Turning a Profit with a Purpose – Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company
On Thursday evening, February 10, about twenty students and a few other guests gathered in Wheaton’s engineering lab to listen to Chesterton Schuchardt (‘20) and colleagues, Van Thompson and Taylor Haltom, introduce the Barnhart Crane & Rigging Company and hear about their job and internship opportunities. Following in the footsteps of Wheaton alumnus and Barnhart engineer Young-Ho Moon (‘15), Schuchardt finished his engineering studies at IIT in Mechanical Engineering before joining Barnhart, where he has worked since February 2021. Schuchardt works as a Project Engineer at Barnhart’s Memphis, TN service center (the Barnhart hub). He enjoys working with a team on exciting and unique Barnhart projects.
Chesterton Schuchardt and Colleagues at the Barnhart Presentation (Image credit: Jeff Yoder)
Barnhart is one of the largest Heavy Lift and Heavy Transport companies in the United States with more than 50 locations across the country. They move very large pieces of machinery and other loads across long and short distances, often taking them out of or putting them into very confined spaces. Schuchardt reports that the work is exciting and every job is different. He splits his time between work in the office and in the field. A unique feature of Barnhart is the company’s underlying Christian service mission and their emphasis on, “Turning a profit with a purpose.” In 2007, the company owners placed Barnhart in a charitable trust, owned by the National Christian Foundation Barnhart, although they continue to run the company on a for-profit basis. They also give away roughly 50% of their earnings through a philanthropic arm of the company called God’s Resources Operating Very Effectively (GROVE).