The Shauger Group Inducted into East Orange Hall of Fame

By Alexandra Gakos

On Saturday, November 27, 2021, the City of East Orange and East Orange Hall of Fame Committee honored The Shauger Group (TSG) with induction into the East Orange Hall of Fame. Lisa Shauger, President/CEO of TSG, and Donald Shauger, Executive Vice President of TSG, accepted the recognition on behalf of the company. A prestigious honor, induction into East Orange’s Hall of Fame is offered to individuals and companies who have made long-lasting contributions to East Orange and the surrounding community.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the induction ceremony was held virtually. The ceremony honored inductees in five categories: Arts and Letters, Civic and Community, Enterprise, Performing and Fine Arts, and Sports. TSG was recognized in the Enterprise category. The 10 other inductees honored at the event were Anthony Gartmond, Sterling Brown, and Solari Jenkins (Arts and Letters); Goldie T. Burbage, Thomas H. King Jr., and Joseph “Yusuf” W. Jenkins (Civic and Community); Karen Hunter and Douglas Smalls (Enterprise); the Givens family (Performing and Fine Arts); and Greg Tynes (Sports).

“We are honored to be in such rarefied company,” said Lisa Shauger. “It has been our honor to have built our company here in East Orange. We are so committed to the East Orange community—to hiring East Orange residents, doing work in and around the East Orange community, and otherwise investing ourselves in the success of this City. To be recognized by the City in such a special way means the world to us, and we are truly humbled by it.”

“There’s no greater honor than giving back to your community,” said Donald Shauger. “We do it because it matters to us and because we know it makes people’s lives better. To be recognized for it by the City of East Orange—it’s something we certainly didn’t expect, but something we’re eternally grateful for. We thank the East Orange Hall of Fame Committee, East Orange City Council, Mayor Ted Green, Hall of Fame Committee Chairman Ted Stephens, and the entire City of East Orange for this tremendous honor. We also congratulate our fellow inductees in the Hall of Fame Class of 2021 for their well-earned places in East Orange history and for their countless contributions to the community of East Orange over the years. We will truly, truly remember this day for many years to come.”

According to the East Orange Hall of Fame, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity originally founded in 2017, induction into the East Orange Hall of Fame is the “highest civilian honor that the alumni and citizens of our great city can bestow on someone. It is a celebration of East Orange and its greatest achievers, and a recognition of role models for our next generation.”

Honorable Theodore N. Stephens II, Chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee, commended this year’s honorees, while he also spoke of the important role the Hall of Fame class has in paving the way for future generations of East Orange leaders.

“This was an absolutely earnest attempt to really showcase the greatest and the best in the City of East Orange—and to keep the legacy of the Hall of Fame going forward,” said Stephens. “I want to congratulate all of this year’s inductees into the Hall of Fame. They are a stellar group. We’re proud to empower the youth of East Orange by providing scholarships, but perhaps even more importantly, we provide positive images who hail from the very same neighborhoods where they live.”

East Orange Mayor Ted Green congratulated the 2021 honorees in a recorded message during the virtual induction ceremony.

“This event was suspended [in 2020] due to the pandemic, but this year we are hosting it virtually so that we can continue the holiday tradition of celebrating the dynamic achievement of those people in our community,” said Mayor Green. “Tonight, as we recognize our very own homegrown heroes, leaders, and living legends, I am reminded that before any of these individuals were men and women, they were young boys and girls with dreams and aspirations. Growing up right here in the great City of East Orange, today we salute each of them for making those childhood dreams come true.”

Having been born and raised in Essex County, the Shaugers both embody Essex County through and through. Born in Newark, Donald was one of five siblings raised in West Orange by a single mother. Times were often difficult as his mother struggled to support their family, including Donald’s terminally ill sister, Susan. According to Donald, he was always self-conscious grocery shopping with his mother at East Orange’s Dodd Town ShopRite when they paid with food stamps in front of other customers. Fate took an interesting turn years later, though: after the Shaugers founded TSG, they had the opportunity to purchase the site of that ShopRite, and today TSG’s headquarters stand on that very same ground.

