[TRANSCRIPT]
0:00:00 - (Doug Jenkins): Coming up next on Chamber amplified.
0:00:02 - (B): And one of the nice things, so you can have an adult talk to you and talk about, you know, what do you want to be when you grow up? What are the future? But they can see it a little bit closer to home. So when you're a high school student, what would you like to do? Would you like to be involved in sports? Would you like to be involved in the arts?
0:00:19 - (Doug Jenkins): Welcome to the show. I'm Doug Jenkins from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. On each episode of Chamber Simplified, we're examining issues impacting the local business community from employee recruitment and retention, marketing, it issues. It's really anything that can be impacting your business. Our goal is to give our members tips each week on at least one way they can improve operations and thrive in the current business environment.
0:00:40 - (Doug Jenkins): And we also like to take a look at the history of the Findlay business community by talking to some of our longer tenured chamber of Commerce members as well. So this week on the show, we're joined by Stacy Shaw of children's mentoring connection. CMC has been a chamber member for.
0:00:53 - (Stacy Shaw): A little over a decade, but they've.
0:00:55 - (Doug Jenkins): Been making an impact on the greater.
0:00:56 - (Stacy Shaw): Community for 50 years.
0:00:58 - (Doug Jenkins): Now we're talking about the organization's 50th anniversary, the important work they do in the community bowl for kids. And we also talk a little bit about what you have to do when circumstances beyond your control force you to reinvent something that you've been doing for ages. Thanks for tuning in. Remember, if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you can rate and review the show. It really does help spread the word. And in fact, I think more podcast platforms are offering that all the time. So be sure to do that if you can.
0:01:23 - (Doug Jenkins): Now let's get into it.
0:01:26 - (Stacy Shaw): The 50th anniversary of children's mentoring connection of Hancock county. That's certainly a large milestone. But a lot of things went from getting from day one to where we are right now. So let's start there. Let's talk about the history of the organization.
0:01:41 - (B): Yes, absolutely. So, as you said, we are celebrating 50 years. We really started out. I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Bueller, who helped us get our organization off as we started as big Brothers big sisters 50 years ago last year. And he had shared that. Really his inspiration to get it started for us here in Hancock county was from his experience when he was in Columbus going to law school, and he had been a mentor there, had been a part of the Big Brothers big Sisters organization, and upon moving to Hancock county, he couldn't find anything like that. And so he actually reached out to the national organization and said, hey, is there something in the area? And they indicated there wasn't, but they thought that it would be a good area to start that. So he pretty methodically went to task to get that started.
0:02:32 - (Stacy Shaw): I'm sure wasn't an easy process, but it was one that was worth it. And then it has evolved over time to include all sorts of different people, board members. A lot of kids have gone through this program. Let's go there. Next, the need for mentors in Hancock county and in Findlay. What do you see on your end when it comes to this?
0:02:53 - (B): Yeah, I think one of the things that obviously we can consistently see is the importance of connection and how important connections are for kids. So we knew that that was important 50 years ago, but we also know now more than ever, it is important. And we know that statistically, across the country, one in three young people is growing up without a mentor. So that's someone besides a parent or a caregiver that's kind of pouring into them and letting them know the value that they have and the opportunities that they have and that there are opportunities for that. So as we evolved, as I said, we started as big brothers, but we added girls to the program.
0:03:34 - (B): And then in 2004, so 20 years ago now, we changed our name to children's mentoring connection. And one of the primary reasons for that is some national regionalization of big brothers. Big sisters was happening. But our board at the time and United Way has been a long standing partner agency with us, really felt the importance of keeping the funds that we were raising local to serve our kids.
0:04:00 - (Stacy Shaw): When it comes to mentoring, you mentioned that it's having someone who is not the parent or primary caregiver of a child show that interest in them and kind of show them the way a little bit. Why is it so important to have that outside influence?
0:04:15 - (B): Yeah, I think for me, with my own kids, I can give great parental advice to my girls.
0:04:22 - (Stacy Shaw): And you do.
0:04:23 - (B): Exactly. But they're not always so open to hearing that. But if I. And sometimes I'm a little strategic and I may call my sister and say, hey, could you give a little chitchat to my daughter? And it's so much easier received by someone else that they know is valued and important to them. So for us, it's just helping make those connections for that other person that really cares for them. And our kids really see when they are matched with a mentor, either through our school based program or through our community based program.
