Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alexis & Jordana. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alexis & Jordana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

We were in the midst of our HoHoHope initiative at Christmas time; collecting toys, wrapping gifts and last minute shopping for children who wouldn’t receive a visit from Santa due to their parent’s financial situation. We got a call from a friend saying he knew someone who wanted to make a big donation but wanted it to go to the right place and he instantly thought of us. We were not prepared for the phone calls that followed. This generous family makes large community contributions every year and they wanted to give US $15,000 to make Christmas magical for children in south Florida. We immediately revisited our HoHoHope nominations, selected 20 more families and gathered their wishlists as quickly as possibly. This all happened 6 days before Christmas so we had to take off days of work, one of our founders spent 13 hours in the mall while 7 months pregnant making all the purchases with the donor and we spent another full day in a warehouse sorting & organizing all the gifts into gift sacks by family. On Christmas Eve, we loaded up a UHaul and hit the road to play Santa’s elves with the donors, a police escort & a truck full of wishlists for some very deserving families. We were able to help over 100 people have a magical Christmas morning that year. It is the craziest and best thing we’ve experienced in our 7 years running this organization.

Alexis & Jordana, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We got started because Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and instead of donating to a large nonprofit where we don’t know where the money goes, we wanted to do something ourselves. We fundraised money & critical items within days and hit the road to make the trip from South Florida to Texas to make sure everything got into the hands of those who needed it most. After that, we realized this was our purpose and what we needed to be doing year round. Unlike some of the bigger organizations, we show our supporters exactly where their money goes and invite them to take part in our initiatives through volunteer work. We feel that building trust with our community and showing our impact makes them feel more included and really connect with the difference they are making by supporting us.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Since day one, we’ve made it our goal to be as transparent as possible. This means telling our supporters exactly what they are donating to, sometimes posting receipts of what was purchased as well as creating Amazon wishlists so people can purchase the items needed directly instead of donating money to a “mystery” cause. We’ve also brought our supporters along for our events and initiatives so they can see first hand what impact they have. Because of this, we’ve had volunteers return every year for the same event because they enjoy seeing the gratitude of those we serve. We continue to post our victories and our challenges because at the end of the day, we are still just two women trying to make a difference in our community and we don’t have it all figured out. We feel like being honest, vulnerable & human makes us more relatable and lets people know we are going to be real, no matter the situation.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

We have been best friends since elementary school. We started this nonprofit after 23 years of friendship! We have both always been givers and had the hearts to help others so it just made sense that we do something official and really make a difference together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.100peopleprojectinc.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/100peopleproject?igsh=eWF0MnQ1bnhsOWR2&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/19mLQuGJUX/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100-people-project-inc