubble rep And next thing you know, we
(02:36):
had a paper bubble wrap that we call poleet wrap.
You know, things keep going and new creating new ideas.
A gentleman came to us twenty nineteen and said, lithium batteries,
they're the biggest problem right now. I'm like, tell me
the issue. One out of ten their ships coming from
China has one of their containers and they were picking
(02:57):
them up and throwing them in the ocean because if
you don't, they'll burn right through the boat and sink
the boat. So we started coming up with a line
of crating that could hold these batteries and instead of
having the entire container burn, one crate would burn. And
then we started mak complete wrap and all kinds of
products to ship with the m batteries all around the world.
(03:18):
We just solve problems. When people come to us, we listen.
We always start out with what happens at the end
of life of our product, and we work our way
back because it's one hundred percent recyclable, we work back
to how to manufacture and how to save lives.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
And your cardboard containers have become a cost effective moving
and storage item for all branches of the armed forces.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, they save a lot of weight when you're putting
them on the trucks the planes. We shift some military
parts where they used to only be able to get
twenty pieces of a helicopter blades on a plane because
the crates were so heavy. They moved to shipping with
our stuff, and now you're getting sixty on a plane,
so you're saving two extra planes having to fly because
(04:02):
everything's on one instead of three. Yeah, we do a
lot of neat stuff because I never know all the
stuff they have, and then you start seeing it and
you're like, oh, you manufacture at how All right, here's
how we can help. It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Wow, that is amazing. You're one of the preferred vendors
for the US Department of Defense and you've been awarded
too special permits from the US Department of Transportation.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yep, that's for shipping. Once you get the lithium battery
and it's went rogue and it's starting to swell and
do some nasty things. If you put it in one
of our boxes with the wrap around it inside the box,
should it go off, it'll be burning like seven hundred
and eighty c and it takes twenty one hours to
go down to zero. So all that time you could
(04:50):
touch the side of the box and you barely know
there was a fire inside.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Wow. So what was your reason for creating this fundraising program?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Mainly because I knew a couple families that had problems
of folks losing limbs, and I've seen how quickly these
tunnels of towers people helped them. And I was like,
you know, we're making money off of these crates. Let's
take and put some of that back to these people
and you know, help them because they're given everything like
a firefighter a police officer. They go down and you know,
(05:27):
their families are left with nothing. You know, of course
there's a pension or whatever, but these folks step in
from tunnels to towers and just pay things off, help
the families find out what they can do to make
the quality of life better. You know, when they're losing
the main person in their family.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
So from May first through July fourth, you earmarked one
percent of your sales proceeds and you were able to
raise some money. How much did you raise.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I don't know the exact figure, but I know it's
over seven thousand dollars for the last two months. Wow,
plus nations and I had a restaurant as another business,
and we've donated money to the Tunnels for Towers. Last month,
on a weekend, we all proceeds from that weekend. We
donated the percentage of that to the Tunnel shot Towers.
(06:16):
And a lot of our friends have been like, wow,
wait a minute, let's and they start looking into this
foundation and next thing you know, they're given what they can.
You know, most people give eleven bucks a month, and
you won't believe. Like right now, Tonalds for Towers purchased
three old hotels around the country and they're refurbing them
(06:37):
and all and they're going to be able to house
ten thousand homeless vets with everything they need to get
back into the world in life.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
So the Tunnels to Towers Foundation was founded to recognize
the valiant life of a New York City firefighter named
Stephen Gerard Siller. Do you know this background story.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I know the whole story. He was one of the
guys running up the towers on nine to eleven, writing
their security numbers on their arm because they knew when
the towers came down they would only find parts of
their bodies. And his family got together and this is
why they give ninety eight percent back. They created the
(07:15):
foundation and the upper management are all volunteers, so you
don't have coos and CEOs making millions of dollars in bonuses.
