My Friend Jesse Willms Honors The Unsung Heroes Of The 9/11 Attacks

Hi. It’s Jack Stanton again. My friend and co-worker Jesse Willms asked me to step in for him on this blog again to let you know about his latest charitable initiative. Last week, Jesse and I were talking about what organization he would be donating money to next. We both realized that the 9/11 10th anniversary was coming up, so he asked if I could find an organization that helped out during those awful days but that may not have gotten the credit they deserved. While I was Googling around, I came… more »

Jesse Willms Is Going To Be Back For The 2011 Run For The Cure In Edmonton!

Hi. It’s Jack Stanton again – filling in for my friend and co-worker, Jesse Willms, on this community blog. I’ve known Jesse Willms for many years, and know that he has always had a deep commitment to the community. That’s why I’m always willing to pitch in and help him spread the word about the important causes he supports. The other day Jesse and I were talking about last year’s Run For The Cure in Edmonton, where his Team Pink managed to raise over $31,000 to help the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation… more »

Jesse Willms: Terrorism In Oslo Shows Nobody Is Safe In Today’s World

It is impossible not to be shocked by last Friday’s terrorists attacks in Oslo.  First, the office of the prime minister is reduced to rubble by a bomb.  Then, hours later, scores of people – most of them children – are gunned down at a summer youth camp. Nobody could have predicted this. Norway is one of the friendliest places in the world, and has not been involved in the types of activities we assume make some countries potential terrorist targets. Yet, there is no other term that could possibly be used… more »

Jesse Willms Working With Santas Anonymous To Provide Toys For At Risk Youth

Hi. It’s Jack Stanton again, and I wanted to take some time today to talk about my friend Jesse Willms’ latest effort to help children live better lives. As you know, Jesse has spent the last six months trying to become the best philanthropist he can be. He’s supported a lot of major charitable initiatives, including World Vision and the Kiva Foundation. From the start, Jesse has always said that the most important thing for him when it comes to philanthropy is to find ways to help women and children. “Women and… more »

One Billion People Saw What A Difference The Community Made In Chile

Usually on this blog I talk about what I’ve been doing to try to support the global community, or I provide some suggestions for what people can do themselves to help become good members of their own communities. In this post, however, I want to congratulate a few companies that really made a difference in a dramatic way. You see, I was one of the one billion people who watched the miners at the San José copper-gold mine in Copiapó, Chile being rescued after nearly 70 days of being trapped under the… more »

Why I’m Sponsoring 25 More People Through Kiva

I’ve been very busy trying to find new ways to help the global community, and I’m writing today because I wanted to let you know I’ve expanded my partnership with Kiva. As you know, earlier this year I sponsored 10 aspiring third world entrepreneurs through Kiva. Kiva is a microfinancing organization. They’ve figured out that the best way to combat poverty in the long term is to help people build their own businesses. That way they can earn their way out of poverty, which is more sustainable in the long run. It… more »

Jesse Willms: Running For The Cure

Hey, I just wanted to let you guys know that a few friends of mine and I got together last weekend to participate in the 2010 CIBC Run for the Cure in Edmonton. We had a lot of fun and got the chance to help raise $31,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who ran on my team. I couldn’t have done it without you. We had a great time, but most importantly it felt good not only to get away from my desk… more »

My Continued Support for the Kiva Foundation

I’ve talked a lot about the Kiva foundation and how important they are in helping thousands of people lift themselves out of poverty by starting their own businesses. As you may recall, my first $1,000 donation helped 10 men and women in the Third World get their businesses off the ground. Kiva updated me on their progress and I could see how my microloans helped these people better their lives. With their businesses able to launch or continue to serve communities, I was inspired to do even more. Therefore, I’ve decided to… more »

$100,000 Donation for Big Change

Being a member of the community is all about encouraging other people to do the right thing. When we all work together, we can accomplish much more than if we just look out for ourselves. But it’s more than a matter of waiting until donation requests come in the mail from a wide variety of organizations and then writing a check.  That’s why I’ve been talking about the importance of not only donating to charities, but doing the research before hand to ensure that you’re a good fit with the organization of… more »

135 Children Sponsored Through World Vision!

A few entries back I talked about my support for World Vision. If you remember, World Vision is an international faith-based children’s charity. They do their best to help children in the third world who are suffering the effects of poverty. Poverty has many causes, including war, famine and refugee status. World Vision helps children of all cultures, races and faiths by providing them with food, medicine and shelter. Through World Vision you can sponsor individual children, which allows you to track the progress of your donations. When I first partnered with… more »

Working With Kiva To Help People Out Of Poverty Through Business Ownership

When I started this blog, I told you that I would use it to demonstrate how I am giving back to the community. Looking back at my original post, I realize that could come across as a little bit egotistical. I want to stress that I work as part of a team, and we all research and decide what organizations to contribute to in order to help make the world a better place. In this entry I want to talk about the Kiva Foundation, and why we decided to help their efforts… more »

Sponsoring More Than 100 Children Through World Vision

Today I want to talk about a new partnership we are really proud of – working with World Vision, a children’s charity. After doing extensive research to determine where we could do the most good for the global community, my team and I decided that World Vision is an organization we couldn’t afford not to work with. Let me tell you a little bit about World Vision. It is a faith-based charity dedicated to helping children around the world who are victims of poverty. The provide food, medicine, education and hope to… more »

The Charities I Support – And Why You Should, Too!

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted an entry on my community blog, but I’ve been very busy with both my companies and my new life’s work – becoming a philanthropist. As you know, I’ve always been a strong supporter of giving back to the community, whether it’s by creating a strong code of business ethics or trying to help my customers have the best experience possible. This summer I decided to start taking my community commitment a step further, looking for worthwhile charities to support. This is still an ongoing… more »

How I Was Inspired By Warren Buffett And Bill Gates To Give Money To Charity

This summer has been an interesting one for me. Not only have I spent a lot of time growing my companies, I’ve also started becoming a philanthropist. Today I’m going to talk about two charities I recently gave money to, but first I want to tell you how I got inspired. Back in June Buffett and Gates held a joint news conference where they announced the Giving Pledge. The idea behind the Giving Pledge is that billionaires have more money then they or their next 10 generations could possibly spend. So, they… more »

Jesse Willms And The Community

No man is an island. We all live, work and play as part of a community. And yet, in this dog eat dog day and age it can be easy to forget that. We start thinking about making money and all the things it can buy. We get obsessed with building bigger and bigger piles of cash and start to ignore our friends and neighbors. Then we wonder why we feel so empty inside. I know how this can feel. My name is Jesse Willms and I started my life as a… more »