Dion Dawson

We did it in 18 months.

As a company, we've never been in the red.

It's a social enterprise nonprofit that is still a business.

Early on, it was really about individual donors and grants.

And then over the years, we've tried to continue to figure out how to diversify the revenue so that we can be sustainable.

We've never missed a payroll.

We've never lost an employee.

We've never had a volunteer.

I just think that if someone does a job, they should get paid for it.

It's a commitment back to people.

Without a wealth-building vehicle attached to whatever social impact work you're doing, then you're just perpetuating the circumstances that you're trying to fight.

You can still do good business and do good by people.

And you don't have to build like everyone else.

There were so many people early on that tried to guide us into taking donated food, into using volunteer hours and trading board seats for money.

And because of us rebuffing a lot of those things, here we are almost five years later.

And this work has really not only defined a lot of people's lives, but it's allowed me to wake up and go to sleep knowing and never questioning.

I have no goals.

I just believe that anything is possible.

Part of just being a dreamer is understanding that I decide what I focus on.

We've gotten the opportunity to write our own story.