0:04:54 - (B): When they're sitting across the table from somebody, they know that that person is there just for them. They don't have to be worrying about what we're cooking for somebody else for dinner. They don't have to worry about a brother or sister popping in. They're just there for them in that moment. They're unplugged, and they are the most important person across the table from them.
0:05:13 - (Stacy Shaw): So with that in mind, who makes a good mentor for kids in the area?
0:05:17 - (B): Well, really, if you care about kids, anyone can make a great mentor. And because it doesn't have to be somebody that's leading a major corporation or whatever that may be, it's really somebody that has that time and energy to invest into a young person. And so we have mentors from high school age students up to retired folks. So it really is a volunteer opportunity that has a lot of opportunities for different age groups to participate in as well.
0:05:48 - (Stacy Shaw): The high school age one, I think, is really interesting because those are kids that also need mentors as well. But maybe they've been fortunate enough to have good mentors and then can kind of apply the lessons learned on down the line. But I have to imagine when you have younger kids interacting with high school students that probably. I know. When I was little, anytime my high school age cousins paid any attention to me, I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. So I have to imagine that's still the case, right?
0:06:18 - (B): Absolutely. They're their local stars, for lack of a better. Our two of our schools, Van Buren and Arcadia schools, are all mentored through high school students mentoring elementary kids. It just works out great since it's a one campus school, and we're able to coordinate that with their schedules. And so we really see the high school students grow in their skills as well as the elementary kids grow in their skills. And one of the nice things, so you can have an adult talk to you and talk about what do you want to be when you grow up? What are the future?
0:06:52 - (B): But they can see it a little bit closer to home. So when you're a high school student, what would you like to do? Would you like to be involved in sports? Would you like to be involved in the arts? Would you like to be a volunteer fireman? So there's a lot of opportunities that our high school students can really teach them. And one of the things that our high school students also walk away with is a real sense of empathy, because they are able to see things from another perspective as well as they're working with that elementary student through that school year.
0:07:20 - (Stacy Shaw): That's a really good point, and especially if it encourages younger kids to be active as they go through school. We know kids that are active within school programs or clubs or four h, what have you, their church. We know that they're less likely to have issues as they get older and they're going to stay more connected, maybe stay on the quote unquote straight and narrow. So it really is kind of a way to pay it forward.
0:07:45 - (B): Yeah, it's just really being able to see those opportunities, because sometimes kids may think if they have a situation at home that's not going to be possible for them to be involved in these extracurricular activities or whatever that may be that interests them. And so because they don't think it's possible, they don't even explore it. They may not even go home and say, hey, I would like to try this at school.
0:08:07 - (B): But when they have an opportunity to talk with our high school students who are sharing that, it's more likely to bring that conversation home to their caregivers to say, hey, I was talking to a kid at school today and he would be interested in this. And it's also an opportunity for our caregivers. Then we'll sometimes take the kids to something that's going on at the high school. So they might take them to a football game to watch their mentor play. They might take them to a musical to watch them with that and that type of thing. So it's really opening up opportunities for.
0:08:37 - (Stacy Shaw): Our kids that is really cool. Of course, to be able to deliver on a program like this, you need one volunteers and mentors, but also you need some capital, and that's what's coming up next week with bowl for kids and the signature event for children's mentoring connection.
0:08:52 - (Doug Jenkins): Let's talk a little bit about that.
0:08:54 - (Stacy Shaw): I think all the team spots have been taken, but is there any need still there?
0:08:58 - (B): Yeah, so we do still have need. So we do have some openings yet if people are interested in doing that. One of the reasons that it is important for us to be able to really have great success at our signature fundraisers is because we do not charge anything to our families that we work with. We don't charge anything for the kids to be involved in our programs, and we also don't charge anything to our partner schools that we work with. So obviously the money has to come from somewhere for us to be able to do that.
0:09:26 - (B): And we do have a lot of generous people who make contributions throughout the year as well. As I mentioned, being a United Way partner agency. But to fill in the gaps with that, our fundraisers really pull into place there. And the nice thing about that is also it's a fundraiser. It's obviously to raise money for children's mentoring connection. But we have a lot of fun that happens at that. And we also have an opportunity for businesses to use that as a team building experience for their employees as well. So we've seen some battles.
0:09:57 - (B): We've got a new battle of the dentist happening this year. So a little bit of fun between who's got the best smile at the end of the day and holding that trophy. So those type of things are fun to watch and evolve over the years.
