…I Am Going To Be A Builder

We all have those memories in our lives that we can picture like they happen a minute ago. For me I had just turned ten years old and our family was sitting at the dinner table in 1967 when my father made the announcement to us all. “I quit my job today and I am going to become a builder”. All I remember after that is crying. I thought we were all going to starve. I didn’t care about the builder part, only that he quit his job and that to me meant something bad. As it turned out, it forever changed all our family’s lives and thousands of other families soon to follow.

My father and mother together built a company out of our home. The first home they built was across the street from where we lived and the second was down the street and soon there was an entire street of homes my parents company built. My father gets most of the credit for having become the builder, but my sisters and I know that my mother was his backbone. Their company hired hundreds of men and women and young people in the town over the years to build the homes for other families. They gave people an income and an education and the opportunity to be a part of the one of life’s most valuable experience…building someone else a home.

And for me, I learned the first principle of being a builder. If the things we build are for someone other than ourselves, we drink in life in its purest form.

Are you a builder? Please share with us your first memory when someone built something for you and changed your life.

What do you build?

It’s all taking shape. The plans for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are pretty remarkable. It’s going to be a project unlike anything the producers of the show have ever done before—and unlike anything we’ve ever seen in Indianapolis

There are all sorts of things happening in the background this week, with lots of people playing key roles in the larger project: not just developing plans for the show, but also signing up sponsors, gathering volunteers, planning events, producing signage and materials, and lots more.

Which points up an interesting element of The Builder Principle: not all of us are the same kind of builder. Not everyone has the same skills. That’s a good thing. Whether it is teaching, serving, nursing, connecting people, or leading people or maybe just bringing people together it takes all of us building together to make great things happen.

So that’s my question for you: what do you build?

Can you see yourself as a builder? Do you build hope? Dreams? Aspirations? Confidence? Coalitions? Enthusiasm?

And would you like to help us build something bigger than ourselves?

If you would like to help us build the Extreme Makeover Home in Indianapolis, please go to estridge.com and sign up. It’s all taking shape—and it literally will not be the same without you.

Go ahead and doubt — but get involved.

First of all, thank you, Indianapolis. I cannot tell you how humbling it is to experience the outpouring of support and positive energy we’ve received in the last 48 hours. Virtually everyone I talk with has been astonished by what we’re planning to do. And virtually every conversation ends with, “How can I help?”

I also feel a personal sense of relief. We’ve had to keep our participation in Extreme Makeover: Home Edition a secret from just about everyone for the past few weeks. So all the attention this project received yesterday was extremely gratifying, and a big weight off the shoulders of all of us at Estridge.

Of course, there are some cynics and skeptics out there. But I understand that, too. What we’re trying to do is big—and in many ways, unprecedented. We’re committed to helping lift up an entire neighborhood. I think you’ll be surprised by what we have in mind.

It’s actually not so easy to launch something this ambitious into the world. Just ask any dreamer who’s decided there was a big goal that needed to be reached or a wrong that needed to be righted.

After all, that’s what builders do. So to the skeptics, I’d say, watch what happens. Better yet, get involved. Go to estridge.com and help us start building something great.

A great day for Indianapolis.

What a day!

It started—I don’t want to even tell you how early. Let’s just say that at 6:15, I was giving my first interview of the day on the WRTV-6 morning show as we announced that ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was coming to town—and Estridge was going to build the home for a very deserving family. Then it was off to a radio interview at Hank FM before heading to the big press conference with Mayor Ballard. All this media work is pretty draining……21 hours since the day started.But it’s all for an amazing cause. And the outpouring of support we’ve already experienced is remarkable. The major, the city, our partners and vendors, our own friends and neighbors—everyone who’s been asked to step up has jumped at the chance to help jumpstart change in our community.

Stay tuned—because we won’t all find out who the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition family will be until Friday, March 27, when Ty Pennington knocks on their door and sets the whole amazing week in motion.

In the meantime, check out photos of the press conference on our We Build Together site. You can also sign up to follow the whole great story on Twitter and Facebook.

We did a lot of Good Building today.

Let’s get building. Let’s start now.

I’m excited.

We’ve been working toward this day for weeks—and dreaming about it for a couple of years. Today, Estridge embarks on an amazing journey to build a new home for one incredible Indianapolis family as a part of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Even more important, we’re setting in motion the means to help lift up an entire community—to build not just buildings, but hope and opportunity.

Frankly, it’s inspiring. It’s inspired me to begin to crystallize my thoughts and passions into The Builder Principle, based on the idea that we are all builders, and that every positive thing in our lives—our faith, our families, our friends, our relationships—is the result of our building.

We’re all builders. And over the course of the next few weeks, we’re going to see a dramatic example of the power we have when we build together.

But this is only the beginning. The blue print of the The Builder Principle is still being drawn—and you’re invited to help. So share your passions here. What do you build? What do you want to build? For yourself? For your family? For your community and your world?

Your builds don’t have to be big. But they can be.

Check back often. There’s something building here. I’m not sure exactly what it’s going to be. But I know it’s going to be great.