Entrepreneur: Utilize the Resources of Your Business to Pay it Forward

As a Business Owner, you have a great opportunity to use the resources of your company to give back to your community.

Growing up in a small town, attending a neighborhood church and living on a small street I watched my mother constantly do BIG things for our community, church and neighbors.   If she saw a need, she filled it.    My mother was often baking cakes, cookies and casseroles for others.  She shared her kitchen table (and a pot of tea) with anyone who stopped by offering encouragement and sweets.  She was the neighborhood “go-to girl”.  If a neighbor fell ill or lost a spouse, Mom made sure their yard got mowed and their house got cleaned.  She ran errands for older neighbors, gave clothing and food out when necessary, hemmed skirts and pants for friends, and reached out a helping hand to anyone who needed it.

A true servants heart.

My mother also made certain that my brother and I were included in these good deeds, often with a little  “gentle” persuasion that only a mother can do.   She encouraged us to make even those not-so-loved teachers a Christmas present (gasp), rake the yards of the widows that lived around us (for FREE, mind you), and be the deliverer of those scrumptious cookies, which by the way, would usually arrive at the recipient’s home two cookies short and to this day I blame that entirely on my brother.   Even now there is not a day that goes by that my precious mother isn’t performing some random act of kindness in her part of the world.   She is truly the most unselfish person I know.

Because of Mom’s leadership and example of unselfish giving, I became a believer in giving back as well.   I believe that it is our Christian and civic responsibility to bless others in whatever capacity we are able to do so, to raise our children with a spirit to volunteer, and to grant opportunities to those around us to pay it forward.   

Acts of kindness shouldn’t stop at the end of our driveway for the benefit of only our family.  There are so many disadvantaged people in the world whom are suffering from a lifetime of hardship or even just a month of misfortune.  People need kindness.  Sprinkle it.  Salt your community with goodness and good deeds, creating a beautiful and wonderful ripple effect.  And as you know,  it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to do this.  My mother gave back with a dozen cookies and a rake.

As an entrepreneur, I also believe that I’ve been given a great opportunity to utilize the resources and network of my company and  Pay it Forward With My Business.  

MBI Worldwide supports various ministries and charitable organizations both globally and locally including the Ronald McDonald House Chairities of Tampa Bay,  Compassion International and Marion Medical Missions Shallow Well Program.  For a more complete listing of all the organizations that we support, please visit the MBI Makes a Difference page. 

With the help of a great team, MBI Worldwide has been able to help build churches in South America,  support children in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, distribute bibles in villages throughout Africa, provide clean water wells in third world countries and help train and protect disadvantaged women and children all over the globe.    

Being a business owner, I believe it is important to bring awareness to the cause of “serving within your community” .  MBI Worldwide offers our employees the opportunity to easily join in the Pay it Forward movement if they choose to.  One way that we do this at MBI Worldwide is through The MBI Makes a Difference Time-Off for Teamwork Program.  This strategy allows our team members an additional paid 16 hours per year to volunteer at  non-profit organizations of their choosing, serving the communities in which they live, and in organizations that they are passionate about.  To date, the MBI Team has been able to volunteer in animal shelters, homeless shelters, disadvantaged women’s & children’s organizations, Ronald McDonald House Charities and even The Make a Wish Foundation.  By volunteering at these facilities, the MBI Team has provided those organizations with valuable assistance and support.

If you own a business or are in a position within your business to implement a similar Time-off program, try it out.  Mahatma Ghandi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”  but to see change within your own company, you must give opportunities for change and if that is an additional paid day off to have a member of your team give back, it is small price to pay for a huge impact within your community.

The “Pay it Forward With Your Business” movement needs more business owners, more executives and more advocates that believe in giving back.  Please join in this movement, and share it with your business associates.  Create teams and build a business network of movers and doers.   Create an optional Pay it Forward policy for your employees, giving them an opportunity to spread kindness themselves, outside of their work place.  Lead by example, join organizations and clubs that give back.  Volunteer in a soup kitchen, or better yet, PURCHASE  the soup and volunteer!   Together, through our businesses, resources, and networks we really can make an impact and pay it forward with our businesses.   

Kandi Chapman
President & Founder
MBI Worldwide, Inc.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16