Edgewater Man Gains New Perspective with 'Corporate Bonus'

Bill Sohan was selected as one of his company’s top loan officers and earned himself a special corporate expedition. But instead of enjoying fancy hotels and fine dining on his hard-earned trip, the Edgewater man spent his time sleeping in tents and serving impoverished children in Secanquin, Guatemala.

Two weeks ago, Sohan, along with 49 other loan officers from Academy Mortgage Corp., went on the first-ever Academy Mortgage Service Expedition—a reward for the company’s top-performing loan officers. However, the trip was designed “to give qualifiers a more meaningful and altruistic experience than the typical lavish sales incentive trip,” according to a press release.

During their week-long stay, Sohan and his colleagues traveled to the remote village located in the Cloud Forest Region of Guatemala and lived among indigenous people with no running water, schools or medical facilities. They helped form the village’s first running water system, laid the foundation for a new infrastructure and assisted in providing medical and dental supplies to its residents.

While there, Sohan dug trenches, moved boulders, played soccer and colored with local children. He even partook in the village’s sacred rituals, the release said.

“What really surprised me about the service expedition was seeing how the villagers live,” Sohan said. “The don’t have running water or electricity and they have dirt floors in their homes, yet they are some of the happiest people that you’ve ever met.

As loan officers, the employees visited the village because it demonstrated the leadership, the capacity and sustainability for economic growth—something each of the 50 men and women helped develop and discuss during their time there, the release said.

In total, the business' Glen Burnie office raised more than $100,000 to fund construction of the water system along with a new schoolhouse and health center at the Guatemalan village, according to the release. 

One of Academy Mortgage’s goals of the trip was to impact its top performers with a passion for doing good in their communities. For Sohan, who lives in the Loch Haven neighborhood of Edgewater, the trip did just that.

“They don’t have any of what we would call the ‘necessities’ of life, but they have the joy of existence, which is everything,” Sohan said. “After watching them for a week, I returned a completely different person."