These folks are donating their time. They have a staff
below them that handles all the day to day stuff,
so they only need less than two percent of the
cash going in to pay for the infrastructure. So they're
(07:38):
amazing people.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So you have a donation ceremony that's going to take
place in August. It's actually going to be at your
manufacturing plan on Tuesday, August fifth, at one o'clock.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I'm hoping to be there, but right now, we got
a brand new fire extinguisher that we're going to be
testing with the Homeland Security and the date hasn't been
picked yet, but whatever date they pick, we're going to
be there. It puts out lithium battery fires on contact
and keeps them out. So we're kind of excited about
this one because firemen right now have no way to
put out of lithium battery. Wow, they just basically came
(08:12):
back and watch them burn. And when you got to
stand and watch a car burn for thirty six hours
spewing the most toxic smoke and if people get one
breath of the smoke, they die, it's very unnerving for
the fireman. So being able to give them this gift
and have them be able to walk right up confidently,
shut the thing off and save lives is going to
be amazing. Plus it will give us a lot more
(08:33):
money to get back to the cause.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And one thousand dollars you know, was donated to the
American Legion of Thomason Post twenty two as well.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, I'm actually a member of that post, and I
heard that they were raising money to build a kitchen
in there so that they could serve food to the
vents and raise more money for the legion, And I
was like, you know what, let's put a thousand bucks
into this so that they can get the grease system
in that they need and everything wonderful.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
What is next for a pact? You're doing so much.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Like you said, right now, we got a lot of
involvement with Homeland security. I just let the bomb show
and right outside of Washington, DC, and we've got all
different military branches and all around the world folks that
deal with bombs. They're really starting to they got the
focus on bombs, but they're really starting to realize how
dangerous these lithium batteries are. So we're going to start
(09:30):
working with all them and putting together solutions to where
these lithium batteries can be put out immediately the moment
they have an issue or shipped safely. Because right now
you've got a lot of fires going on that the
media won't talk about, of just trucks burning to the
ground because of a rogue lithium battery, and they're in everything,
(09:53):
we use, phones, everything.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Tell me, why is it so important to have fundraisers
like that?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yes, from my personal perspective, these folks go out every
day and do what they do to keep me and
my family safe, and they respond to everything. I can't
be there with them because I can't do what they do.
They're basically heroes. But anything I can do to support
them in their mission and then, should something happen to them,
(10:24):
be able to give back to their families. I've got
to do everything i can do to help these folks.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Well, it's really amazing that you're a local business who
has a fundraiser that does this.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You're welcome. I'm speaking with Roger mort He is COO
of Packaging and Creating Technologies or PACKED. It's located in Watertown, Connecticut.
To find out about more of what they do, just
go to PACT. That's pact ww dot com. And then
next year when they have this fundraiser again, you can
go in there and purchase things and help make a
(10:56):
donation to this cause. Roger, thank you so much for
being here today, for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Thank you. I appreciate you getting me on
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Allison Demurz. This morning, my guest is Roger mort He
is COO of Packaging and Creating Technologies or Packed. Good morning,
how are you doing good?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Thanks for having me on you BET.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
For the past two years, Packaging and Creating Technologies are Packed,
a family owned manufacturer in Watertown, Connecticut, has raised over
twenty thousand dollars for America's servicemen and women. The Corrugated
Create and Lithium Battery Packaging Company is hosting its third
annual Military Heroes charity program to benefit both the Tunnel
(00:36):
to Towers Foundation and the American Legion of Thomaston Post
twenty two. Tell me all about it.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So, I've been donating the Tunnels for Towers for probably
ten plus years, and a couple of years ago, me
and my business partners were talking because we do a
lot of business with the military industry and people that
make our remove military equipment, and we decided to give
a percentage of everything we make sales towards the Tunnels
for Towers because the things they do are just amazing,
(01:05):
like they'll go in to the first responder or a
military member lose a limb or lose their life. They'll
go in and pay off mortgages, pay off cars, give
the kids college scholarships, build a house that suits the
person's disability so they can live a full life. They're
just incredible people, and they give ninety eight percent of
(01:29):
everything you donate, ninety eight percent goes directly to the
folks that need it. They don't do a lot of
overhead and some other charities. They basically, you know, like
fifty cents on the dollar goes to somebody. But not
with tunnels for towers, it's ninety eight percent of the money.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
We're going to get into more of tunnels for towers.
