NEHERP Update

A brief explanation of the events which took place between mid 2025-2026

Posted by Mike Siavrakas (Owner of NEHERP) 08/25/26

Hi everyone. I wanted to take a few minutes to personally address the delays and inconsistencies some of our customers experienced over the past several months.

First and most importantly, we’re sorry. NEHERP has always taken a lot of pride in being quick-to-ship, and for a period of time, we weren’t operating at the standard you had come to expect from us. While most orders continued moving normally, some customers waited longer than they should have for orders, replies, consultations, or custom work. Regardless of the reasons, you deserved better communication from us. We haven’t shared much publicly about all the turmoil that was happening behind the scenes, but I think some context is important.

In mid-2025, my Dad suffered a severe stroke that initially left him paralyzed and unable to speak. My wife, Jess, stepped away from much of her normal work at NEHERP to become his full-time caregiver during the day. Words can't express my gratitude for her, as my Dad lived the final months of his life absolutely surrounded by love & empathy. Jess is typically responsible for much of our bookkeeping and customer service at NEHERP, so her absence left an enormous hole in our daily operations.

Around the same time, Jess’s Dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Jess again rose to the occasion by taking him to his Chemo appointments, and her Dad fought valiantly.

After my Dad’s stroke, Jess and I found ourselves responsible for running his wholesale florist business. We went into it hoping we could protect what he had spent 50 years building, with the understanding that it would be sold so we could refocus 100% of our efforts on NEHERP. Unfortunately, we discovered that the florist company was in far worse financial condition than we understood. It carried substantial debt, while a significant amount of the money owed to it by customers had been unpaid for months. Tariffs then sharply increased costs and made an already difficult wholesale market even harder to survive. Within two weeks of assuming responsibility for that company, the building suffered a major long-term power outage and we discovered that the wholesale business was severely under-insured for the resulting losses. Its delivery vans began breaking down one by one. Then came a fire, a flood, and the loss of even more inventory. It was catastrophic, and immensely difficult to address during the agonizing loss of our fathers.

NEHERP is located in the same building, and was also impacted by these same catastrophic events, but was thankfully better prepared. Even so, during that time, NEHERP was dealing with blizzards, successive HVAC failures, construction delays, tariff-related issues, and supplier disruptions of its own. It was an incredibly challenging time for us as a family, and as a small business. I am forever grateful to the NEHERP team for doing everything they could to help us steer the ship while Jess and I were stretched so thin. ♥

My Dad passed away in October. Jess’s Dad passed away in February. During all of this, Jess and I were trying to operate two businesses, including one that was actively failing, while raising our amazing son, Michael. He was named after my Dad, and the two of them were best friends. Eventually, Jess and I had to step back long enough to say goodbye to our fathers and help our son through those losses, too. The brief period where Jess and I were forced to focus elsewhere affected NEHERP, and unfortunately, some of our customers felt the consequences. We are genuinely sorry for that.

We ultimately realized that the wholesale florist could not be saved without continuing to jeopardize our family and NEHERP. We made the painful decision to cut our losses, sell its remaining assets, and close the corporation my Dad had operated since 1975. As of August 2026, we're almost completely free of that burden.

Throughout all of this, NEHERP continued to grow. We hired new team members, strengthened our internal systems, took on our biggest Zoo & Museum projects ever, and began rebuilding the consistency and responsiveness our customers expect from us. We’re incredibly grateful to the customers who showed us patience, kindness, and understanding, even when you didn’t know the full story. We don’t share any of this as an excuse. We’re sharing it because we owe you an honest explanation, and because we want you to know that the circumstances which caused those delays are finally behind us. Orders are shipping on time, I'm back at NEHERP focused and ready, and I have high hopes for the future.

We’re incredibly excited about what comes next.

Thank you for sticking with us,
Mike Siavrakas & The NEHERP Team