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BASF Announces Stud Contest Winner
30 Sep, 2009 By: Pest management staff PMP Buzz Online eNewsletterST. LOUIS, Mo. — A Texas family of four — whose new home stands dangerously close to their old termite-infested, hurricane-ravaged house — has won the “Most Endangered Studs Contest,” created by BASF to find and treat the property most vulnerable to termite damage in the United States.
Janet and Eddie Gallaway of Anahuac, Texas, will receive a termite treatment by BASF with Termidor termiticide/insecticide. The Gallaways were selected by people across America who voted on the saveastud.com Web site.
The Gallaways have endured a series of setbacks since moving onto the property in 2002. Just as they were settling into the original house — which was Janet’s childhood home and her inheritance when her parents passed away — the Gallaways discovered it was plagued by termites.
“We could see weak boards around the windows,” she explained. “My brother is a carpenter, so he came over and looked at the damage. He told us that if we removed one board, we’d have to take off another and another – that’s how far the termites had spread.”
At the time, Janet said, “We weren’t in a financial situation where we could do anything about the termite damage.”
Then Hurricane Rita hit in September 2005. “We had a little bit of damage, but we still were able to live in the house,” Janet recalled.
Hurricane Ike struck a more devastating blow in September 2008. Janet rode out the storm at work – she’s a police dispatcher for the nearby city of Mont Bellvieu, Texas. “When we came back to the house, it was a mess. Ike had shifted the house off its foundation, weakening the floors and the ceilings,” Janet said.
Janet, Eddie and their two daughters looked for another place to live, but couldn’t find housing in the area because so many other people had been dislocated. So the Gallaways stayed in their tattered, termite-infested home and made plans to move out permanently.
Using money they’d managed to save, they began building a new house on the same lot. But the excitement about their home-to-be was overshadowed by their fears about the threat from termites from next door.
“I went looking online for information about termites, and I found the Most Endangered Studs Contest,” Janet said. “I instantly knew we had to enter.”
Contestants submitted essays then a panel of BASF experts selected 3 semi-finalists. Janet wrote a short contest essay describing her family’s termite dilemma and mailed a picture of her and Eddie in front of their nearly completed new house.
Then came the good news: The Gallaways were one of three finalists chosen by a panel of BASF experts. With nearly 11,000 votes cast over a three-week period, the Gallaways received 54 percent of the votes, earning them the grand prize.
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