PPB December 2019

suppliers. And on every trip, he leaves nearly everything behind, including the luggage itself and his own clothes, with the Malawians. After his most recent trip, Brown returned with nothing but his backpack, shaving kit and the clothes he was wearing. “It has to do with being a human being,” he says. “When you get back to the basics, it’s all about helping your neighbor.” Brown has been in the promotional products industry for 40 years, most recently as CFO and managing director of MadeToOrder, a position he’s held since 2003. It’s a company he’s been nurturing for some time, having founded MadeToOrder as the Harwood Company in 1989. He grew it for 10 years, sold it in 2000, and then organized a buyback in 2003. But in his latter years in promo, Brown has been nurturing charity work, too. He first dipped his toes into the waters of overseas volunteering some 15 years ago, when his youngest son, then in high school, registered for a home- building trip to Tijuana, Mexico, over spring break. Simply looking to spend more time with his son, Brown accompanied him on the trip, which was organized through their church, Piedmont Community Church in Piedmont, California. “My son wanted to go with a group of friends in town, and I always wanted to be involved with my sons in just about any way I could,” he says. “I did not know what to expect.” What started as a single trip gave way to more. Brown has since traveled to Tijuana more than 10 times, along with some 45 adults and 240 high school students, to build homes for the families there. In Tijuana, he says, there aren’t just a few shanty homes, here and there, that could use some TLC. Rather, there are tens of thousands of “homes” haphazardly made from large sheets of scrap metal and discarded garage doors. The latter, Brown says, are one of the materials most sought-after by the impoverished in Tijuana, and are mainly imported from the U.S. Brown now helps facilitate the trip through his church, guiding the high schoolers through a change in perspective and worldview. The students are assigned to teams of 12, which are distinguished by colors (i.e., the tie-dye team, the turquoise team, etc.), and they are purposely grouped with students they don’t know well. Over five full days, these students bond while working in close quarters, helping to build the 11-foot-by- 22-foot homes, reminiscent of large sheds, that will shelter 10 or more family members. The homes are without electricity or plumbing, but they are rat-proof, dry and provide the children living there with a stable address, In Tijuana, Mexico, Rod Brown and his church members build houses by hand for people in need. “It has to dowith being a human being.When you get back to the basics, it’s all about helping your neighbor.” – Rod Brown, CAS | DECEMBER 2019 | 89 THINK