Architects build goodwill with their tireless charity work

By Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel

In corporate America, a lot of firms that do anything charitable trumpet their good deeds to the news media, angling for publicity that may benefit their bottom line.

But at the groundbreaking ceremony for Second Harvest Food Bank's new distribution center this week, the co-founder of the architectural firm donating its design for the 100,000-square-foot project stood anonymously in the back, confessing he hoped not to be called to the podium.

"Please don't do the pat-on-the-back stuff," Tim Baker said later. "We really don't do it for the publicity."

Clearly.

As co-founders of the Orlando architectural firm Baker Barrios, Tim Baker and Carlos Barrios have been almost silent partners with the nonprofit community since they went into business in 1993. Yet only in the past year did they even bother to tally their charitable contributions for anyone outside their auditors, and then they did so reluctantly.

At the moment, they're working pro bono on two major community projects: the food bank's new $15 million headquarters and a new 250-bed men's facility at Orlando's Coalition for the Homeless. Together, the projects represent about $400,000 worth of work.

And that doesn't include the work Baker Barrios does pro bono for local churches or the donations the company makes from the firm's coffers or the private bank accounts of its founders.

"What they were willing to put forward in terms of in-kind work was just unbelievable," said Dave Krepcho, president and CEO of Second Harvest, the region's largest food bank. "We sent out four, maybe five, requests for proposals. Nobody else came close."

Brent Trotter, the coalition's president and CEO, calls the architects' contribution a "huge, huge gift."

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Architects build goodwill with their tireless charity work