Hillyard Built establishes strong foundation: Madsen reinvests proceeds to help youth in community

Crystal (Perry) Madsen is proud of her Hillyard roots, so much so that when she couldn’t find a shirt that said “Hillyard” on it, she decided to make one herself.

When Madsen launched Hillyard Built in addition to her successful business as a photographer, she knew she wanted to take all the proceeds and reinvest them in the youth of the community by providing funding for things like summer camp, sports equipment, music lessons and musical instruments . She’s now only a few steps away from becoming a nonprofit organization.

“I was always looking for a way to give back to the community,” she said.

Hillyard Built was launched last September and immediately sparked interest, Madsen said. “It was just ignited and exploded from there,” she said. “I knew it was going to take off, I just didn’t expect it to be this fast.”

The website at www.hillyardbuilt.com sells T-shirts, sweatshirts, tank tops, hats, key chains, buttons and stickers with the Hillyard Built logo on them. There’s also a spot on the website where people can submit applications asking for funding.

Madsen said that she’ll fund any request that teaches a skill, instills confidence and provides a sense of belonging. It’s open ended, but people are asked to submit their applications before the money is due (such as for a camp) so there is time to raise the needed money.

The scholarships are limited to Hillyard residents, though Madsen also has a generous definition of that. The application form asks for a home address.

“If that address feeds into Rogers (High School), we consider it Hillyard,” she said.

Madsen graduated from Rogers in 1999. The decision to name her business Hillard Built was simple.

“I’m from Hillyard,” she said. “Hillyard built me.”

She wants to help instill pride in the neighborhood, which has several areas of high poverty. She wants to make it clear that youth can grow up to be successful, like she did. There is sometimes the view that nothing good comes from Hillyard, Madsen said, and she wants to refute that.

“We want to show them, you can be successful,” she said. “You don’t have to continue living that life of poverty. You can climb that ladder.”

The first application she funded was for an elementary student who wanted private music lessons. A recent request was for size 13 soccer cleats for a student at Rogers. Madsen said the student could only play half of each game because he didn’t have shoes of his own and shared a pair of shoes with another player. Madsen delivered the new cleats herself.

“His teammates were jumping up and down and so excited,” she said.

Since she began funding requests in March, more than $2,000 has been spent. Most of the money Madsen gives away comes from merchandise sales, though people have offered to make donations.

“Because I’m not a nonprofit yet, I’ve been trying to shy away from that,” she said of cash donations. “I’m still a private business.”

Madsen is forming a board of directors and is finalizing her application for nonprofit status. Once that is granted, she said she’ll take donations and start fundraisers to fund even more requests.

“My ultimate goal with this is to have a storefront in Hillyard,” she said. “I really think there’s so much opportunity in having a space.”

A store would give her an opportunity to hire Hillyard youth so they can get experience and make money, Madsen said. In the short term, she has lined up volunteers who will run a booth at the Hillyard Farmers Market this season to sell merchandise. Madsen said she’s unable to do it herself because of her work as a photographer.

Madsen is making it a point to use businesses in Hillyard for her merchandise. All the screen printing is done by Greenburo Screen Printing and Embroidery, a business on Market Street in Hillyard. The merchandise was designed by Rogers students or graduates. She’s using Rogers students to design a flyer to be distributed so that more people will know about the program and the opportunities for youth.

Though it’s difficult to juggle Hillyard Built with her full-time job, Madsen has no regrets.

“It’s so worth it,” she said. “It’s so much fun.”