A note of thanks to home builders, developers, architects, manufacturers, planners, and tradesmen and women who make homes the American Dream.

Two words, the minute I heard them spoken, changed the year for me in 2016, and they’ve probably altered what remains of my career. They were part of a presentation at The Vine Conference–hosted by Greg Fuson in San Francisco in June, as part of PCBC offerings–by Bert and John Jacobs, founders of The Life is Good Company.

The two words are “get to,” as in “I get to go to work today and try to solve some problems I have no idea how to solve, with resources I don’t have, managing people whose morale needs a lift, in an industry whose future is cloudy at a time full of uncertainty.”

“Get to” as opposed to “have to” is the year-changing idea that came out of The Vine, a conference event that celebrates what home builders and developers do beyond the structures they fabricate on a plot of ground. These men and women in home building and development make communities. They build companies with a purpose that extends beyond blueprints, and floor plans, and take-offs. They get to do this work in times of astonishing prosperity and they get to do it when times could hardly be worse. Good times or bad, they find, like the Jacobs brothers, that it’s their attitude that matters. Inc. Magazine editor-at-large Leigh Buchanan profiled the Jacobs brothers and the $100 million business they built around a red-faced dude in a beret, with shades and a zillion-dollar grin, writing about the difference between “get to” and “have to::

That distinction is most clear in their chapter on gratitude, where they urge readers to think about their chores and responsibilities not as things they “have to do” but as things they “get to do” — because they have free minds and working bodies and live in a society where most basic needs are covered. Maximize what you have, preach most business books. Appreciate what you have, counter the Jacobs.

Now, BUILDER, by name, is about those who build homes and neighborhoods and how they can get better at doing it. The team at Hanley Wood and Metrostudy gets to come to work each day with an unrelenting surge of energy and curiosity that knows no bounds, aiming to help you do just that, get better at building homes and communities and earn a good living doing it.

In the process, we get to know some of you, and our lives improve because of that.

I was honored to know Ralph Farrell, who passed in February, and Isaac Heimbinder, who died in March of this year. To those who worked next to, across the desk from, on the job sites and in the conference rooms with these gentlemen, the losses still sting and the grief runs deep.

But we also get to see how people like Isaac and Ralph and their work and beliefs keep on giving to those they’ve left to continue the work. In the Atlantaarea, the North Gwinnett Church, a focal point of Ralph Farrell’s faith and commitment to people apart from his professional life, is moving ahead with plans for a new Community Family Life Center, with help and contributions from individuals and companies in the home building ecosystem, through a fundraising campaign you can link to, called Greater Things.

Too, we’ve been so profoundly touched by the work of Toll Brothers division president Christopher Gaffney, our 2016 Hearthstone BUILDER Humanitarian Award recipient, who gets to devote countless non-day-job hours to help teenagers at risk of homelessness. We had an update from Chris this week, who shared ways many of you have joined him in this crusade [I’ve edited his note slightly]:

We have opened up an Outreach Center in York, Pa. (Our first ever there) This will enable us to provide service to many more kids in the central part of the state. A local Shoprite renovated our cafeteria in the crisis center in Philadelphia and re-outfitted our kitchen with all new equipment. Again, making our shelter better and allowing us to service our kids by making the facilities feel more homey and less like a “shelter”. We will be expanding to our 4th floor, which will in turn provide an additional 25 beds for the kids.

Also, when I was speaking with the team from CertainTeed after the event, I had mentioned that Covenant House is looking to expand into Chicago. They have already provided me with some great intelligence and I was lucky enough to put them in touch with our liaison from Covenant House International who is heading that up.

Finally, … Ron Sozio, Client Manager for the Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Builder group in NJ and PA sprang into action. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage has a charitable contribution campaign. He obtained approval for Covenant House New Jersey and Covenant House Pennsylvania to be added to that campaign, which touches all their employees. All these folks can now donate through their weekly paychecks and/or their hard earned bonuses directly to Covenant House New Jersey and Covenant House Pennsylvania.

All of the above is on top of the numerous contributions that were made in my honor to Covenant House. Several of which I received at the networking event after the award ceremony. People whom I’ve never met in my life were actually walking up to me handing me checks for Covenant House.

Finally, we just finished the Executive Sleep Out which was held November 17th in 18 cities. In Philly alone, we saw additional people sign up, because of the coverage from the original BUILDER article as well as the follow-up one which ran on October 28, 2016. Some stats: Philly had 100 sleepers up from 60 last year and we raised $350,000. Nationally we raised over $6,200,000 and had 1200 sleep out.

At BUILDER, we get to know people like Christopher Gaffney, and Ralph Farrell, and Isaac Heimbinder, and our lives are improved from knowing them, witnessing their work–on the job and in their lives apart from their jobs–and telling the stories. This is the heart of an industry community whose purpose is to make homes that make the world a better place to live in.

If you know someone like that … whose gifts to others are great and keep on giving will you let us know by checking out this link? We have another Hearthstone BUILDER Humanitarian Award process under way, and we’re looking for your nominations.

Meanwhile, I now get to wish you and your families and friends a Happy Thanksgiving, and, on behalf of all of the team at Hanley Wood and Metrostudy, say “thank you” for being the community we get to serve in our day jobs.