00:11From MBA Annual in Chicago, I'm Alison LaForgia with HousingWire, and I am joined by the president
00:18of the Open Doors Foundation, Deb Dubois. Thank you. It's nice to be here.
00:23Deb, could you talk to me a little bit, for those who don't know, what MBA Open Doors is?
00:28Oh, absolutely. So the MBA Open Doors Foundation is this incredible organization that was started
00:35in 2011, and we issued our first home grant program, launched that in 2012. And the foundation
00:42provides mortgage and rental grants to families with critically ill or injured children who
00:47are also at the same time in danger of losing their homes. And so if you can imagine hearing
00:53from a doctor that your child has cancer, and then wondering if after you get your child
00:59through that treatment, you'll have a home to go to, the mission is critical.
01:04Now, this is something that is so close to me. One of my family members has a child who
01:10has pediatric cancer, and they are in a very favorable position. But this is why I was so
01:15excited to talk to you. And I really think it's important for people to know, how do you make
01:20this happen? How do you get funding? Right. What funds it?
01:24Right. I mean, it's interesting, because I think the mission of the Open Doors Foundation
01:30automatically brings people in, and it brings people together. But we work very hard to make
01:37sure that individuals, a lot of them come from, I'd say 99% of them come from the real estate
01:43finance
01:44industry. And even more are simply MBA members who care about giving back. And so we have provided
01:52more than $32 million to more than 20,000 families, a threshold we passed over the summer, which is
02:00really, you know, I consider the foundation to be this small but mighty foundation. But it has a big
02:08impact. And it has a huge impact on MBA members. A lot of them like you have a personal story.
02:16And
02:16they know that, but for the grace of God, they could be one of our Open Doors families. So donors,
02:24advocates, people who carry the message forward, just by telling a story, that is what elevates the
02:32mission of Open Doors. And it's what brings people together. And it's what allows us to help families.
02:39Now, speaking of bringing people together, you guys have a reception tonight.
02:43We sure do. And I know it says invitation only, but honestly, everyone's welcome. It would be
02:49wonderful. We are giving two awards tonight. We are honoring, I can't tell you who, but we have two
02:56awards. One is the David H. Stevens Founders Award. And David H. Stevens, for I think so many people know,
03:04was the former president and CEO of MBA. But he was also one of the founders of the Open Stores
03:09Foundation in 2011 with his wife, Mary Stevens, and Dan Aragoni. So we are going to present an
03:17industry professional who's done a lot for Open Stores with the Founders Award. And we are going to
03:23honor the, I'm sorry, the Founders Award, and then the David H. Stevens Spirit Award. And that too,
03:29will go to a longtime donor and supporter, not just a donor, but a supporter, somebody who brings
03:34individuals and organizations together under the rubric of Open Stores. Tell me a little bit about
03:41what you're excited about with Open Doors, Open Stores this year at MBA Annual. I feel like I've seen your
03:48messaging everywhere. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. So I, in February, I will have been
03:54in this role for nine years. And I think, you know, my first MBA Annual, I walked around and I
04:00didn't
04:00know anybody. The second year, I knew a couple people. I would tell you by my eighth year right now,
04:06I have, I have so many people who have come up to me to say they have, they've heard my
04:11story.
04:12They've heard about Open Stores. They've heard other people talk about Open Stores,
04:16and they want to get involved. And it's, it's an extraordinary feeling when somebody comes to you
04:21and says, the work of the foundation is so impactful that I want to, I want to give of my
04:28time and my
04:28resources. Okay. So for people who are new to MBA, or this is their first conference, or they haven't
04:38been to many events before, how can they get involved? Right. So there are a couple of ways. You can
04:44always email me, ddublois at mba.org. You can go to our website, which is www.mbaopensdoors.org. And the
04:54open has an S on the end of it. Or you can go to mba.org. And we'll, we have
05:00a little logo in the top of
05:01the website, click on the logo, reach out to me. Every little bit that somebody can do to carry our
05:08message
05:08forward helps. I can't tell you how great I think MBA Open Stores is, or how excited I was to
05:17see
05:17the prominent placement this year at the conference. And I can't wait to see pictures. Maybe I'll come
05:23to the reception tonight. And congratulations on the two winners. Thank you. I'm excited to see who they
05:28are. What a great way to honor David Stevens' legacy. Thank you. I appreciate it very much. It's, it's really,
05:34I mean, I may be biased, but it's a wonderful organization. It really is. I am so happy to
05:40see it so prominently this year. It's something that brings me joy. And I know that it does really
05:45critical work for families who desperately need it. I appreciate it. Thank you. Deb, thank you so much
05:50for giving me time today. Thank you.
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