This year, Stathakis celebrated its 50th year in business, and we’re grateful that CSI Support & Development Services (CSI) has been part of our story from the very beginning.
Fifty years ago, Fred Wood, CEO of CSI, took a chance on a couple of young brothers from Wyandotte, Michigan. We didn’t have much at the time. What we did have was reliability and a strong work ethic, qualities our father Mike Stathakis that had passed down to us.
Our first job for CSI was at the Wyandotte Co-op, where we stripped and waxed a floor. We had very little equipment, limited knowledge of floor care products, and no experience to speak of. But we were ready to work.
Fred kept giving us opportunities, more work, and then larger jobs. We must have done something right. Before long, we formalized our company and our relationship with CSI, turning that first chance into a lasting partnership.
Over the past 50 years, CSI has grown into the largest nonprofit provider of senior citizen housing in the United States. Through all that growth, its commitment to people has remained clear. CSI has always believed in serving its residents and putting resources back into its buildings, maintaining them to a higher standard than traditional government-funded housing projects.
That people-first, service-minded approach shaped Stathakis during our most formative years. We learned that doing good work means more than completing a task. It means caring for the people who depend on that work and providing real value. Those principles helped shape Stathakis into the company we are today.
Our customer base has grown well beyond CSI, but we will always feel grateful to Fred Wood giving us that first opportunity, and to CSI for standing by us as we built something special.
In business, you never know where the next opportunity will come from. We’re thankful that ours came from such a remarkable organization. Stathakis is celebrating 50 years in business, and we’re proud that our story began with CSI. Fifty years later, the partnership’s influence is still part of who we are.