Ron DeClue and Austin Wells were pulling inventory off the warehouse shelves — product that had been on the books too long, put through a fire sale, still didn't move. The plan was to send it to be destroyed. It bore the Tyrolit name, Radiac's Austrian parent company, and a branded product that can't be sold can't be quietly disposed of either. Destruction was the only option.

Ron looked at the shelves. "That's silly," he said. "A lot of this stuff is perfectly good. It's brand new, it's industrial-grade abrasives. It's not like you go to the hardware store and pick something up. This stuff is made for serious use."

He and Austin took the idea to their department manager, Joyce Murphy. She took it to plant manager Ted Martin. "He didn't even question it," Murphy said. "He said, absolutely."

What followed was a donation of industrial abrasives to Salem Community High School's CTE department — $94,000 at sell value, now headed for the wood shop, auto shop, metals, and the ag building instead of a landfill. CTE department head, Mr. Chad Bryan, estimated it could supply the shop classes for up to a decade on some items.

When Mr. Bryan and Mr. Braddy came out to see what items were available, Ron offered sticky notes to mark whatever they wanted. Bryan’s answer: "We want it all." Ron: "We don't have to ship this to be destroyed. We can just bring it to you." Austin's supervisor, Lacey, put a team together that night. Within 24 hours — more like six — everything was cataloged, packaged, and ready to be delivered.

The product was being scrapped for packaging reasons, not quality. As Austin explained, "It's in an older box, so the customers want the newer box. But if you look at the product, it's the exact same thing."

Radiac Abrasives has operated in Salem since the 1960s. The company makes industrial grinding wheels — from start to finish — for customers across aerospace, energy, and transportation. Rolls-Royce is a customer. Pratt & Whitney, which builds engines for Boeing, is a customer. Moeller Aerospace, which manufactures the wind turbines visible across Northern Illinois, uses Radiac wheels to smooth its components. The company just landed a new contract with Loram, which cleans and maintains rail lines. And yes: "We're part of the moon rover," Austin said. "They use some of our grinding wheels to make the components for that."

The connection between that world and a high school shop class in Salem isn't a stretch. It's a pipeline.

What makes the story richer is the footnote Joyce added about Radiac's ownership. The parent company is Tyrolit, based in Austria — which is itself owned by Swarovski, the crystal company. The reason Swarovski owns a grinding wheel manufacturer: they couldn't find grinding wheels precise enough for their crystals, so they started making their own. A business decision born from quality control, seventy-plus years ago, now connects a Salem warehouse to space exploration hardware.

Ron and Austin are both Salem alumni — class of '89 and 2013, respectively. So is Joyce, class of 1982. Ron rotated through electronics, metals, automotive, and wood shop his freshman year and stayed with automotive through graduation. Austin took automotive class as well. Both of them knew, from having sat in those rooms, what the materials would mean.

The workforce number at Radiac: about 165 union workers in the plant currently, with a target of 170, plus roughly 30 company staff. They brought one new hire on the day of the interview and three more the following week. Joyce was straightforward: "We are hiring full-time right now."

Mr. Bryan sees the donation as the beginning of something, not a transaction. "We use the word partnership," he said. Rather than sending students over randomly, the goal is to understand what Radiac actually needs and prepare accordingly — tours, job fair appearances, direct communication. He now has three people he trusts on the other side of that conversation: Ron, Austin, and Joyce.

"One thing I like most about this is the relationship part," he said. "This is going to help the community altogether."

The abrasives that were supposed to be destroyed are now in the shop. Students who didn't know Radiac's name will learn it. Some of them may choose Radiac as a career choice..

That's how it tends to go when two guys on a warehouse floor decide something is too good to throw away.