subject: Jesse Willms Helps Build Homes With Habitat For Humanity Edmonton [print this page] Alberta businessman, Jesse Willms, who has spent much of this year on philanthropic and volunteer efforts, went with five of his co-workers to volunteer for Habitat For Humanity Edmonton on Nov. 30.
Willms said that his team started out the day by hauling 12 ft drywall sheets into the homes eventually getting into a friendly competition with other volunteers to see who could carry the heavy building materials the most quickly.
Later they spent some time helping build two new decks for the homes, company official said.
It was a cold day, but the work we did warmed our hearts, Willms commented. He noted that his team met lots of nice and talented people. It was a pleasure for Willms to learn a new skill set, and the site supervisors were eager to teach him. Jesse said it was also fun to volunteer alongside a family that was going to be moving into a home in December.
Willms is a well-known Internet entrepreneur. He started his first business when he was 16 years old in his basement. In under six years, he has built that company into a multimillion-dollar operation. Then, early last summer, he was watching television when he saw Bill Gates and Warren Buffett challenge successful entrepreneurs to do what they could to give back to the community. Since then he has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to organizations, including Samaritan's Purse and the Breast Cancer Research Fund, while also volunteering his time for local organization like The Mustard Seed food bank.
Habitat For Humanity is a well-known international organization that seeks to bring volunteers together to help build homes for families that would otherwise be stuck living in rental apartments. They believe that this is the most effective way to help the working poor earn their way into the middle class because instead of throwing the bulk of their paycheck away on rent, they are able to build up equity in a home.
Habitat For Humanity International was founded in 1976 and Habitat For Humanity Canada was founded in 1985, but it wasn't until 1991 that Edmonton launched its own local Habitat For Humanity branch. Since then, Habitat For Humanity Edmonton has built more than 130 homes for people in our community. Willms said that his entire team had a great experience at Habitat For Humanity and plans to help them again soon. He also said he encouraged other people to volunteer for Habitat For Humanity if they have the opportunity to do so.
