Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesse Campbell.
Hi Jesse, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I always liked volunteering, whether it was a food drive or cooking food and washing dishes at the Salvation Army. As a practice, I would often do random acts of kindness, basically daily. Of course when you’re doing it like that it is not so random at all. My family began to have some concerns.
“You’re doing too much. What if you get hurt helping someone on the side of the road? What if you give a ride to a person with bad intentions? What if something happens and they try to blame you and sue you,” I would often hear. The concerns were not without merit, as we were just getting by ourselves living a few miles outside of Rochester in Kasson Minnesota. Eventually, I also agreed that something needed to change. I wasn’t going to stop and neither could I as I am quite driven and passionate about helping my fellow man.
I had been kicking around the idea of my charity for some time, but how and what? I thought about my strengths and I thought about the needs in the area. This path led me to the creation of Non-Profit Wrench Inc. It’s a humanitarian and social charity providing free vehicle maintenance and handy services to those in poverty and living with a disability.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Forming a charity from virtually nothing and in your spare time isn’t easy. I had will and I had passion anyway so I put it to work. First, there are incorporation fees and consulting fees. “I can’t afford this, I can’t do this,’ so I jumped in a put those charges on my credit card. Personal debt on day one.
I thought, “Is that less than nothing now?” Next, it’s articles of incorporation, board of directors, bylaws, insurance, fundraising, tools, equipment, website, business cards, advertising, building relationships, agh… I just want to help people! Getting out there and finding people to help is the easy part. Convincing the community to support and fund your work is an entirely different situation.
I would say it has been the largest obstacle. I’m looking for a 100k a year minimum to fund the charity full-time with an employee, and a shop, and to create a youth and jobs enrichment program on-site. The funding is not going well but I’m helping people all over the SE Minnesota area every week regardless of funds because that’s just who I am.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As an adult, I worked a horse ranch for several years until I became a stay-at-home dad with a total of 5 kids, 2 of whom are adults now. Staying home was the necessary economic choice at the time, but now I’ve come to appreciate it greatly. From a philosophical parenting perspective, I wish every parent could have that opportunity.
At the moment, I run the non-profit wrench in my spare time and hope to build it into something much greater and reach more people. Non-profit Wrench is a humanitarian and social service charity offering free vehicle maintenance and handy services to those in need. Being able to reach funding goals and move into full-time service would be a tremendous blessing.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
I was a troubled youth, but it worked well eventually. When I was a child, we didn’t grow up with excess, but my parents worked hard and provided well. We moved around quite a bit, ultimately settling on a family farm in Stewartville, MN.
I would say we did need to be more self-sufficient than our average home, especially on a farm. Fortunately, my old man was up to the task of tinkering, building, and fixing whatever we needed along the way, and that has rubbed off on me as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nonprofitwrench.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jr.campbell.982/
