We were lucky to catch up with Joe Brandi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joe, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Around 2008, I went on a trip to Kenya with World Orphans, and that is when everything changed for me. The orphan became real to me – someone that had a name and whom I was hugging and serving. I experienced an overwhelming moment where I knew that I had to harness all of my energy, finances, and resources to do something meaningful with my life to help children who have been orphaned.

After the trip to Kenya, I gave up my job in Florida and moved back to San Diego. Leaving my job came with a loss of a stable income, and I lost my house. That experience included a lot of existential moments where I questioned whether God was really telling me to be a voice for and help to the kids who need someone.

I led teams through World Orphans for a season, but the trips were expensive and didn’t foster long-term involvement. These trips were mostly for the people going to have the experience and didn’t have longevity, nor did they foster relationships with children who need connection. I realized that these trips were not good investments of time and money.

I began visiting Tijuana, which is very close to my home in San Diego, and I met some Mexican friends who knew of different orphanages. I saw that there are orphans and vulnerable communities right here near my home. I heard God tell me to be simple and focus on what is nearby and where I can be dependable. I began taking groups of 20-30 volunteers who would each bring a suitcase full of donated food or toiletry items. We became relationally consistent with certain orphanages and would visit every month.

I came to realize that these kids need additional help, such as psychological and educational support, beyond basic donations. Children in these orphanages are often several grade levels behind in their education, sometimes just because they move around so much. My vision became to holistically empower these kids, who have been through so much in their lives so that they can have a future vision for their life that is broader than their current reality.

Awesome – Can you share what are you most proud of?

I am most proud of our volunteers who are consistent with coming on the monthly trips. We have such a flaky culture, so for people to arrange schedules and finances and give an entire day up to visit the kids in an orphanage is a big deal. They also engage their own communities by posting about our work on social media, coordinating food drives at their workplaces, and more. This is how our organization grows.

I am also proud of our English as a Second Language program in Nicaragua. We have been doing it for six years and have 50 kids learning English each year. Some of them are almost bilingual! There are disadvantages for children who live in a coastal fishing village and few opportunities to break the cycle of poverty. Our program gives them a chance to go to college and follow their dreams.

One of our graduates is now working with the program to help teach other kids how to speak English. You can see the lights in their eyes when they realize that the goals or futures they dreamed of–to be an architect, engineer, or have a bilingual career–are possible. Our ESL program and language training open up so many doors for these kids.

I’m also proud of the fact that we are creating jobs for professionals in their home country. With our community’s financial backing, we have the ability to invest in less affluent countries. It is often hard for people in those areas to find jobs, and in particular to help their own people. They have a heart for the vulnerable, and we are helping them empower others. In both Mexico and Nicaragua we have teams of program directors, psychologists, teachers, and other individuals with a real calling to help children.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There have been a lot of pivots. The obvious one was during the pandemic when we couldn’t visit orphanages in Mexico or have our in-person English classes in Nicaragua. Thankfully, that is also about the time Keem Schultz-Fares joined our team to help oversee operations. I’ve never run a business, and I’m not good at it. Keem has been amazing in that capacity and together we figured out strategies to continue delivering our programs despite the challenges we were facing. It made me realize that I can’t do it all alone and I need people like that in our organization to help us grow and have long-term sustainability, and reproducibility, so that we can help more kids and make sure our funds and resources are correctly invested.

This year we sensed that the impact of our monthly visits to orphanages was not enough. We decided to hire a director to oversee our Latin America programs. This person is able to support staff on the ground, provide accountability for their work, assess the kids, and be more aware of their unique needs. We made the investment for this key hire so that our work can have the greatest impact.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that I had to unlearn is that sometimes, on the surface, a nonprofit may have an excellent vision but that doesn’t mean they’re doing good.

I had to unlearn the instant gratification of giving. Giving is actually just a bandaid. What the world really needs is actual consistent help.

The backstory is from early on, about 10 years ago, when we started visiting an orphanage and fell in love with the kids. We would do Christmas celebrations and have someone dress up like Santa to pass out gifts, and it was just an amazing play day. Later, on a follow-up visit to the orphanage, I didn’t see any of the presents. I eventually found out that the orphanage leaders would take all of the presents and, within a few hours of us leaving, sell them for cash to pay the electric bill.

This led me to work to get their account information and directly pay for the electric bill. I realized I was doing more good that way than just handing over gifts. If the investment of giving doesn’t go where it’s most needed it simply doesn’t have the intended impact. That is a lesson I continue to learn and it challenges me to grow personally and as an organization.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://unity4orphans.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unity4orphans/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Unity4Orphans/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unity-4-orphans
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Unity4Orphans
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfI8JFIq7L3aX0JPyJQBa0g