The Mr. Rogers Windows Legacy: More Than a Window and Door Company

Mr. Rogers Windows Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities to provide the resources they need to reach their full potential. By undertaking the causes of poverty, injustice, and material needs, the Foundation works to improve our human and planetary condition.

Specific areas of assistance have included education, healthcare, housing, environmental concerns, at-risk youth, emergency response efforts, and religious support. Mr. Rogers hopes to grow the Foundation's endowment to over $20 million, creating an outlet for his profound sense of generosity, and the legacy he hopes to leave behind.

Organizations that have benefited from the Foundation include:

• The American Red Cross
• Companion International
• The National MS Society
• The Special Olympics
• St. Jude's Children's Hospital
• World Vision
• The Make a Wish Foundation
• The Salvation Army
• The Susan G. Komen Cancer Foundation
• As well as numerous religious and human welfare organizations, or those that tackle the causes of poverty and injustice throughout the world.

A Letter from Mr. Rogers

Hi, there. I'm Mr. Rogers.

You know, at Mr. Rogers Windows, there are a lot of good things we do. We provide a wonderful service. We build relationships with our customers. We take care of their windows and doors. And if we do our job right, we make a fair, respectful profit.

But I think we're called to do more than that. With our people resources, our environmental resources, our financial resources. After all the blessings we've received, to just sit on all of that and not give back would be a waste—a waste of over 20 years of business.

Because it's not about the money—it's what you do with the money that matters.

That's why part of our mission and values is to use our talents to have a positive impact in the world. It can be as simple as somebody that comes into one of our showrooms looking for directions. They're not buying windows, but we have an opportunity to make a positive impact on them by helping them.

Making a Positive Difference for People, Families, Communities, and the World

About five years ago, I looked at the people we had, the resources we had available to us. I looked at what we were called to do. And then we decided to formalize it into a foundation called the Mr. Rogers Windows Foundation.

We started by recycling aluminum. Just last year, we made $27,000 from over 60,000 pounds of aluminum that otherwise would have just sat in the dump, hurting the earth.

Then we took that money and saved it up, giving here and there along the way, until we got to a place where we could really start using those resources.

Since then, the Mr. Rogers Windows Foundation has brought Christmas to a family struck by tragedy. We've given scholarships to inner city school children in Philadelphia and the Hampton Roads area. Through the Make-A-Wish Foundation we've sent a child and his family to Hawaii. And this year we're installing new windows in the Hope Haven house—a home for orphaned children.

Helping Others Learn to Say, "I want to give back"

And while it's great to give to people, it's also great to see the effect on the employees helping out. We give our people, our employees, an opportunity to learn what it is to give back. Because some of them will never have that, they'll never experience it. So what a wonderful thing it is that the Mr. Rogers Windows Foundation can plug them into a place to give back.

A Legacy of Public Service

I think it would be the worst thing to spend 20, 25, 50 years and only leave a legacy of, "Hey, that was a pretty big window company that was created." That's not what it's about.

I believe that teaching others how to give back is a legacy that you can leave. We've been blessed with the resources to be able to do that. And if you can have the impact on an individual, say an employee, they can take that home to their family, and they can take that on to other people.

When you've given them the opportunity to grow and excel not just as an individual, not just as an employee, but as a contributor to life, to earth—that's what it's all about. And that's really what Mr. Rogers Windows and the Mr. Rogers Windows Foundation is meant to do.

Sincerely,