ARE YOU LEAVING A LEGACY?

A friend once asked if I knew who my great, great grandfathers were. I replied, “Not only do I not know them, I don’t know any of my grandfathers — not really.” My friend replied “You don’t know them because they didn’t leave you anything.”  She went on to explain why the Trumps, the Fords and the Rockefellers all knew their great, great grandfathers and why I did not. That bothered me and made me think about my dad, William Kearney, who I affectionately called Pop. Even though Pop passed away over two decades ago, a lot of who he was is rooted in me:

• The sick, crazy work ethic

• The rise-shine-and-grind mentality

• The importance of compassion for others

• The entrepreneurial spirit

• The loving, strong and confident woman that I am — all of it is because of how Pop loved his daughters and raised his sons.

So, when I saw the opportunity to start a legacy in a non-profit that embraced many of the principles that Pop believed, it only made sense to name the organization in his honor for the generations he left behind. If my nieces and nephews are ever asked, “Do you know who your great, great grandfather is?”, they can talk about the organization that Pop inspired.

Pop’s House began in 2014 when I saw first-hand the need of the homeless population. I discovered that many of the veterans were experiencing the same reentry challenges as the formerly incarcerated. As a real estate investor, I realized that my properties could be used to house them. I no longer wondered about the plight of the homeless because the evidence was living under my roof. Pop’s House went from being just brick and mortar to becoming a haven for homeless veterans and the formerly incarcerated. They no longer had to choose between heat or meat because Pop’s House provides an all-inclusive environment that includes housing, food and services to help reintegrate them back into society.