Recently, Bio-One of Oceanside owners, Armand and Michelle Amoranto joined Bret Schanzenbach on the Carlsbad People, Purpose, and Impact Podcast. Bio-One is a specialized cleaning company that is committed to helping people in their greatest times of need. In this episode, Armand and Michelle discuss their background in education, how they became part of the Bio-One family and their passion for serving the community.
The following material has been edited for clarity and brevity.
The “Help First” Mentality
With an extensive background in education, Armand and Michelle Amoranto’s hearts have always been about serving others. Alongside owning a successful business, Armand continues to work as a teacher at Oceanside Unified School where he teaches math and science to middle and high schoolers. The husband-and-wife team’s passion for helping others naturally led them to seek more avenues to connect with the community. At first, they worked at Little Cakes Kitchen to help bring the business to Gelson’s. They soon found that this was not the best fit, so they chose to pursue another avenue.
However, this endeavor allowed them to hone what they needed—and wanted—to do. According to Armand, the couple was looking for three main elements:
- Α franchise, so they could have guidance as they started a business
- Something that could meet the needs of the community
- An industry with good profit margins, so they could focus more on serving people
This filter led Armand and Michelle to discover Bio-One, and the rest is history.
Bio-One specializes in providing cleaning services for homicides, suicides, unattended deaths, hoarding houses, and more. Certainly, this service is not something many people even know exists. However, when the Amorantos discovered it, they were drawn to it because of the impact it has on people.
Serving others is central to the Bio-One company, which is evident in their motto: “Help First, Business Second.”
Armand and Michelle answer their phones 24/7, 365 days a year to help and support their clients. “We don't judge,” Armand says. “We come in with love and compassion and we just want to be there to help people out.”
The spectrum of their support ranges from helping with homicides to assisting someone who is overwhelmed because they have not been able to clean up after their animals. Regardless of the context, they maintain a standard of excellence and cleanliness. In fact, they must wear quasi-hazmat suits when they decontaminate a space, as in most cases, they must clean bio-hazardous materials.
However, it’s not always a gruesome scene that they step into.
Sometimes, someone dies and their house must be sold. Then, Armand and Michelle come in to clean the house, so that it can be sold. Because of this, their reach extends beyond the North County area, and they support people across the country when their North County relative passes away. This requires clear, transparent communication, which they maintain through emails, phone calls, and pictures of the house’s “before and after” transformation.
They also assist individuals who are hoarders clear out their things so they can manage their lives. Once they are finished, there are often hugs and tears of joy when their clients see that things are taken care of.
The Amorantos shared a story of a female client they helped whose husband had had a stroke and whose son has special needs. She was overwhelmed with working as a full-time teacher, trying to maintain her home, and taking care of her family. Ultimately, she decided she needed things to change, so she called Armand and Michelle to help her take her life back, and they assisted her in getting things back on track.
How The Amorantos Serve Their Community
It comes as no surprise the Amorantos are passionate about helping their clients individually through Bio-One, but also because the business allows them to better serve their community as a whole.
In particular, Armand and Michelle love helping law enforcement. In June, they did a blood drive with the Oceanside Police Department, a cause that is particularly impactful because Michelle is a blood donor and cancer survivor.
Alongside this, they represented Bio-One as a presenting sponsor for the National Police and Fire Games that recently took place in San Diego. Bio-One sponsored the event, which brought athletes from across the country to play games and engage in competitions together.
The next event they will be part of is the Serve to Solve Project where they will partner with Solutions for Change to clean the homeless encampment. Bio-One Oceanside will work with Solutions for Change’s Overcomers (people who have gone through the Solutions for Change program to overcome homelessness) to give back and clean up the encampment.
The Amorantos partnered with Solutions for Change after they heard how they were helping the homeless in the community. They reached out to Solutions for Change with a simple question: “Is there anything that we can do to help out?” According to Armand, they thought, “If nothing else, we can bring in the PPE [and] make sure everybody's properly safe going into the homeless encampments to do any of the cleaning.”
Their desire to serve has instigated their partnership with Solutions for Change, and has also brought them to consider potentially hiring some of the Solutions for Change Overcomers part-time. Certainly, Armand and Michelle have always served others, whether it was through teaching their students or ministering in their church, but Bio-One has allowed them to expand their impact as they work with organizations within their community and across the country.
If you would like to learn more about Bio-One, click here!
Interview Links
Click here to learn more about Bio-One of Oceanside.
Connect with Bio-One of Oceanside on Facebook.
Watch how Bio-One of Oceanside serves others on Youtube.
Resources
Did you like what you heard? This show is produced by Imagine Podcasting dba Heard Not Seen Media, Inc. For more, visit Imagine Podcasting.
