Posted by Jesse Willms on Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Hi, this is Jack Stanton once again, filling in for my friend and co-worker Jesse Willms on his blog. He asked me to post an entry today about a discussion we had in his office last week. Over a year ago, Jesse decided to start helping out the Kiva Foundation as it works to fight poverty by offering microloans to budding entrepreneurs in third-world countries when banks are unwilling to. This can help create an emerging middle class in the third world. Jesse has been proud to support Kiva, but was disturbed by recent news articles that have put microfinancing in a bad light. He brought me into his office to discuss the situation and decide if we still wanted to support Kiva. Over the course of the next few hours, we went through all of the available information about the microfinancing controversy. What we discovered was that certain people not associated with Kiva were taking advantage of the microfinancing... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Wednesday, November 24, 2010
On my blogs I spend a lot of time trying to encourage people to find ways to give back to their community and help make the world a better place for everyone. I also spend a lot of space writing about worthwhile charities that I support including Samaritan’s Purse and the Breast Cancer Research Fund. Or, I talk about my volunteer work for The Mustard Seed or Habitat For Humanity.I do so in order to inspire others to follow my example. But, I often hear back from people that they simply don’t have enough free time or money to support nonprofit organizations even if they want to. I can understand that attitude. It did take me a fair amount of time to set up my volunteer work and many people are not in a financial situation where they can write checks just because it’s the right thing to do. That’s why I wanted to take some time today to point... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Wednesday, November 10, 2010
I just got back from doing my latest bit to try to give back to the community. As you know, I feel like we all have an obligation to our local and global communities. That’s why I’ve been doing my best to try to support organizations that work hard to help people in need in my Edmonton community. I mentioned last week that I have become involved in helping out The Mustard Seed food bank in Edmonton. You’ll remember that The Mustard Seed provides hot meals six nights a week to inner city people in need. It also offers them clean clothes, personal hygiene items, household items and work items in an attempt to provide them with a sense of purpose and dignity. The Mustard Seed was started by a local Baptist church, but today it is supported by most major local faiths. Anyway, last night my employees and I went down to The Mustard Seed to volunteer our time.... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Monday, November 8, 2010
What do ethics mean to you? Are they simply a set of guidelines for how you think about the world? I don’t think so. Of course, that’s part of it, but ethics aren’t just about what you believe, they are about what you do in the real world. That’s why I’ve decided to dedicate my time to going out and helping worthwhile charitable organizations in my home town of Edmonton. I started out by buying a bunch of toys for Santas Anonymous and then by volunteering for The Mustard Seed. This November, I’m going to head out with some of my coworkers and help Habitat For Humanity Edmonton build homes for local residents who need them. You see, what Habitat For Humanity understands is that one of the things that keeps people in the cycle of poverty is that they have to spend a disproportionate amount of their paychecks on rent. That’s money they worked hard for but will never see... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Over the past few months I’ve used my blog to talk about my deep commitment to the community and how ethical business give back to their community. I try to help the business community by running my company ethically and giving advice to other entrepreneurs on how they can do the same. I’ve also been working to help the global community by sponsoring children through World Vision and aspiring small business owners through Kiva. Now, I’ve decided to help out the local Edmonton community. I started out this effort by working with Santas Anonymous to provide hundreds of Christmas presents this December to children who are part of low-income families. My next initiative is more direct. My staff and I have decided to become volunteers for The Mustard Seed – a local food bank. On November 4 we are going to go down and cook and serve a healthy warm meal to people living in poverty in our inner city.... more »