But let's go back to Packed. Tell me the background
of Packed. How did it all come about?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So we started out as a company that was looking
to make green trading stuff that at the end of
the life could be one hundred percent recycled, and very
quickly people started asking about other things, and we just
kept looking into it and venting new products. We have
a lot of patented products and making things that save
(02:14):
people a lot of money wait wise, because they're made
out of carrugate it but they're stronger than would And
then also at the end of life, get one hundred
percent recycled so you're not throwing these things in landfills.
And then other folks came to us in the moving
industry and the military and saying, well, we need some
kind of thing to replace bubble rap because you really
can't recycle bubble rep And next thing you know, we
(02:36):
had a paper bubble wrap that we call poleet wrap.
You know, things keep going and new creating new ideas.
A gentleman came to us twenty nineteen and said, lithium batteries,
they're the biggest problem right now. I'm like, tell me
the issue. One out of ten their ships coming from
China has one of their containers and they were picking
(02:57):
them up and throwing them in the ocean because if
you don't, they'll burn right through the boat and sink
the boat. So we started coming up with a line
of crating that could hold these batteries and instead of
having the entire container burn, one crate would burn. And
then we started mak complete wrap and all kinds of
products to ship with the m batteries all around the world.
(03:18):
We just solve problems. When people come to us, we listen.
We always start out with what happens at the end
of life of our product, and we work our way
back because it's one hundred percent recyclable, we work back
to how to manufacture and how to save lives.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
And your cardboard containers have become a cost effective moving
and storage item for all branches of the armed forces.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, they save a lot of weight when you're putting
them on the trucks the planes. We shift some military
parts where they used to only be able to get
twenty pieces of a helicopter blades on a plane because
the crates were so heavy. They moved to shipping with
our stuff, and now you're getting sixty on a plane,
so you're saving two extra planes having to fly because
(04:02):
everything's on one instead of three. Yeah, we do a
lot of neat stuff because I never know all the
stuff they have, and then you start seeing it and
you're like, oh, you manufacture at how All right, here's
how we can help. It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Wow, that is amazing. You're one of the preferred vendors
for the US Department of Defense and you've been awarded
too special permits from the US Department of Transportation.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yep, that's for shipping. Once you get the lithium battery
and it's went rogue and it's starting to swell and
do some nasty things. If you put it in one
of our boxes with the wrap around it inside the box,
should it go off, it'll be burning like seven hundred
and eighty c and it takes twenty one hours to
go down to zero. So all that time you could
(04:50):
touch the side of the box and you barely know
there was a fire inside.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Wow. So what was your reason for creating this fundraising program?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Mainly because I knew a couple families that had problems
of folks losing limbs, and I've seen how quickly these
tunnels of towers people helped them. And I was like,
you know, we're making money off of these crates. Let's
take and put some of that back to these people
and you know, help them because they're given everything like
a firefighter a police officer. They go down and you know,
(05:27):
their families are left with nothing. You know, of course
there's a pension or whatever, but these folks step in
from tunnels to towers and just pay things off, help
the families find out what they can do to make
the quality of life better. You know, when they're losing
the main person in their family.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
So from May first through July fourth, you earmarked one
percent of your sales proceeds and you were able to
raise some money. How much did you raise.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I don't know the exact figure, but I know it's
over seven thousand dollars for the last two months. Wow,
plus nations and I had a restaurant as another business,
and we've donated money to the Tunnels for Towers. Last month,
on a weekend, we all proceeds from that weekend. We
donated the percentage of that to the Tunnel shot Towers.
