Celebrating Black History Month: Relax and Ride Carlisle, A Black Owned Business Making History Daily

Everyday that I wake up I am making history for myself and my family.  As a black business owner in Carlisle, PA where I have set my roots down I have forged my way into a space called entrepreneurship.  It takes heart and it takes courage to wake up everyday and meet the daily challenges of owning your own business.

Early Years

Growing up I thought I would be a professional soccer player for my birth country England.  I was a great player at a young age and thought nothing in the world was ever going to stop me from playing for my homeland.  My mother had different plans for me though.  When we came to the United States my mother worked three jobs to take care of my two brothers and I.  Nobody was handing her anything and she quickly instilled that into me.  From the age of thirteen I started my first job at Mcdonalds and I have never looked back.  Everything I have ever had was earned never given.  Times were tough when I was young because we did not have a lot but it was alright we worked for what we wanted.  I earned my way to a masters degree in education and for some years taught school.

Entrepreneurship A New Way of Life

In 2013, I started Personal Care Transport LLC which was a car service transporting commercial truck drivers throughout the central, PA area.   I have transported thousands of truck drivers over the last ten plus years.  This business was a real grind.  I remember leaving business cards on truck drivers doors at night and never knowing that they would ever call me but the phone started ringing day in and day out.  Then I started working with large trucking companies in the Carlisle, PA area.  I worked long nights and many nights in my van.  I made really good money but that came with lots of adversity and as a black man I kept my head up during rejection and just kept hammering away.  Nothing was given it was totally earned and I would never have it any other way.

Nothing was Beyond Me

Throughout my business nothing was beyond me to do because I felt that as an entrepreneur you have to go and get it.  Some of the companies came to me and asked if I would clean the interior of the trucks and I did this to earn money.  I even hired people to drive while I worked cleaning trucks everyday.  I do not think that I am a trailblazer because I am black I am just a man working to better myself in this universe.  A man trying to better ever everyday.  I celebrate Black History every single day when I wake up and look in the mirror.  I am thankful and grateful for those who came before me.  I look back briefly to keep looking forward always because the journey I have is before me never behind me.  The life of a man who looks back will always be looking back and never realizing that road ahead is the only road to look to.

The Birth of Relax and Ride Carlisle

In 2017, I started Relax and Ride Carlisle seperate from my trucking business because I felt that there was a need for this kind of service in our area.  Once I started Relax and Ride Carlisle I never looked back and I started hiring drivers to do my airport shuttle runs to all the major airports.  The business was really growing and we were doing our best numbers ever until a curve in the road called COVID19 came along.  But my heart and my desire would never let me down.   My desire and passion kept the business going.  While I was starting to lose footing in the trucking industry because of companies like uber and lyft I still kept keeping my focus on my airport shuttle business.  During COVID19 I launched Free Milk Sunday Inc.

Giving Back to the Community

For years the community I lived in had given back to me and I had not really given much back at least I thought.  So I decided to give away Free Milk to the community.  We started giving away free milk, bread and eggs.  This March this program will have been in operation for five years and we have wonderful volunteers.  I love giving back to the community because they have given so much to me and my family.  I have always been raised to help other people and that comes with good family values.  Free Milk Sunday is in Carlisle, PA and Newville, PA.  We used to do it in Harrisburg, PA but we can’t get enough volunteers to help with our Harrisburg area.

Black History Month

At the end of the day Black History Month is a great thing to look at but I look at it daily and ask myself how am I making America better.  How am I contributing to my community to make it better?  How am I loving my neighbour as myself? I am thankful for Black History Month but I know that black history should be a daily task lived out to make the world a better place.  I like to say nobody is to be blamed for the past.  All you can do is look in the mirror and change yourself to make the world a better place.  We are all tasked to love each other and treat each other with the most respect.  Anyone using our airport shuttle service is treated like a king and Queen.

Gary Grant