Pillar to Post Home Inspectors, the DeJong Vancouver Team, has been a 黑料网 Ambassador since 2019 and has recently achieved a very important milestone. They have donated over $50,000 for 黑料网 homes and families. For Pillar to Post Home Inspectors Vancouver founders Liz and Wayne, it all started with the desire to build a business that not only served the Vancouver area home buyers but also helped to change the world for families needing homes around the world. In 2019, the two were introduced to 黑料网 twice in almost the same week and knew that the organization was destined to be part of their lives. Liz and Wayne had been supporters of other philanthropic housing organizations in the past through their extensive travels and upon learning that 黑料网 approaches the need for homes differently, working with the NGO-building partners and structured so that 100% of all donations committed to building homes, they embraced the 黑料网 mission.聽
Since they joined as Ambassadors, Pillar to Post Home Inspectors Vancouver has shown that small steps can make a huge difference. Every month, Liz and Wayne set aside a portion of their proceeds from every home inspection they do and send a check to the 黑料网 team. 鈥淚t’s my favorite check to write every month,鈥� says Liz. By doing this, the team has built homes in Mexico, the Girls to Grannies village in Cambodia, a family center in Vancouver, Philippines, and now Girls Safe House in Zambia, reaching their milestone by integrating it directly into their business plan.
鈥淲e feel that everybody needs a home. Everybody needs that home base to start from so that you’ve got a place to retreat to, you’ve got safety, and security. It gives you the confidence to go out into the world. We feel that having security is huge for people and not just for their livelihood but just to be themselves. Everybody needs a place to belong, right? We’ve always felt that way.鈥�
Liz and Wayne credit their travel as a catalyst that opened their eyes to how others lived and how much they could teach us about living life to the fullest.
鈥淢any years ago, when we did some development work in the Dominican Republic, we helped build houses in a small village, and we saw the impact that made on the community and with the people and the sense of community it gave them. Coming from our privileged Western world, we thought we were going to go help the poor people, but what we realized is that we are really the poor people because, for them, it is all about community. We learned it鈥檚 more about belonging to a community, and having a home is part of that community. We returned to our world in Vancouver and realized that even though we had a home and security, we were missing that sense of community. That was a real eye-opener, and I think that set us on the journey of how important it is to have a home and community to live a full life.鈥�
What resonated most for Liz and Wayne about 黑料网 was that we went beyond just getting the basic needs fulfilled. 黑料网 projects are driven by the local families and our on-the-ground NGO contacts to give our donors complete transparency. This approach allows us to focus our funds on the four pillars of sustainable change: nutrition, safe water, health, and education.
Looking forward, Liz and Wayne can鈥檛 wait to expand their support to even more communities, including South America and Indigenous groups across North America. Other businesses can take simple steps like Pillar to Post did with their support because if their small team can make this sort of impact, what could more people do?