Dustin Jorgenson: Humanitarian Work

Dustin Jorgenson knows what great fortune he has to live and work in the United States. He is the owner of Jorgenson Companies, a family-owned firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Jorgenson Companies has multiple divisions engaged in businesses as diverse as machine tools and warehouses.

Dustin Jorgenson is a member of the Latter Day Saints. He served in an LDS mission in Ecuador from 1990 to 1992, and became enchanted with that South American nation. In December 2011 he returned to Ecuador with his girlfriend and daughter on a humanitarian expedition. “We did a couple of projects,” Dustin Jorgenson recalls, “but primarily built a cinderblock home for a three-time widowed lady with eight kids, who was living in a eight foot by eight foot, one room box home with dirt floors.”

The expedition was to Otavalo Canton, in the Imbabura province of Ecuador. Otavalo is considered to be one of the more prosperous communities and is home to a world famous marketplace. But far too many people there, especially in outlying areas, live in poverty and are victims of racial discrimination. Dustin Jorgenson focused on these during his latest trip, contributing to a number of projects in the villages surrounding the main community. Dustin Jorgenson was surprised by the difference in living conditions for those in the town and those in the surrounding villages.

After he got back home to Salt Lake City, Dustin Jorgenson said, “I was so humbled to be on this trip. We have so much here in the United States, and we take it for granted. Other people in the world get by with so much less. I was privileged that they opened their homes to me and that I was able to give back in some way. I enjoyed building houses for them and learning more about how they live.”