Houston Construction Duo Gives Back in a Major Way: How Building a School Playground Turned Into a Whole New Nonprofit

Success is savored in many ways — shopping, traveling, wining and dining. And for some, success is the door to giving back. Such is the case with Josh Weisman and Mark Bordman, whose good fortune with their custom design and build-out firm prompted the duo to found a generous nonprofit.

For a decade, they have been intermittently setting aside their tools of the trade for broad acts of kindness aiding underprivileged children.  Last week, they upped their altruistic game with official launch of BLDit (Building Lives & Dreams in Texas), a nonprofit with high ambitions.

Considering the success of their company, Construction Concepts, there is little doubt that their efforts in philanthropy will be any less notable.

“Each quarter, we pick a charity,” Weisman says. “We used to do toy drives and funding drives and now we focus exclusively on children’s charities. We’re really focused on these underprivileged kids that have no food from Friday to Monday.”

While building a playground for Brookline Elementary School, as one of the company’s charitable endeavors, they learned from the school principal that, for many of the children, the only food they received was at school.

“It really touched us,” Weisman says. “So now we make a real effort to reach out to schools to assist kids who don’t get a chance to eat during the weekend.”

And that was the mission of BLDit’s first official fundraiser, held last week at Bosscat. The firm underwrote drinks and appetizers for guests who contributed enough in donations to help Construction Concepts purchase 4,500 juice boxes for Kids Meals Houston.

And that is just the beginning of a branding and fundraising effort. Weisman says the company is planning another fundraiser in the fall and a whopper in December with the goal of providing 100 bicycles for kids in need.

On the BLDit bandwagon: Chris Kadlecek, DeeAnn and Marcus Thigpen, Mark Massey, Dr. Michael Ciaravino, Salta Romano, Shelby Royse, Josh Moore, Neera Patidar, Staci Henderson, LeTricia Wilbanks, Jordan Jackson, Ed Melchor, and Corliss and Ric Mims.