Nick Pasquini recently returned from a trip to El Salvador to check out the progress of New Story Homes – a nonprofit that has been a mainstay of the ongoing “Redwood Gives Back” charitable initiatives. But to Nick, this trip was extra special in that it perfectly packaged his top priorities.
“This was all of my life’s passions coming together all at once,” says the CEO and co-founder of Century 21 Redwood Realty. “As an entrepreneur, it’s great when your life and your work blend together and become one. That’s what this trip was – and it was very rewarding.”
When it comes to what matters to Nick, his family gets top billing, so it was fitting that his wife Sara and kids Sofia and Enzo traveled with him.
But several other boxes were checked, too.
“I had my family there, and I also love travel and adventure. It was tied in with my work and philanthropy. And then all that is linked with housing. A previous trip to work with New Story in Haiti and then this trip to El Salvador were rare moments in time where I was able to put everything together.”
The primary focus of Nick’s “vision trip” was to meet up with the New Story team and tour the homes that have been built as a tangible solution to a worldwide housing crisis. But Nick’s family purposely arrived in the country a little early to become acquainted with the people, the landscape, and the culture of El Salvador.
First, his family enjoyed some R & R—with an emphasis on the second “R:” recreation. They hiked to the top of a volcano in Santa Ana, trekked through a jungle, swam and jet skied in Lake Coatepeque, shopped in the street markets, and indulged in pupusas, ceviche, and more.
After a few days of adventure, they traveled to El Espino, El Salvador, where they met some of the 64 families whose lives have been transformed by safe and decent housing. These families had been displaced for 15 years, living in temporary, makeshift shacks due to a developer purchasing the land on which they had been living.
“It was great to see the joy in the faces of the vulnerable families who had previously been in unsafe housing conditions who now have safe places to live,” says Nick.
One of the families told him how much weather impacted the quality of their lives before they lived in good housing.
“When it rained, we couldn't get into our homes, and if we were inside our homes and it rained, we couldn’t get out.”
Nick explains, “These single-room 10-foot by 10-foot homes had dirt floors and were very unstable, so every time there was substantial rainfall, their homes flooded. A lot of times, they would lose all their belongings, even when they would stack them up high to keep them out of the muddy floods.”
Nick and his family visited three different New Story Homes communities where families who had been living in unsafe housing now thrive. “They showed us their homes, their gardens,” says Nick. “We even played soccer with them. It was great! The kids there swarmed my kids. We’ve found it’s universal that kids get along with other kids no matter where you go!”
“New Story Homes offers a unique business model that differs from other traditional housing charities,” says Nick.
The organization partners with local governments and invests with local developers to develop land with important municipal utilities such as roads, water, sewage, and electricity. Families enter into a savings program to pay for their land. After approximately 24 months, families receive their lot title, making them legal owners. Families can then use their land as collateral to access affordable home construction financing.
Nick continues to be grateful for the compassionate outpouring that Redwood agents and employees have shown through the Redwood Gives Back program.
