MBA Opens Doors Foundation: A Legacy We Can All Be Proud Of
Laura Lang
It may have started out as strangers helping strangers, but now it’s more like friends helping friends.
“We would just like to thank you for the grant. It has helped us out a great deal. It made the month of May a great month. The work you all do does more than you know, and for that we are grateful.”
“Thank you very much for your generosity and compassion. I can’t even begin to articulate how much of a relief it was to have a month of rent covered while my son was fighting for his life in the Children’s Hospital ICU. I appreciate you being there in our time of need. Thank you.”
“Thank you so much! It means the world to me that you have been able to help me pay one month’s mortgage while we are going through this difficult time in our lives. God most certainly will bestow his blessings to all of you! Love, hugs, and many blessings sent your way!”
Welcome to MBA Opens Doors Foundation
The MBA Opens Doors Foundation was founded in 2011 on the premise that families with critically ill or injured children should not also have to worry about whether their child will have a home to return to after treatment, a mission that defines the work of the Foundation today.
In 2012, the Foundation, with a freshly minted 501(c)(3) status, partnered with Children’s National Medical System in Washington, D.C., and disbursed 37 grants, kicking off a Home Grant Program that now helps between 250 and 275 families a month. In 2013, Debra W. Still, CMB, president and CEO of Pulte Financial Services, joined the Foundation’s Board of Directors as its first Chair of the Board, a position she holds today.
Since 2012, 12 additional children’s hospitals have joined the Foundation’s care facility network, including Akron Children’s Hospital, Akron, OH; Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston; Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO; Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis, Tulsa, OK; Cook Children’s Hospital, Fort Worth, TX; L.A. Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles; Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital/Stanford Children’s Health, Palo Alto, CA; Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, Boston; Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital, Indianapolis, IN; Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX; and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, San Francisco.
- Since 2012, the MBA Opens Doors Foundation has provided mortgage and rental payment assistance grants to more than 10,000 families across the country.
- Grants up to $2,500 are made monthly to families in need of payment assistance for housing (mortgages or rents).
True to its mission, the Opens Doors grant program aids, nurtures, and empowers families and communities and strengthens connections between real estate finance companies, the medical community, and vulnerable families.
Because the Mortgage Bankers Association pays 100% of the Foundation’s operational and administrative expenses, 100% of donations go directly to a family in need.
Life Interrupted: Adjusting to a Global Pandemic
When the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, millions of families with critically ill or injured children were thrown into turmoil – visiting hours at hospitals were curtailed, medical procedures that could have expedited recovery were put on hold, and families just getting by found an economy in rapid decline.
With all this change and uncertainty, critical health care coverage for some of America’s most vulnerable families was thrown into doubt.
Charities across the country are still recovering – some closed their doors forever, leaving thousands of families without the kind of support they relied upon to help them through the crisis. Opens Doors, however, was fortunate to be able to accelerate its Home Grant Program by expanding its network and establishing its Pandemic Relief Program, which provided double the number of grants to families in need.
Thanks to the real estate finance community, donations topped $4 million in 2021 and stayed steady throughout 2022, allowing the Foundation the breathing room to contemplate further growth as it approaches 2023. More than 1,800 individual and corporate donors have joined with the Foundation’s 19-member Board of Directors in providing financial support, organizing fundraisers, and building awareness of the Foundation’s good work and the families it serves.
“When the country was deep in the pandemic, it was a terrible time for families with children in treatment. We were pleased to double our support during those difficult months,” says Deborah E. Dubois, president of MBA Opens Doors Foundation. “So many families experienced loss – and continue to experience loss – that the need for support grew exponentially. Through it all, one thing was abundantly clear: If our true mission was to help families with critically ill or injured children stay in their homes, we had to do more to keep them in their homes.”
Indeed, the Foundation did exceptionally more for families in need. In December 2021 alone, the Foundation helped 499 families – more than the Foundation helped in all of 2016 – with an average grant of $1,475, split between those needing money to pay their mortgage (40%) or rent (60%).
In FY 2022, the Foundation is poised to top 3,800 housing grants provided to families caring for a critically ill or injured child.
“Our support is more than a housing payment, for when a family is assured that their home is secure, their time and their resources can be used for other important things — putting good food on the table or paying for childcare and education, to name just a few,” says Dubois.
Helping our Most Vulnerable Families
The majority of families helped by Opens Doors has a child under the age of 5, and 60% of families have annual incomes of less than $60,000.
“We’ve helped families with two kids in the hospital. We’ve helped families who not only have a sick child but also a sick grandparent at home that they’re taking care of,” Dubois says. “These are not families that have had the time or the opportunity to build a reservoir of funds. There is no safety net.”
