Growing up, the children of Richard and Helen DeVos would tell you they were very blessed.
"We would probably not lean towards the financial side that a lot of people would see first," Doug DeVos, the youngest of the four siblings, explained. "But we would just talk about our parents, and who they were, and what they meant to us."
Yes, outsiders may only see the wealth, but a culture of love, encouragement and instilling confidence is what Doug says he looks back on.
Doug says his mom and dad spent their time being encouragers, never saying you have to follow in our footsteps, but instead, showing a path to lead themselves.
"I think it was more of an opportunity than an obligation," he said. "That allowed us to be able to watch them to see what they did and follow their example."
That's what is happening in West Michigan right now, as the sun sets on the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation.
"By sunsetting their giving, they created an opportunity for others to step in, not just for me and my siblings or our family, but so many in the community," Doug shared.
The foundation was simply a vessel for their charitable donations. There's not a pot of money now sitting with nowhere to go. Rich and Helen knew all along that when they passed, ultimately the foundation would too.
"What they want to do is say we did this for our period of time while we were here," Doug added. "And now what are you going to do for your period of time? We want to encourage you to think about that, to dream about that and to take action on that for yourself to keep that tradition alive of making our community better."
It's a full circle moment for the DeVos family as the children of Rich and Helen continue their own legacy of giving, but now the path is clear for others to step in.
"I think you're spot on. I think that theme of creating opportunity for others to do things that they didn't want to...Mom and Dad always would say, 'We want partners, we want friends, we want neighbors who are going to be part of this with us.'"
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