“When I was a kid, my mother would shop here and, when she would go and pay, I would run outside because I didn’t want people to see my mother pay with food stamps,” Donald said in a speech during the virtual induction ceremony. “Well, let me tell you, I am so proud to get this award for our company and for Lisa and me. I’m proud that my mother is looking down and saying, ‘Donald, you never forgot where you came from.’”

“My mother set the best example about what it means to be selfless,” said Donald. “Working six to seven days a week to take care of us, she showed us the meaning of hard work and how far it can take you in life. Her example always motivated me, both to support my own family and to help The Shauger Group grow and prosper. Today, The Shauger Group is one of the largest private employers in East Orange, and our company is dedicated to philanthropic efforts to help those in the community who are struggling, just as my family struggled when I was growing up. Paying it forward to those who need it is life’s most important calling.”

Lisa was born in East Orange, the third generation of her family to hail from East Orange. Lisa’s parents met at Soverel Field, close to where TSG’s company headquarters now stand. In fact, Lisa and her family even have their own connection to Dodd Town ShopRite: Lisa’s father used to work at the grocery store when he was in high school.

The Shaugers founded TSG in 1981, and, over the past 40 years, TSG has grown under the Shaugers’ direction and leadership. Family-owned and -operated for four decades, TSG has advanced from a small pothole-repair operation into a huge property services and contracting company, with a wide range of services. TSG focuses on providing high-quality services for private and public clients alike, while offering hands-on management, speedy response times, and the unique “personal touch” that comes from the fact TSG is—and has always been—a family business.

“Today we own over two hundred vehicles, and we specialize in quality-of-life issues—we specialize in broken water mains, sewer mains, landscaping, snow plowing, and street sweeping,” said Donald. “We have over one hundred and thirty full-time employees. Ninety percent of them are Essex County residents.”

“I’m proud that we’re the largest private employer in the City,” added Donald. “I’m proud that we have one of the most successful prisoner reentry programs in the City. I’m proud that, [on] Thanksgiving, over eight hundred families [were] given meals from The Shauger Group, as they were for our family growing up.”

With deep Essex County roots, thanks to having been raised in Essex County and having worked for four decades in Essex County, the Shaugers have always made it a priority to employ local residents at TSG, and they find it especially meaningful to work on projects that benefit local residents, too.

“We have always said how proud it makes us to put East Orange residents and Essex County residents to work,” said Lisa. “And we feel it’s important, too, for us to take on projects that benefit Essex County and the people who live here. Our company is here to serve the community and make sure we’re making a positive difference in people’s quality of life. So many of our services, from street-sweeping to snow removal to utility work to twenty-four-seven emergency response, have a direct impact on the day-to-day lives of people in Essex County.”

The Shaugers have left their mark on the local community in other ways, too, notably in their remarkable list of philanthropic endeavors. The Shaugers and TSG consistently donate to Newark’s Apostles’ House, an emergency shelter for homeless women and children, whether by donating food to the shelter’s residents on holidays, offering TSG’s services for work needed around the shelter, or giving back in countless other ways. TSG has spearheaded two extreme makeover renovations of the shelter over the past 14 years, the most recent of which took place in 2017.

One of the Shaugers’ most prominent philanthropic initiatives in Essex County has been their creation of the Timothy Groves Memorial Scholarship within the West Orange Scholarship Fund. The Shaugers founded the scholarship in 2014 in memory of former West Orange police officer Timothy Groves; today, it provides annual scholarships to West Orange High School students. The Shaugers raise money for the scholarship each year and donate regularly themselves as well, including their current match of all donations made to the scholarship through the end of 2021, up to $12,500.

The Shaugers lend their support to an extensive list of other charitable organizations; of those, many are based in East Orange and elsewhere in Essex County, including the Newark Housing Authority Scholarship Fund, East Orange Education Foundation, East Orange Annual Toy Drive, East Orange’s Back-to-School Supply Giveaway, Orange’s Operation Back-to-School Backpack Donation Drive, Orange’s Holiday Toy and Coat Drives, West Orange Cow Parade, and the West Orange PAL.

With a lifelong commitment to the community of East Orange and Essex County at-large, Lisa and Donald have been truly humbled by their recent East Orange Hall of Fame induction.

“We simply couldn’t be more grateful for this honor,” said Lisa. “For us, every day we can serve this wonderful City is a true privilege—the community has brought us a lifetime of joy.”