Small business donates equipment to Pioneer Valley USO

Date: 12/3/2020

EAST LONGMEADOW – QUIKCORD President Matthew Adams and Chief Financial Officer Matthew Fioretti made good on a promise they made more than a year ago when they were struggling to get their fledgling business off the ground. As part of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, QUIKCORD offered their products to the public at half off if they were purchased on behalf of an active military member. On Dec. 1, the pair distributed 1,000 dispensers to the Pioneer Valley USO as a result of that campaign.

Fioretti explained that paracord, short for parachute cord, is an essential tool in the military. “The problem with paracord is it tangles into this nest, and that’s not what you want in a tactical situation,” he explained.

To address this problem, QUIKCORD designed a dispenser, which holds 25-feet of cord and keeps it from tangling by “backstacking” the cord inside. The dispenser also features a built-in guarded blade for cutting the cord to length and a “nighttime signaling device” that holds a regular glowstick for civilian use or an infrared glowstick for military use.

“This product was designed with the military man and woman in mind,” said Adams, himself a disabled Marine.

QUIKCORD got off the ground at the end of 2019. “It was an interesting time to launch,” Fioretti said with a laugh, referring to the pandemic that hit the world a couple of months later.

The donation was made outside Toner Plastics, 35 Industrial Dr. in East Longmeadow.  QUIKCORD partnered with Toner Plastics through FORGE, a non-profit that helps startups navigate the industry from prototype to commercialization.

“They had this great idea, but they didn’t really know how to get it going,” Toner Plastics President Jack Warren told Reminder Publishing. Toner Plastics helped with the final stages of design and the product is produced at its subsidiary, Modern Mould and Tool in Pittsfield. “It’s really just an honor to work with these guys,” Warren added.