Some of the families helped by Opens Doors face gut-wrenching situations and decisions. One family with premature twins, Emilia and Anahi, had to make the heartbreaking decision to seek hospice care for their twins when their health took an irreversible turn for the worse.
While all Opens Doors families touch hearts, many stories remain unfathomable for their cruelty. Previously healthy, 15-year-old Wyatt was diagnosed with meningitis that caused a brain herniation and spinal stroke in July 2020. The injuries resulted in Locked-In Syndrome, a rare and serious neurological disorder, and quadriplegia. He is now dependent on a tracheostomy tube and a ventilator, and has a feeding tube for nutrition. A once-thriving child was suddenly robbed of the life he and his family thought he would have. “We were glad we could help Wyatt and his family, providing some relief during such difficult times,” says Dubois.
MBA Members Continue to Step Up in Tough Times
The generosity of MBA members makes it possible for Opens Doors to expand its reach, increase its hospital network, and help families stay in their homes while they care for a sick or injured child.
“I have been an enthusiastic supporter of the Opens Doors Foundation for many years, believing that giving back to our communities is not just the right thing to do, but a privilege. Perhaps more than anything, the pandemic has taught us that to survive, and indeed thrive as a community, we must extend a hand to those who need our help,” says Laura Escobar, president of Lennar Mortgage, Miami, and incoming MBA Vice Chair. “I can’t think of anything more powerful than to help a family stay in their home while they face the daunting challenge of caring for a critically ill or injured child.”
“In ordinary times, the need to provide housing payment relief to families with critically ill or injured children is extraordinary,” adds Matt Rocco, CEO of Grandbridge Real Estate Capital and incoming MBA Chair. “With the ongoing pandemic and significant changes to our economy that have left already vulnerable families struggling to keep jobs and healthcare coverage, the need for housing relief has skyrocketed. It’s not only a pleasure to join my real estate finance colleagues in this effort, it’s also an important obligation.”
Escobar, Rocco, and so many of their colleagues in this industry have helped move this program forward.
Many families Are Grateful, and Some Want to Pay it Forward
Because Opens Doors steps in when a family needs it most, the impact is heartfelt and many send thank-you letters and photos of their children and families.
In 2022, Opens Doors received a letter from a family that had been helped with a grant in 2013. They enclosed a $6,000 check to “pay it forward.”
Another thank you came from a family whose infant spent 10 weeks in the hospital after he was born. The grant letter from Opens Doors was put into his baby book so he would always know the kindness of strangers who helped his family when they needed it most.
“I use that story in my presentation sometimes because it’s so impactful. We can all relate to preserving special memories for our children and we’re proud to be part of this child’s memories and his parents’ lives,” says Dubois, who is the sole MBA employee dedicated 100% to the Foundation.
Staying ‘Small but Mighty’
Opens Doors continues to grow in a way Dubois describes as “thoughtful and strategic.”
Since 2016, Opens Doors has nearly tripled the number of hospitals it works with (from five to 13 hospitals) and has aligned with a growing network of social workers to provide additional assistance to families in need.
“We are a small but mighty Foundation, growing at a pace that’s comfortable, thoughtful, and strategic,” notes Dubois. “More and more people in the industry see Opens Doors as the charity of choice for the real estate finance community because we touch both homeowners and renters. We connect what they do professionally with families who need just a little help to get from the 30th of the month to the 1st of the next month.”
“MBA, Opens Doors, and the thousands of members who support us rallied together to strengthen the fabric of our communities and empower an industry to lift those who most needed our help,” notes Robert Broeksmit, CMB, MBA president and CEO and an MBA Opens Doors Foundation Board Member.
Adds Dubois: “We’ll need to continue growing because the need for our assistance is growing. We have social workers and medical professionals reaching out to us every week to find out more about our program and see if we can expand to their region or hospital.”
But, as Dubois points out, conditions for MBA members are shifting too. “Many MBA members are facing challenges in 2022 and will do so in 2023 because of market changes and rising mortgage rates, so we are engaging with them and taking their input as we grow.”
“The reality is we can’t grow any faster than our ability to raise money to cover the grants that we provide each year,” she adds. “Because we never say no to a family.”
Learn more by visiting www.mbaopensdoors.org.
Join the many supporters of the MBA Opens Doors Foundation with a contribution to help keep families with critically ill or injured children in their homes. Donations to the Opens Doors Foundation are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable under law. Tax ID# 32-0355086.
Laura Lang is an industry writer currently based in Fresno, Calif. She can be reached at lauralhaverty@gmail.com.
