Beyond The Jobsite
Some of the most important work happens beyond the jobsite. Strong communities are built when people and businesses ask how they can help, then show up and do their part.
Before there was a stage, a crowd, or a corporate barbecue competition, there was a friend who needed help.
In 2008, Chris Whitney’s longtime friend Will Wellman was diagnosed with Minimal Change Disease MCD) which later progressed into an aggressive form of a rare kidney disease called Focal-Segmental-Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS).
Chris and three friends wanted to do something.
They started with a simple question:
How can we help?
In the years following their friend’s diagnosis, the group organized two benefit walks for NephCure in 2009 and 2010. Together, those walks raised $30,000 and showed what could happen when a community rallied around one family and one cause.
It was a start. The group believed they could bring even more people into the effort.
Their next idea combined grilling, friendly competition, and a serious mission. That idea became the Tampa Pig Jig.
Since 2011, the HopeWill Foundation has proudly hosted the Tampa Pig Jig, donating millions to NephCure, the only nonprofit organization dedicated to finding treatments and a cure for rare, protein-spilling kidney diseases like FSGS and Nephrotic Syndrome. To date, millions of dollars in donations from the Tampa Pig Jig have helped launch over 60 clinical trials and made Tampa home to NephCure’s largest annual donor presence nationwide.
From friends to co-founders and board members of the HopeWill Foundation—the HopeWill Foundation hosts Tampa Pig Jig every year, with this year being its 15th anniversary. Photo: Tampa Pig Jig.
Each Fall, the Tampa Pig Jig brings live music, food and drinks, and a corporate barbecue competition to downtown Tampa’s waterfront. “From a Backyard Barbecue to a beacon of hope”, Pig Jig raises funds for NephCure, the only nonprofit organization committed to supporting research, improving treatment, and finding a cure for the debilitating kidney disease, Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and Nephrotic Syndrome. Photo: That’s So Tampa.
The Power of Showing Up
Giving back is often measured in dollars. And those dollars matter. They support research, treatment, patient resources, and the search for better outcomes.
But giving back is also about being present.
It is giving time. Sharing experiences. Making an introduction. Volunteering. Bringing a team. Using the resources available to help someone else move forward.
A donation can support the work. And showing up builds momentum around it.
That is how a small effort grows. More people learn about the cause. More companies get involved. More volunteers lend a hand. More families realize they are not facing the fight alone.
The better question isn’t only: “What can we give?”
It’s also: “How can we help?”
Better Together
No single person, sponsor, or company made the Tampa Pig Jig what it is today.
It has grown because thousands of people have chosen to be part of it.
Every year, volunteers, competitors, sponsors, guests, patients, families, and advocates come together around the same cause. Many of the companies showing up are customers, partners, and friends from across the construction industry.
That is what “Better Together” looks like.
Individual effort becomes collective impact. Support becomes momentum. A community of people working toward the same goal creates something far greater than any one of them could create alone.
Significant In Our Communities
Giving Back is one of Milestone’s foundational elements.
For us, that means being significant in the communities where we live and work, not just successful in them.
As the Tampa Pig Jig enters its next chapter, its beginning remains the most important part of the story: a friend needed help, and a group of people decided to do something.
Strong communities are built the same way.
One question. One effort. Many willing to show up.
That’s how we move communities forward.
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At Milestone Supply, we simplify the fragmented aggregate distribution supply chain by serving as a single point of contact for sourcing, selling, and moving aggregates.