(06:16):
And a lot of our friends have been like, wow,
wait a minute, let's and they start looking into this
foundation and next thing you know, they're given what they can.
You know, most people give eleven bucks a month, and
you won't believe. Like right now, Tonalds for Towers purchased
three old hotels around the country and they're refurbing them
(06:37):
and all and they're going to be able to house
ten thousand homeless vets with everything they need to get
back into the world in life.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
So the Tunnels to Towers Foundation was founded to recognize
the valiant life of a New York City firefighter named
Stephen Gerard Siller. Do you know this background story.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I know the whole story. He was one of the
guys running up the towers on nine to eleven, writing
their security numbers on their arm because they knew when
the towers came down they would only find parts of
their bodies. And his family got together and this is
why they give ninety eight percent back. They created the
(07:15):
foundation and the upper management are all volunteers, so you
don't have coos and CEOs making millions of dollars in bonuses.
These folks are donating their time. They have a staff
below them that handles all the day to day stuff,
so they only need less than two percent of the
cash going in to pay for the infrastructure. So they're
(07:38):
amazing people.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So you have a donation ceremony that's going to take
place in August. It's actually going to be at your
manufacturing plan on Tuesday, August fifth, at one o'clock.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I'm hoping to be there, but right now, we got
a brand new fire extinguisher that we're going to be
testing with the Homeland Security and the date hasn't been
picked yet, but whatever date they pick, we're going to
be there. It puts out lithium battery fires on contact
and keeps them out. So we're kind of excited about
this one because firemen right now have no way to
put out of lithium battery. Wow, they just basically came
(08:12):
back and watch them burn. And when you got to
stand and watch a car burn for thirty six hours
spewing the most toxic smoke and if people get one
breath of the smoke, they die, it's very unnerving for
the fireman. So being able to give them this gift
and have them be able to walk right up confidently,
shut the thing off and save lives is going to
be amazing. Plus it will give us a lot more
(08:33):
money to get back to the cause.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And one thousand dollars you know, was donated to the
American Legion of Thomason Post twenty two as well.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, I'm actually a member of that post, and I
heard that they were raising money to build a kitchen
in there so that they could serve food to the
vents and raise more money for the legion, And I
was like, you know what, let's put a thousand bucks
into this so that they can get the grease system
in that they need and everything wonderful.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
What is next for a pact? You're doing so much.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Like you said, right now, we got a lot of
involvement with Homeland security. I just let the bomb show
and right outside of Washington, DC, and we've got all
different military branches and all around the world folks that
deal with bombs. They're really starting to they got the
focus on bombs, but they're really starting to realize how
dangerous these lithium batteries are. So we're going to start
(09:30):
working with all them and putting together solutions to where
these lithium batteries can be put out immediately the moment
they have an issue or shipped safely. Because right now
you've got a lot of fires going on that the
media won't talk about, of just trucks burning to the
ground because of a rogue lithium battery, and they're in everything,
(09:53):
we use, phones, everything.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Tell me, why is it so important to have fundraisers
like that?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yes, from my personal perspective, these folks go out every
day and do what they do to keep me and
my family safe, and they respond to everything. I can't
be there with them because I can't do what they do.
They're basically heroes. But anything I can do to support
them in their mission and then, should something happen to them,
(10:24):
be able to give back to their families. I've got
to do everything i can do to help these folks.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Well, it's really amazing that you're a local business who
has a fundraiser that does this.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You're welcome. I'm speaking with Roger mort He is COO
of Packaging and Creating Technologies or PACKED. It's located in Watertown, Connecticut.
To find out about more of what they do, just
go to PACT. That's pact ww dot com. And then
next year when they have this fundraiser again, you can
go in there and purchase things and help make a
(10:56):
donation to this cause. Roger, thank you so much for
being here today, for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Thank you. I appreciate you getting me on
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