Summary
Organization name
Belay Enterprises
other names
Bud's Warehouse
1995
Tax id (EIN)
84-1324465
Category
Employment
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
13280 E. Mississippi AveAurora, CO 80012
Arapahoe County, CO, US
A job is the single best way to fight poverty. Over the past 23 years, Belay has incubated six projects in Colorado that have hired and trained hundreds of individuals. Join us as we create opportunities for people with barriers to employability to work and become self-sufficient.
Bud's Warehouse employs single moms like Rachel who came to the program shortly after making a commitment to live drug free. "I was absolutely jobless and living completely off of government assistance, but I didn't want that anymore." Rachel remembers. "I was tired of the ex-offender, former drug addict pity party and wanted to make a big change." Within weeks of coming to work at Bud's Warehouse, Rachel was quickly able to realize her biggest goal. Her young daughter moved back in with her. And today, Rachel has graduated the program into another job in the community. "When I joined Bud's, I had no self-worth, but I gained confidence working alongside others in Bud's positive environment," Rachel says with a smile.
R.J arrived at the front of Bud's Warehouse in 2016 looking for a job. He had been homeless and unable to find employment because of a drug addiction. After six months of his program at Bud's, he graduated to a better job in the community. "And best of all," he says, "I have regained custody of my five year old son because I have a place to live and a job through my time at Bud's Warehouse."
Belay Enterprises' develops businesses to employ and job-train individuals rebuilding lives from addiction, homelessness, prison, and/or poverty, to strengthen families and neighborhoods.
Belay Enterprises was launched in 1995 by a group of Denver-area homebuilders, pastors, and community leaders. Their initial vision of using recycled building materials to open a combination home-improvement thrift store and job-training/employment program for the disadvantaged resulted in the opening of Bud's Warehouse. Bud's stands for Building Unity and Dignity through Service, an acronym which reflects our vision for rebuilding lives through employment, career and life-skill development programs.
During the past 23 years, Bud's Warehouse has been a favorite destination for bargain hunters, receiving excellent press coverage for both our products and our mission. Through this steady community support, Belay Enterprises has been able to launch or "incubate" several additional Faith Venture projects, including some designed for "incubation" under Belay which have since matured into independent agencies, including Baby Bud's, launched in 2002 as a baby products thrift store and job program for young single mothers (operating independently as Second Chances since 2009); Freedom Cleaning Services, a commercial building-services company launched in 2003 (now operating as a program of Second Chances); and Good Neighbor Garage, which opened in 2003 to repair/rehabilitate donated vehicles for placement with low-income families, and became independent in 2006.
As Belay's flagship program, Bud's Warehouse continues to serve as a catalyst for development of new Faith Venture concepts under the Belay Enterprises' umbrella. New Beginnings Custom Woodworks, launched in July of 2011, grew from a $1,000,000 gift-in-kind donation of cabinet doors and parts that Bud's Warehouse received a few years ago. Over the last four years, New Beginnings has provided employment and carpentry training for people rebuilding lives. Bud's Warehouse has also enabled the opening of Belay's newest project, Purple Door Coffeehouse, to employ and job-train homeless youth. This high-end coffee shop and roastery opened in May of 2013 in the revitalizing Five Points neighborhood to raves and tremendous support from the community. Purple Door has become so successful both as a business and as a job training program for young adults transitioning from homelessness that we transitioned this project into its own nonprofit organization in 2016, joining our list of successfully incubated faith venture enterprises.
Additionally, Belay saw the need for a more intentional effort to assist for-profit business start-ups that employ individuals rebuilding lives. In 2017, we launched our long desired Ascent Venture Partner's Program that recruits experienced business leaders from the community to mentor and provide financial support to promising new ventures
Organization name
Belay Enterprises
other names
Bud's Warehouse
1995
Tax id (EIN)
84-1324465
Category
Employment
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
13280 E. Mississippi AveArapahoe County, CO, US