North by Northwest's charitable act for the Ronald McDonald House Charities

Powered by a personal connection to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Texas, North by Northwest and its owner, Jordan Martin, completely revitalized the grounds to give families a peaceful space they could enjoy during some of the hardest times in their lives.

Martin’s youngest son is 11 now, but he’s had several health issues that sent him into the Ronald McDonald House, and he’s had several friends with children who stayed there. When they went over to inquire about offering charity landscaping work, Martin says the director of the program had tears in her eyes.

“There was more of a personal touch to it, if you will, as to why we chose that,” he says. “When we visited with them, they were really excited. They said ‘Nobody has done this for us.’”

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North by Northwest put in synthetic turf and installed benches and chairs. They also saw opportunities in the fourth-floor courtyard, where they replaced plants and built a new water feature.

“We tried to make it a tranquil area for people to go up and process what’s going on with their lives,” Martin says.

It helped that ServiceTitan sponsored the charitable project and contributed $25,000, though ultimately, the job cost $90,000. Martin says North by Northwest donated their labor and had some help from providers like Leaf Landscape, Ewing and local tool rental facilities. “I collaborated with a lot of our suppliers, and they all were eager to jump on,” Martin says.

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Perhaps most impressively, Martin says the project should’ve taken three weeks – the team did it all in four days. There were anywhere between three to five crews working on it at any given time.

“We were trying to do more of an Extreme Makeover, landscape style,” Martin says, referencing the popular HGTV show. He adds that when he walked the property with the Ronald McDonald board, they all expressed profound gratitude for the help.

“They were very thankful,” Martin says. (The president) told me, ‘You are doing these families a great justice.’”