SEQUIM — Darrin and Alicia Liggins are all about helping people stand on their own two feet.
They have mentored young people and helped lead homeless individuals to a more stable life, sometimes providing them with jobs at their own Sequim-based company, Liggins Landscaping & Maintenance.
One of their current employees, whom Darrin first met when he was homeless, now plays golf on Sundays with one of the company’s clients, the couple said.
Through their new nonprofit, Having Understanding Means Acting Now (H.U.M.A.N.), Darrin and Alicia are making sure kids from economically challenged families start the school year on the right foot. In their view, having the right shoes is key to achieving that goal.
What are the “right” shoes? The kind kids want to wear and would buy if their families had the money. The kind that helps them fit in.
When kids feel they fit in, they feel more confident, the Ligginses believe.
If they feel more confident, they have a better chance of succeeding in school. And if they succeed in school, they are more likely to succeed in life.
That is the concept behind H.U.M.A.N.’s Shoes for Souls campaign.
“It brings you confidence when you’re starting school and your mom or your auntie, your grandma gets you a nice shoe,” Alicia said.
“You might not have a great shirt or new pants, but if you’ve got a new pair of shoes to start school, you feel amazing.”
Thanks to donors, some of whom are the couple’s clients, enough money was raised for Shoes for Souls to provide 25 $100 gift cards to students referred by local organizations such as the Sequim School District, the Sequim YMCA and the Sequim Boys & Girls Club.
On Aug. 2, those children and their families had an opportunity to shop for shoes at Ross Dress For Less, a chain store that offers top brands at discounted prices, before the store opened to the public, thanks to the cooperation of the store’s manager and district manager.
The youngsters were able to use any remaining amounts on their gift cards to purchase socks or other items other than toys or candy.
Darrin and Alicia, along with H.U.M.A.N. board members and landscaping employees, were on hand to provide any needed assistance.
The couple noted that, while students often have access to donated clothing, it’s not always what they would choose. Alicia said that, through Shoes for Souls, H.U.M.A.N. gives school children a “VIP experience.”
“I think there’s many children here (who) have not had the opportunity to go in a store and get whatever pair of shoes (they) want,” she said. “You know, your mom might not have $65 to get those Nikes, so you’ve got to get what’s $20.”
Helping others and infusing kindness into the community is something that Darrin and Alicia strive to do every day, whether it is at their landscaping company or through other interactions. Daily acts of kindness and service include things as small as giving a friendly wave to a passing driver or something that takes a bit of sacrifice, such as paying monthly cell phone bills for a newly employed person emerging from homelessness.
The couple’s community involvement includes supporting local businesses. Darrin is on the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce board and chairs the membership committee. In January, Liggins Landscaping & Maintenance was among five minority-owned businesses chosen to receive a $10,000 grant through the state Department of Commerce’s Community Reinvestment Fund.
Partners for good
H.U.M.A.N. is the fulfillment of a longtime dream for Darrin and springs from challenges he faced in his own life. In Alicia, he has found not only a life partner but an enthusiastic ally in his quest to make a difference.
An artist, Alicia was excited to help design the booth that H.U.M.A.N. will have at the Sequim Back to School Fair on Aug. 23 at the Boys & Girls Club, where there will be games and information about the organization. The booth will have a purple awning and oversized name-brand shoe boxes created from large cardboard boxes.
Both Darrin, 54, and Alicia, 50, are from Columbus, Ohio. They were sweethearts as teenagers but ultimately married others. Those marriages didn’t last, and the two reconnected years later, on Facebook, marrying in 2020.
“It wasn’t our time,” Alicia said of their years apart.
Darrin worked in the landscaping business and founded his own company in 2019. He chose Sequim for its location because of its proximity to Quilcene, where his three sons were living with their mother. Alicia joined him when they reignited their romance.
“I truly believe God put me and Alicia here for a reason,” Darrin said.
Now firmly rooted in Sequim, Darrin and Alicia have won support for what they are trying to accomplish. Among H.U.M.A.N.’s donors is a Liggins Landscaping client who donates every month, Darrin said, and there is now a board that includes five people in addition to Darrin and Alicia.
The couple is planning an event called “Sneaker Ball” and hopes to open four family-friendly digital-free spaces.
“It’s giving the disadvantaged just a leg up,” Darrin said, summing up H.U.M.A.N.’s mission. “We want to be able to do that in any form or fashion that we can.”
Those who would like to support the nonprofit can donate through its website, sequimhuman.com. Those interested in becoming a board member may email sequimhuman@gmail.com.
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Kathy Cruz is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. She can be reached by email at kathy.cruz@sequimgazette.com.
