Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Smith.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Mark. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started as an AmeriCorps member with SBP in New York City in 2014 helping to repair homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy. I was drawn to SBP after seeing the damage that Hurricane Sandy caused and learning that families were still struggling to recover more than two years later. I served two terms in AmeriCorps with SBP before joining staff managing SBP’s Volunteer and AmeriCorps programs at our New Jersey operating site. Since then, I have held a variety of roles within SBP at operating sites across the country and have responded to multiple disasters across the U.S. I moved to Houston in August 2018 and became the Executive Director of SBP’s Houston operations in July of 2019.
Has it been a smooth road?
There have been many struggles in my professional journey. I spent a year and a half as an AmeriCorps member in New York City living on a stipend of $1,100 a month while working 50 hours a week. Paying the bills, working full-time, trying to navigate food stamps, and paying off student loans felt overwhelming at times. I’ll never forget the moment I had to make a decision between buying groceries and paying my rent that month. That was the closest I came to quitting and asking my family for a bus ticket home. I knew what I was doing was important and that I want to spend my life helping others and so instead I made my way to a food pantry that night. Standing in line at that food pantry was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. I’ll never forget thinking about being 25, abled bodied with a college degree, a full-time job, and a GAP jacket on and being in a line with mostly senior citizen women who were caring for young children. I was so embarrassed and ashamed of needing help but the people there treated me with so much kindness and respect. It is something that I will never forget and showed that anyone can find themselves in a situation where they need help and how important it is to treat those people with empathy and respect.
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
SBP is a national nonprofit disaster recovery and resilience organization. We established a home repair and rebuilding operation in Houston after Hurricane Harvey and we have rebuilt more than 225 homes over the past three years. SBP was founded and specialized in leveraging volunteers and AmeriCorps members to rebuild homes damaged by disasters for families that lack the ability to rebuild on their own. In addition to our direct rebuilding work, we seek to prepare residents and communities before disasters take place, share what we do best with other nonprofits so more people get the services they need, advise state and local officials on how they can accelerate recovery in their communities, and advocate for systemic changes that fortify Americans against unnecessary suffering after a disaster.
Rebuilding homes after disasters is expensive and incredibly difficult work but it’s what people need. SBP is focused on outcomes and serving our clients with dignity and predictability the same way we would serve our own loved ones. I feel incredibly proud and grateful every time a family moves back home after years of waiting. I know personally the pain and stress of losing your home, and the opportunity to give people the dignity and security of moving back into their fully repaired home is incredibly rewarding.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Houston has the most incredible sense of community and philanthropy. No other city that I have lived in has the same sort of bootstraps attitude when it comes to helping your neighbors. Seeing the support for fellow Texans and the people of Louisiana after Hurricane Laura has made me proud to be in such an incredible city that serves those in need at a moment’s notice.
What I like least about our city is that far too many people have been repeatedly impacted by flooding and not enough is being done to make communities more resilient against future disasters. Tens of thousands of Houstonians were impacted by the floods in 2015, 2016, Harvey, and Imelda and are still at risk of flooding again. We have to do better. We know weather events are becoming more frequent, more severe, and the people who are most heavily impacted are those with the least amount of resources to protect themselves.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1420 N Sam Houston Pkwy E,
Suite 190
Houston, Texas
77032 - Website: SBPusa.org
- Email: Info@sbpusa.org
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sbpusa
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/SBPUSA
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/SBPUSA
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