J. McDonald Brubaker, the new head of the Utah Realtors Association, was mighty disappointed two years ago. His family had rejected his offer of luxurious Christmas vacation on a sunny resort beach in Mexico.
His wife, Teena, urged "Mac" to do whatever he wanted since she and their eight children simply weren't interested.In that case, Brubaker said, what he wanted to do was work on a service project with Choice Humanitarian, which builds schools and does other charitable work in Mexico and Peru. He announced he was going to labor away at his own expense, living in crude conditions, to help impoverished people in Guanajuato, in central Mexico. He was going to build water collection systems.
To his surprise, his wife and children eagerly insisted on coming along.
"Obviously, I had misread my family," Brubaker said. "I've heard before that we human beings have a greater need for service than recreation, and it certainly played out in my family life."
Six children, plus some of their spouses, went to Mexico that year. They slept on the ground and endured many inconveniences while thoroughly enjoying the chance to help others. "They told me it was the best 'vacation' they'd ever had," Brubaker said.
This past Christmas, seven Brubaker children went with their parents and other volunteers to a remote area in Peru to build latrines for schoolhouses (the eighth Brubaker was on an LDS Church mission).
The volunteers toiled on the island of Tequile in Lake Titicaca on the southern border of Peru, 12,500 feet above sea level in the chilly Andes Mountains. Choice Humanitarian's philosophy is to listen to the local people when providing help -- and local leaders here said the community needed outhouses. The volunteers and villagers hauled 13 tons of rock to build eight latrines near schools so children could have indoor toilets for the first time.
"The Peru situation was particularly humbling in that the Tequilenos had nothing, yet they held their heritage with value. They wore their costumes
daily, including hand-woven caps," Brubaker said. "I think it's a very positive experience for all of us to learn how benefited we are by our standard of living, our qualify of housing, quality of sanitation, quality of schools. As a father, it is very gratifying to see my children recognize that and they come home appreciating what they have."
The soft-spoken Brubaker is the owner and president of Tate-Brubaker Corp. and specializes in commercial real estate. But he blends that with a roster of other volunteer activities.
Heading the Utah Realtors Association is yet another volunteer effort, but Brubaker said he doesn't mind. "It's a delightful opportunity to lead so many great Realtors throughout the state."
The association has two major objectives: helping its members do their work well and the broader policy of standing for the right of people to own, use and transfer real property.
"I'm very pleased that this generates a number of local service projects, including Paint Your Heart Out, which is where Realtor members paint homes inside and out for people who are disadvantaged from a physical standpoint, either from age or disability," Brubaker said.
He proudly notes that Utah has about a 67 percent homeownership rate, which is the ninth in the nation, and that the association is working to increase the percentage. "We have a housing opportunity fund where the interest earned on our trust accounts can assist local agencies in providing affordable housing."
The association sometimes finds itself in a dilemma, Brubaker said, because it supports keeping decision-making at a local level but also wants to persuade local leaders to include all housing types and price levels in their communities.
These days, Brubaker is active in the legislative arena, making the association's positions known. It favors an "impact fee bill" that would give developers a year, rather than the current 30 days, to challenge the validity of impact fees imposed on them.
The association also supports more funding for the Walker Housing Fund for affordable housing and opposes a plan for independent contractors to have to file state income taxes quarterly rather than annually. "That just quadruples the bookkeeping for small businesses," he said.
This also is the year the association launched its Leadership Utah Association of Realtors program that focuses on developing leadership skills and industry background. Thirteen people have been chosen out of 34 applicants this year to take part in the first class.
"I look forward to five years from now when we have 65 graduates of that program, people who are better prepared than I am to lead the organization," Brubaker said.