Unimaginable: North by Northwest project gives families at RMH a garden refuge

The people at North by Northwest Landscaping were happy to help the Ronald McDonald House in Austin, Texas, as part of ServiceTitan’s Power the Nation campaign. 

They were happier when the initiative became a community effort.

Soon after starting to bring new landscaping and a fresh look to the home that gives families of seriously ill or injured children a place to stay during treatment, North by Northwest reached out to its vendors to see if they too wanted to help.

“Something that we were thinking was going to be a minor impact became much bigger with the collaboration of a network of teams,” North by Northwest Vice President Jordan Martin said. “It was pretty cool.”

The Ronald McDonald House gives families nationally and internationally a place to stay when children are going through serious illness or injury. The House in Austin is a very short walk from Dell Children’s Medical Center.

Martin guided North by Northwest through Power the Nation, a ServiceTitan initiative in which it partners with businesses to help worthy recipients.

North by Northwest re-landscaped the home, added AstroTurf play areas for the kids and their families, and designed and installed a fourth-floor roof garden.

“This is the type of project that we could not do on our own,” said Emma Bailey, Communications Director for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas. “It really makes the home even more welcoming, even more of a place of refuge and rest for these families, who are often going through the unimaginable.”

A goal brought off the shelf

Gio Alanis-Vega, Operations Director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas, said beautifying the home was a goal for 2024 that had to be shelved because of budget restrictions.

“It goes beyond words how beautiful the space is,” Alanis-Vega said. “We are grateful they even considered us. It's kind of a miracle from heaven. I was like, somebody pinch me, because I could not believe this was going to happen.”

She pointed out that North by Northwest handled all logistics and contracting, showed up when they said they would, and got the work done on time—because those who lead, serve. 

“Everybody had fun,” Martin said. “We learned things at the same time. We normally don't get to work on rooftop patios, and so we got to work on this one and the change was overwhelming.

“We're proud. It was a great experience overall.”

A huge impact, making lives better

Alanis-Vega said the Austin House will provide a home and refuge for 450 families in 2024. One family stayed for 495 days—and the improvements made their life better.

“I know the father enjoyed having one more space where he could just be somewhere that didn’t remind him of the hospital,” Alanis-Vega said.

While North by Northwest was the driving force behind the effort, Martin said support from several vendors made the process easier. Martin credited North by Northwest team member David Pereira, who initially suggested Ronald McDonald House and who came up with the idea to reach out to vendors, whose response was immediate.

“Zero hesitation,” Martin said. “As soon as we said it was for Ronald McDonald House, everybody said yes.”

J Bar Enterprises provided a needed Porta Potty for workers, and Opifex Enterprises turned what would have been a painstaking process of taking materials up to the fourth-floor outdoor garden into an easy one by providing a lift.

Martin said North by Northwest took on the project because it was the right thing to do. To help families going through a difficult time. The camaraderie that developed was a natural byproduct of the work.

“I'm proud of how we executed such a large project so efficiently,” Martin said. “We weren't trampling over each other, everybody was working as a team, and no one was yelling at each other. That's always a win.”

‘A great way to operate’

Martin said that even though it was never the intent, he was pleasantly surprised when the chair of the board of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas said he wanted to be sure people were aware of North by Northwest’s effort.

“The surprising thing is that people just see and appreciate us helping the community and want to return that and make sure we thrive and help us succeed as well,” Martin said. “That's the most surprising event of this whole situation.”

Martin also was touched at the response of the people from the House when they visited and proposed doing the work.

“They were overwhelmed with us even bringing it up to them,” Martin said. “And they were like, ‘This is not a normal request for someone to come over and say, we want to donate this.’”

Thomas Kim, CEO of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas, summed up the #PowerTheNation project succinctly: “It’s a great way to operate as a business, operate as a community partner, and operate as a citizen.”