Today we’d like to introduce you to Kerr Taylor.
Kerr, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Pathways for Little Feet began on a cold winters day in a dreary orphanage in Moscow, Russia. There, my wife and I were adopting our first child, Christina, who is now 21 years old. Every day when Jill and I visited the room where we met with Christina there was a little 18-month-old boy named Andrew, who had big blue eyes the size of Texas, and sat quietly in the corner of her room. As other classmates of Christina would scurry around that room, he would simply sit in the corner and smile at us. And he would silently ask us: “What about me?”
In a strange way, it was as if a bolt of lightning came out of those big blue eyes and seared into our minds his question: “What about me and the eighteen million children around the world who are alone, without father and mother?”
When we got back home, we hired a research group to find out how many Andrews there were and to recommend how we might help. Here is a mental picture of what they discovered:
In the middle of this picture is a dark, foreboding, Mount Everest of a mountain. On one side of this mountain are eighteen million children with their arms raised up to the heavens. On the other side of this mountain are a similar number of loving families and their arms are also raised towards to heaven.
The mountain, the research told us, was the financial gap that prevented these loving families from adopting their child. The research said that there were plenty of families who would adopt the Andrews of the world but they were often thousands of dollars short of being able to do so. What was needed was a type of non-profit bank that would create financial pathways across that mountain uniting child with parent. And so, Pathways for Little Feet was born to lend, on an interest free basis, up to $7,500 so that a family could afford to adopt their child. The family would pay back their interest free loan $100 a month, on average, into the Pathway’s Family Fund so the next child could come across that mountain into the arms of their parents.
Over the years we have refined our vision so that each donor dollar that is in our Family Fund is recycled from child to child to child. It is a high form of stewardship that allows a donor’s dollar to help many orphans become sons and daughters.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Having built several companies, including one that was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, I have discovered that there will always be formidable obstacles between the vision and the accomplishment of that vision. It is hard to build something that will make a difference in our world. That has been the case with Pathways for Little Feet, as well.
Building the right team is always, in my experience, the most difficult thing an organization must accomplish. Nothing is more important to the accomplishment of its mission and vision. We have been blessed by wonderful people from the very beginning coming aboard to help us build pathways to a better life for orphans around the world. Today, we have a marvelous team of full time professions, part time team members and volunteers who are working together, helping child after child. It’s a very good team and it is gaining momentum. It will be an exciting place to work over the next five to ten years!
Building a brand of trust is another struggle every enduring organization must achieve.
We partner with what we call “5C” (Core Values, Character, Competence, Communication & Community) families, service providers, donors and partners. For instance, we seek out families who will be great parents and are trustworthy to pay back the interest free loans so the next child may be adopted. We work with the best auditor in our market for non-profits. We work very hard to build strong relationships with our donors and our orphan advocate partners. Building trusting relationships is what I mean when I say brand building and we work very hard every day to be the best we can be in this all-important area.
We believe we are called to serve the orphans of the world. Trusting God, being obedient to what we believe we are to do, and doing it wholeheartedly and with excellence is what we try to do every day.
Please tell us about Pathways for Little Feet.
Our mission is to provide sustainable care for orphans.
Pathways has become the largest long-term lender of interest free loans for adoptions in the United States.
Because of our high level of stewardship and sustainability many of the largest and most diligent foundations in our state and nation have joined our cause.
Some of our accomplishments are:
*On average, every six days, another “Andrew” crosses over that dark, foreboding mountain and is adopted into a loving family. As our loans are paid back another pathway for little feet is built and another child is adopted into a loving family.
*Pathways has provided spiritual and emotional nurture to hundreds of our Pathways Families through prayer, counsel and educational resources.
*Eight out of ten Pathways families tell us that the funding we have given them was “irreplaceable”…that their child could not have been adopted without our help.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
A favorite memory of mine is being with family at our simple cabin in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. We spent most of my childhood summers up in those magical hills. During the long, rainy, summer days we would build a fire in the family room and sit in front of it playing Monopoly, cards, and other games.
The smells of wood smoke, the sounds of multi-generational laughter and the stories told by my Father and Grandfather are still fresh in my mind. Laughter was the primary sound heard in that room during those family times. When I think back on that scene, I am reminded of how important family is to life. It is one of the reasons we founded Pathways.
Contact Info:
- Address: 9 Greenway Plaza, Suite 3150
Houston, TX 77046 - Website: http://www.pathwaysforlittlefeet.org/
- Phone: 2817207000
- Email: jcross@pathwaysforlittlefeet.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pathwaysforlittlefeet/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Pathways4LtlFt
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/7792086
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
