Business Spotlight

Well known family business blesses faith-based nonprofits by giving back

BY DENISE R. MARCOS

Turning Fear into Faith Trusting the Lord in times of uncertainty or hardship requires an immense amount of faith. Kelley Martinez, vice president of Mr. W Fireworks, and her family know firsthand the peace giving God control can have on your life.

I believe our success is a direct result of putting God first and integrating our faith in our work, through which we have continued to grow,”

Martinez testified. “Mr. W Fireworks may be family-run, but we know that God owns our business.”

Several years ago, the generations-old company faced an uncontrollable adversity. The months-long drought that spread across the state brought the realization that could impact the prosperity of Mr. W significantly. With the days leading up to opening day, the looming unpredictability drew Martinez to turn to deep intentional prayer. She started a prayer event that gathered employees and their families to pray for the business and the trials they saw coming ahead. The following fireworks season, when they were expecting the worst, they had their best season ever. Despite their success since that time, Martinez continued to host the event.

“If you only pray when you are in trouble, then you are in trouble. I have seen how powerful prayer is. How we should trust and include God, not just in our daily lives, but in our work as well,” Martinez said. “We open our event with, “Where two or more come together; He is there with us.” The feeling we get when we pray is amazing. The Holy Spirit is so present.”

SHARING GOD’S GIFTS The Reason Exclusive, potential, FUN! With nothing more in mind than simply building a business from something that people could enjoy.

The Start In 1963, off US Hwy 90 located just outside of San Antonio, two good friends got together and opened their first fireworks stand. The humble wood construct was an entity representative of the values the two men held dear––community and celebration. More than 50 years later, the family-owned business still operates off of those principles.

In 1965, just a couple years after their kickstart operation, the two thought they would find greater success if they had more locations. They opened 18 more stands across the city and the surrounding area and divided it among the two of them. It was then that Mr. W Fireworks was created.

The Growth Presently Mr. W Fireworks, incorporated in 1972, has more than 400 stands and 150 indoor stores across three states, staffs more than 25 employees year round and has partnered with more than 200 ministries and churches throughout the years.

The Experience Kindness, compassion, humility are just a few words that describe the experience you get when you visit a Mr. W stand or store. But it's their everyone-is-family mentality that keeps customers coming back year after year, celebration after celebration. The Mr. W family is mindful of providing the best quality products for the best price and pass these savings on to their customers.

“We try to stay consistent and give the customer a great experience. We are a familyrun business and make the stores a familyfriendly atmosphere,” Martinez said.

The Difference The company saw such great success that they felt called to share those blessings with others. Since opening their first indoor superstores in 2003, Mr. W Fireworks has partnered with churches and ministries as an avenue for the entities to fundraise.

“We have always used and promoted nonprofits but the real success and partnership came when we were able to sell out of indoor stores,” Martinez noted. “It helped the churches and other nonprofits to have an indoor, air-conditioned store and they had the help to staff them.”

That year, with big plans to open four new indoor stores, Mr. W faced big hurdles and their dreams to open did not look bright. But, the family’s faith and trust in the Lord prevailed. They prayed fervently for an answer—a miracle.

“God answered our prayers in a mighty way and we were able to open three out of the four new stores,” Martinez said. “We then dedicated the stores back to God and partnered with Christian entities to help them raise money for their work.”

In addition to being an outlet for the nonprofits to fundraise, Mr. W gives back a percentage of all sales as a thank you for the ministries’ service to the community.

When someone shops at Mr. W, you are supporting the local nonprofits’ efforts to serve and minister to our neighbors.

“Most of our stores are run by nonprofits and they are very appreciative of the money they make,” Martinez said.

DID YOU KNOW?

Mr. W Fireworks supports our community faith-based nonprofits, churches and ministries through fundraising opportunities?

Faith-based nonprofits, churches and ministries can partner with Mr. W for a 13-day period in which they can raise anywhere between $10,000 and $40,000.

Your purchase can directly impact the lives of the hundreds of people these nonprofits, ministries and church communities serve.

Mr. W works directly with local organizations. The money you spend at Mr. W goes back to the community you live in.

It’s still family-owned and operated.

Mr. W is run by three generations. Their Christian values and community-mindedness is just as important today as it was 50 years ago.

You can raise money for your Christian organization.

If you are a faith-based organization, you can get your nonprofit, ministry or church involved. Or if you want to learn more about how you can support these groups, visit www.mrwfireworks.com or call 210-622-3112.

We encourage you to purchase your fireworks at Mr. W Fireworks. When you do, you are helping to transform lives in our community!

Jason Brooks Executive Director & Lead Pastor Agora Ministries “We serve the families with the highest needs in our city. Each of our missionaries are responsible for raising their own funds, but as executive director and lead pastor my job is to raise money for each of our individual ministries’ needs. The opportunity to partner with Mr. W Fireworks to help those efforts has been a major blessing for our ministry overall.

This season we are raising money to purchase an additional used van so we could transport the middle and high school students in our youth groups to our ministry and tutoring programs. In less than two weeks we are able to raise between 50%-75% of our goal to address that need.

Another great thing about this opportunity is that we have some of the students in our ministry programs volunteer at the stand with us. This allows them to earn credit hours that they can use toward events we host like camp, to gain some work experience and they get to spend time with us.

What makes this season so special is that we, and so many other nonprofits, are given the chance to do this. We are so grateful that the Mr. W Family has allowed this opportunity.”

James Evans Lead Pastor, Alamo Ranch Community Church “It has been a pleasure to work with Mr. W Fireworks. The money that we have raised by operating our stand has made a huge impact on our International Missions in Africa. We’re grateful for their willingness to partner with Churches like ours.”

Angela Napier Board Member Freedom Hill Church God opened many doors in our journey to Freedom Hill Church. And the Wildman family and Mr. W Fireworks partnership have played a huge role in our ability to be full-time and not bi-vocational.

Freedom Hill is a brand new church plant in the San Antonio area. It was incorporated on 11/12/18 and began in our home and is now located at a property God gave us at 3950 Eisenhauer Rd.

We met Kelly Wildman-Martinez at one of our sponsor churches, McCauley Baptist Church in July 2019. She introduced us to their business and we began our partnership New Year’s season 2020.

The funds raised through our Mr. W Super Store go toward supplementing payroll for our lead pastor while the plant is growing.

We are thankful for their trust and the opportunity to be a part of the Mr. W family!

Michael Fernandez Director, School of Ministry Impact Now The partnership and collaboration between Mr. W and our ministry (Impact Now) has made it possible to take the Gospel around the world. The funds raised has helped our Bible school students participate in mission trips to various needed areas around the world like: South Africa, Costa Rica, Haiti, Belize as well as local community efforts.

People who buy our fireworks through Mr. W Fireworks are, positively and perhaps unknowingly, aiding our ministry to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. We are thankful to Mr. W Fireworks for their support and belief in young people by allowing us to sell fireworks to fund our ministry.

Gilbert Hernandez CEO, San Antonio Youth for Christ The efforts of partnership with Mr. W Fireworks goes beyond a business opportunity for San Antonio Youth for Christ. Mr. W Fireworks and their leadership have committed to pray for the organization, provided camping opportunities at Mr. W’s Camp Sequoia, and given generous support.

Since 2005, we have partnered with Mr. W Fireworks, since then our partnership has resulted in more than $250k in support to the mission of Youth for Christ. Without Mr. W Fireworks, SAYFC could not reach the thousands of kids we reach every year with the life-changing message of the Gospel.