We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Drew Walston a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Drew, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
While Mighty Hero Homes is not a faith based organization by definition, everything we do, including the original calling, is as a result of my relationship with Jesus Christ and my effort to be obsessively obedient to what He’s called me to accomplish. After 21 years in corporate American and 15 years as a small business owner, I gained the necessary skills and experience to tackle the monumental task of eradciating Veteran homelessness in the United States. After a period of disobedience, trying (unsuccessfully) to convince the Lord that He’d called the wrong person, I began a period of research to quantify the problem and to determine who was making progress in this space. With no disrespect intended for the thousands of organizations out there trying to do something, I could not find a single organization that I thought had the right trajectory to put an end to Veteran homelessness through their efforts and this is when the vision for Mighty Hero Home “Bases” was conceived. Our model is reasonable, economical and scalable.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
For over 21 years I served in a variety of executive roles with Progressive Insurance, helping the company grow from ~$500M in written premium in 1986 to over $13B in 2007. I was priveledged to lead the creation and implementation of several legacy processes for Progressive such as “Immediate Response Claims Service®,” National Total Loss and Salvage Process Centers, Direct Sales Service Centers, Concierge Claims Service® Centers and National Catastrophe Claims Centers, etc. My organization also led negotiations for and managed national contracts for the Claims organization.
Following, I founded EXO2 The Heat Inside in 2007. The company enjoyed fifteen straight years of profitable growth and emerged as a world leader in the application of heat technologies. Utilizing the company’s unique and proprietary FabRoc™ Heat Technology, EXO2 earned the favor of Fortune 500 companies, military installations, and international businesses alike. These relationships provided EXO2 the opportunity to develop over 210 products and to be a part of three world records.
My greatest strength is the ability to forge lasting relationships based on core personal and business disciplines. A trusted and proven leader, I have served on various Boards, have led strategic project teams, and have worked with new business owners to help define their vision and set actionable steps into motion.
As a scholarship athlete (Football and Baseball) and four-year letterman at Duke University (BA 1986), my leadership skills have defined my contributions throughout my professional and personal ventures. Out of the office, I am an avid golfer and am enthusiastic about helping young men develop into the fathers, husbands, and leaders they are called to be in their families, churches, and communities. Married to my teenage sweetheart, Lisa, we raise a variety of livestock on our farm outside of McDonough, Georgia.
I have learned that the principles I live by dictates the world I live in. I have been blessed to have almost 4 decades of extensive strategic and executive management experience in my rearview mirror and it is time to give back. I have come to learn that I make a living based on what I get but I make a life based on what I give.
As I commenced “Act III”, devoting my full time and resources to Mighty Hero Homes, my experience in Product Development, Business Development, Process Development and People Development is being employed to change the paradigm for those who need a hand up. I have had the honor of leading dynamic teams and organizations to achieve unprecedented results and we are doing it again! This, my greatest challenge, will only realize success through total surrender, unprecedented faith, and absolute obedience.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
The non-profit space was certainly new to me and is very different than my prior work experiences. The non-profit system in America is very inefficient and most frustrating. While intentions are perhaps well founded, newer non-profits do not generally qualify for many of the grant opportunities which are offered and MUST rely on their personal networks and small events to raise funds over the first three years. In November, we will launch OPERATION Because They Deserve Better, a campaign which will challenge 1,000,000 American Patriots, just like you and me, to give a one time, $100 donation. AND, we’re going to accomplish the task in 100 days! We beleive there are 1,000,000 Americans who agree with us that enough is enough and this egregious stain on our country MUST be resolved.
Our launch event will take place on November 03-05 and we intend to celebrate the occassion by donating a home to a homeless Veteran on Veterans Day 2024 AND celebrating the “ground breaking” on a pilot project in the Atlanta area,
When we raise $100,000,000.00, we will be able to multiply these funds through various financial programs for which we’ll qualify allowing us to permanently house 6,720 homeless Veterans in homes from which they never have to move and can one day own.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Every day is a good day to give up. The cards are certainly stacked against a new non-profit organization no matter the cause, the leadership or the urgency of need. Raising money to support your cause is very difficult and most non-profits don’t make it to three years because they can no longer to support the organization and the cause.
The Lord (Jehovah Jerih) continues to meet our needs and brings to us new opportunities and relationships at the very times of our need. Whether it be unexpected donations or the yield of fundraising events far exceeding our expectations, He has never let us down and, by faith, we know that He won’t. We operate with the belief that if it is from Him, of Him and by Him, failure is not an option and we will always have what we need when we need it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.MightyHeroHomes,org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MightyHeroHomes
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/81491450/admin/feed/posts/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Mighty_Hero_Homes
Image Credits
All images are owned by Mighty Hero Homes.