0:10:10 - (Stacy Shaw): For some reason I think of Battle of the dentists and them like just shooting each other with their water picks, probably not what we're talking about here. But yeah, maybe in a future bowl for kids, maybe put the card a little bit ahead of the horse. Certainly it is the signature event and you and I, obviously you're well versed in what it is. And I know, but for people who may not have participated in the past or just hearing about it, let's talk a little bit about what the event actually is.
0:10:38 - (B): Yeah. So what it is is you form a team of you and four other people. So a teams of five. And as I mentioned, it can be workplace people. It can also be neighbors, can be friends. We have some people that just come every year and make that their annual event. And we actually have some of our past mentors and mentees that come back and we have, or as some of our more seasoned folks are, bigs and littles because it was big brothers, big sisters then.
0:11:05 - (B): And so those people are coming back and celebrating matches that some have spanned 40 years. And so you help us raise pledges. So we ask for a goal for each team to raise $250. And we've got all kinds of ways to do that with links online for friends and family far and near to make pledges as well. And then you come that day, you get some of those fantastic bowling shoes that the only place you can get them.
0:11:33 - (B): So you get an opportunity to be stylish. This year we are also doing globe bowling. So I know some people are talking about bringing some things that are going to really shine under the black lights. And you get to bowl one game, sometimes a little bit more than that. Just depends on how fast of a bowler you are. And then we'll have door prizes 50 50. And we have some really amazing raffle baskets this year that we're going to be raffling off as well valued in the $600 area, whatever.
0:12:01 - (Stacy Shaw): We have someone on chamber amplified here. I always like to pull out a business lesson of some sort, and I think for children's mentoring connection, I really want to talk about how you were able to pivot during the COVID era and keep this event going, because this could have been like many events that got reassessed and repackaged and completely redone. And for a couple of years it was. But you were able to get back to basics. But just take us through the process of one having to reformat it for a couple of years and then bringing it back to what it is again.
0:12:31 - (B): Yes. So I will say business owners are nothing but flexible. Right. So when you are faced with something for us, 2020 looked like we had our bowling event, and the day after that, we started hearing things from the governor and from across the state. And by the end of that week following our event, everything was closed. So we were just on the cusp of being able to pull that event out. And so in 2021, we looked at what do we do? Folks weren't ready to get back into a large arena space to be doing something like that. So we actually had bowling for kids plus allowing people the opportunity to bowl in person.
0:13:14 - (B): We limited lanes and did some restructuring there at the bowling alley, but our plus was encouraged people to have a cornhole tournament of their own and help us raise funds. Some people did some disc golf. We also had bowling sets that you could take home or take back to your place of business. So we just really got creative with that and people had fun. And one of the things that has continued to go from that is our students at career center have, have taken on. So this will be the fourth year for them hosting a cornhole tournament. So they've really embraced the newness of that. And they get everybody at Millstream and all of the departments involved in that and have a championship competition for that. And that's how they help us raise money.
0:13:59 - (Stacy Shaw): That's a really cool story of how you were able to keep everything together and keep a community event that we all know and love running during a trying time. So, Stacy, if people want more information about children's mentoring connection, what's the best way to get in touch with you?
0:14:13 - (B): Yeah, sure. So they can check out our website, which is cmchancock.org, and we've got lots of great information there, including links to register for bowling if you're interested in that, or you can give us a call and our office number. Is 419-424-9752 all right.
0:14:31 - (Stacy Shaw): Thank you very much for joining us today, Stacy.
0:14:33 - (B): Thank you.
0:14:37 - (Doug Jenkins): Thanks again to Stacy for joining us. And make sure to support a team in bowling for kids coming up if you get the chance. Chamber Amplified is a free podcast for the community, thanks to the investment of our members from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. Because of our robust membership, we're able to focus on providing timely information to the Findlay and Hancock county business community, run leadership programs for adults and teenagers, and be an advocate for the area while also providing tools to help local businesses succeed. If that sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, just let me know and we can talk a little bit more about how an investment in the chamber helps strengthen the entire community as well as your business.
0:15:12 - (Doug Jenkins): That'll do it for this week's episode. I hope you learned a little something about the Findlay business community that maybe you didn't know before. And if you have any ideas on topics that we should cover in the future, just send me an email. Djenkins@Findlayhankockchamber.com remember, if you're listening on the chamber's website, you can even make it even easier on yourself. Have every episode of Chamber amplified delivered straight to your phone.
0:15:32 - (Doug Jenkins): Just search for Chamber amplified in your favorite podcast player. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time on chamber amplified from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.