ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – As the Central Florida community continues to come to terms with the threat of coronavirus, local business owners are doing their part to alleviate some of the concerns providing children a safe, clean place to play.
Golden Gator Soft Washing, run by two Central Florida brothers, is providing free playground sanitization.
“We’re doing free playground cleanings for all the kids so playground cleanings are on us,” Jacob Owen said. He’s co-owner of the company that works across Central Florida counties. His company specializes in sanitization.
The family-run business if following U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to clean the play spaces.
“We’re gonna go spray it down, sanitize it all and then rinse it with water. We use the CDC’s number one recommended sanitizer, which is sodium hypochlorite, bleach, Clorox,” he said. “Then we rinse it and then put a neutralizer on it so there’s no residual chemical for all the kids.”
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Owen says the process includes a germicide that seeps into the surfaces to sanitize it.
They started at St. Peter and Paul Early Learning Center, in Winter Park, washing down everything from the slide sets to the toys outside and swing sets.
"It's making a huge impact," said Nery Naya, director for the daycare.
Naya says the brother’s help comes at a time when some parents can’t work remotely and still depend on the center.
“Being able to be open and stay open for our families, when so many of them still have to work,” Naya said. “Them seeing that we’re doing something to stay on top of things in keeping the playgrounds clean and keeping our school sanitized is a huge help.”
Born and raised in Oviedo, the brothers felt it was the right thing to do for the community that's watched them become entrepreneurs.
“Our number one focus with this is to keep kids safe and just let them enjoy their lives as normal,” Owen said.
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