At a reception along Chicago’s Riverwalk on Monday, the MBA Opens Doors Foundation honored two longtime champions of its mission to help families remain in their homes while caring for critically ill or injured children.

Former Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO Dave Stevens, his wife Mary Stevens, and Dan Arrigoni, former president of U.S. Bank Home Mortgage, launched the foundation in 2011.

For the past 15 years, the foundation has operated on the premise that families with children receiving critical medical care should not have to worry about losing their homes as that care proceeds.

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Tawn Kelley, CEO of Taylor Morrison Financial Services, received the David H. Stevens Spirit Award, while Jean Bradley, senior vice president of strategic business development at Essent Guaranty, received the Founders Award. Both awards celebrated their respective commitments to advancing the foundation’s work.

“I’m preaching to the choir, but the reason it’s so wonderful to have a charitable endeavor that tracks so closely with what we do every day, and what animates us — and that is home,” said MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit in his opening remarks.

The foundation has provided housing assistance to nearly 22,000 families nationwide, with grants helping cover mortgage or rental payments.

Broeksmit also emphasized a defining feature of the organization: The MBA covers 100% of the foundation’s operational and administrative expenses, ensuring that every donated dollar goes directly toward helping families in need.

That commitment was evident in the latest fundraising results. During a fundraising push coinciding with the MBA’s annual conference in Chicago this week, supporters raised more than $3.1 million in 48 hours, with contributions from 44 companies and 39 individuals.

Deb Dubois, the foundation’s president, spoke highly of Kelley’s commitment to the Open Doors Foundation through her work at Taylor Morrison, one of the nation’s largest home builders, and its political action committee, Building Strong Business.

Dubois specifically drew attention to Kelley’s response following Hurricane Milton in Florida in 2024, when she immediately offered to help any Opens Doors families affected by the storm.

Bradley, who has served on the foundation’s board since 2018, was recognized by Dubois for building a broad base of individual and corporate donors. That approach reflects Bradley’s conviction that meaningful philanthropy does not exclusively flow from large donations, said Dubois.

She recounted when Bradley, following the COVID-19 pandemic, was told by a donor that they could contribute $10, not hundreds or thousands of dollars. The exchange reinforced Bradley’s commitment to welcoming contributions of every size.

That philosophy carries particular weight given the financial pressures facing the families that the foundation serves.

Bradley noted that almost one-quarter of recipient families earn annual incomes below $40,000. In many cases, one parent must leave work to remain at the hospital with a child in critical care, adding lost income to families’ already difficult situations.

Reading grant applications, Bradley said, is emotionally challenging, underscoring the human stakes behind the foundation’s statistics. Her message to the industry was straightforward: Extend a hand to families who need help.