Local Builder To Start Non-Profit to Employ Homeless

True Value Builders President Jim Foguth Announces
Significant Donation to Mel Trotter Ministries

At the Mel Trotter Ministries second annual Seasons of Hope event, on Wednesday, October 12, Jim Foguth, president of True Value Builders announced that his company will donate 5% of the total sales price of all of True Value Builders window, siding, and roofing projects to Mel Trotter Ministries, with the goal of donating $200,000 by the end of 2017.

Foguth further announced that True Value Builders would be opening a non-profit window manufacturing plant in 2017, with the sole intent to provide work for the homeless, mentally ill, and physically handicapped.  

Jim Foguth knows what it’s like to be down and out. Truly. In 1989, through a series of misfortunes, bad judgment, and bad advice, Foguth lost about $400,000 virtually overnight. He lost his car, his home, and all his possessions. With literally just the clothes on his back and $42 in cash in his pocket, Foguth slept on the beach in Virginia Beach, Virginia for a month, wondering what went wrong.  

Foguth decided to stop dwelling on the past and began to forge a new life for himself. Needing a car, he watched the streets looking for “company cars” provided to employees. One such company was ADT, but they could not see him for a week. The next car was Honeywell. By the grace of God, the call went to a branch manager, Tony, who had read of Foguth’s sales accomplishments in a business magazine. Foguth recalls, “I had dirty, wrinkled clothes, looked horrible and stank to high heaven, but I managed to shave in a McDonald’s restroom.” Tony wanted to hire Foguth but needed the approval of his supervisor. So Foguth was put on a plane, flew from Virginia to Ohio, met with the supervisor at the airport over lunch, then flew back to Virginia Beach, where a new job at Honeywell and a company car awaited him. “I slept in that car for the next three weeks until I received my first paycheck,” says Foguth.

Although he had a job in sales, he had no territory, no prospects, and was saddled with selling a small security system that languished on the shelves, as it was only viable for very small businesses. Foguth made calls, sun-up to sun-down, and in his first month sold 39 systems and was the top salesman in his district.

Fortune smiled on Foguth the next month when he happened to run into a partner in a chain of southern gas stations called Smile, which incidentally popularized the convenience-store-in-a-gas-station concept. “The guy’s name was Truckie, as he was a former truck driver. He told me that besides shop-lifting and robbery, employee theft was their biggest problem, accounting for approximately eight percent in lost revenue each month. I mentioned this to Tony, and he told me about a new security system Honeywell developed. It was a closed circuit camera pointed at the cash register. Every time the register opened, the camera turned on and recorded the transaction or the theft.”

Excited by the prospect, the next day Foguth flew to Washington D.C. to meet with the Smile company CEO. Over lunch, Foguth explained that the Smile chain would save over $8 million in employee theft if CCTV systems were installed in all 68 stores. Better yet, Smile didn’t have to purchase the equipment—they could lease it. The deal was inked, and Foguth flew home to tell Tony. But there were just two problems: Honeywell had never marketed a CCTV system to the public, and they were unfamiliar with the concept of leasing equipment. “Although CCTV and equipment leasing are familiar concepts today, back in 1989, the idea was brand new. The sale proved to be the largest single sale Honeywell’s security system division had sold to date from their public business division.  The commission was over $65,000—a lot of money back then.”  Foguth left Honeywell and moved to Florida to being selling home-improvements windows for Sears.  

Foguth still remembered what it was like to be homeless and was eager to pay it forward. To this day, whenever he sees someone with a cardboard sign, he offers them a job on the spot. Many turn him down, but one day, a couple accepted his offer.

“While I was still in Florida, I met a homeless man and his wife, who was a prostitute, on the off ramp.  I brought them home and found out that the man had minor mental retardation. Regardless, he was sincere and honest, and also had a degree in construction roofing installation.  That week, I was selling windows to a customer who mentioned that he also needed a roof. I discussed the situation with the customer and my house guest, who ends up putting on a new roof.  He did a great job, and word of mouth began to spread.  After a few weeks he was on his feet and left my couch. I have no idea what happened to the wife; she disappeared the first night. Several years later I have moved to South Carolina and am in the construction business.  Out of the blue, I received a call from my house guest. After a few pleasantries, he asked me to look up a roofing company in Florida and to call him back with my thoughts. In those pre-Internet days it took a while, but eventually, I found that he was the owner of a multi-million-dollar roofing company. Simply giving this gentleman a chance was the most gratifying and satisfying thing I have ever done—and I wish to do it again and again.”

Foguth concludes, “It is apparent that God must be with me as all my life events are not of chance, but of divine intervention. The face of the homeless comes in many forms.  My face was one of them. We are going to teach many to fish and feed them for lives. One person who is left hungry or homeless is one too many. Our donation to Mel Trotter Ministries and the creation of our new non-profit are very personal to me, because there but for the grace of God go I.”