When there is anything of importance happening in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, you can bet that Dick and Betsy DeVos are going to have a hand in it. They have been influential power brokers in that area of the country for so very long. You can trace back some of their influence as far as 1991.
During that year, the city had proposed a multi-sports complex to be built right in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids. This did not go over well with the DeVos family. They instead wanted to avoid letting their little city go down that route, as they had seen what had happened to some other Michigan cities when similar plans were proposed. Namely, those cities suffered as a result.
The couple fought the plan, and instead proposed a number of other cultural buildings that might attract tourists and also be of use to the local population. Guess which plan won out in Grand Rapids at the end of the day? That’s right, the DeVos plan.
They are both heirs to family fortunes, and they have used that money to help build out their political and economic influence. They have often worked on projects to try to help shape the face of them in ways that they believe will be more beneficial to a particular area.
The two are also well-known as mega-donors to the Republican Party. They have found a home for their viewpoints on labor and education within that party, and that has pushed them to donate more and more to the party that they believe more accurately represents them and their views. That did not go unnoticed when President Donald Trump was on the search for a Secretary of Education. He looked out and found Betsy DeVos waiting in the wings. She is know the nation’s Secretary of Education.
While the two are best known for their political activism, lets not brush over the fact that they have been generous with their wealth in a lot of ways as well. They have at times given away portions of that money to worthy causes. It has not been just some small amounts either, but rather significant chunks to the kind of charities they believe in. You can see their footprint in the literally hundreds of millions of dollars that they have at times given away.
There are children’s hospitals that have gone up as a result of their giving, and of course plenty of their resources have gone towards things like childhood educational causes. These are just the kind of things that you can expect them to be involved with.
The lessons that the couple has learned from both the political and business worlds have not fallen on deaf ears. Rather, they take every opportunity to apply what they know to challenge the status quo and try to make things better for us all. In doing so, they have made the lives of countless people better without expecting anything in return for doing so. Learn more: http://www.dbdvfoundation.org/about