Kenney Outdoor Solutions Gets Tough with New Ice Melt to Benefit Charity

In preparation for the upcoming winter season, our sister company Kenney Outdoor Solutions has partnered with a major fertilizer manufacturer to bring to market a private-label ice melt that is not only more effective than competing products but will also help raise money for cancer research.

Sold under the brand name “The TOUGHEST Ice Melter”, the new product will help support the Chad Tough Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research and raising awareness about Pediatric Brain Tumors. A donation of fifty cents for every bag sold will be made to the foundation.

The inspiration for creating the TOUGHEST Ice Melter came from Tim Austin, co-owner of a company in the green industry based in Saline, Michigan. Like many people in the town of Saline, he was very saddened when native son Chad Carr—grandson of former University of Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr—died at the age of five in 2015 from Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), an almost-always terminal form of brain cancer affecting children. “The community was kind of just taken by storm with this…it affected everybody and touched everybody and the way we saw the Carr family battle through this was really touching to me, and so I wanted to try to do something,” Tim said in an interview with WLBY Radio in Ann Arbor.

Tim approached Kenney Outdoor Solutions with the idea of developing a private label ice melt to help the foundation established in Chad’s honor. Kenney Outdoor Solutions loved the idea and in turn approached Spring Valley, who manufactures the ice melt products they distribute. Together, the they came up with the TOUGHEST Ice Melter.

“The TOUGHEST Ice Melter is a unique product in several ways beyond the fact that it’s helping raise money for a charity”, said Bill Marshall, a salesman with Kenney Outdoor Solutions. “It’s over three times more effective than other leading brands of ice melt at temperatures below 10° F, and unlike rock salt it won’t harm grass and shrubs. Plus, it won’t leave a greasy residue on floors like other brands of ice melt.”

The TOUGHEST Ice Melter is unique in one other aspect, also. In order to further connect the product with the Chad Tough Foundation and help raise awareness for their cause, the ice melt has an orange pattern on it (orange was Chad’s favorite color and is used on marketing materials for the foundation).

The pattern is non-staining, biodegradable, and environmentally friendly. To promote both the foundation and the ice melt, Kenney Outdoor Solutions is launching a marketing campaign with the theme of “Paint the town orange this winter”, which will encourage businesses throughout Michigan to use the ice melt.

Currently, the TOUGHEST Ice Melter is only available in bulk to commercial customers, who can order the product through Kenney Outdoor Solutions. However, plans are in the works to make the product available to consumers at retail locations throughout the Midwest. One location, Junga’s Ace Hardware in Saline, has already agreed to carry the ice melt.

Commercial customers or retailers who are interested in ordering the TOUGHEST Ice Melter can contact Bill Marshall at 248-308-4233.