The conversation revolved around leadership, community impact, and philanthropy in nonprofit organizations. Cien Asoera emphasized the importance of giving back to the community, while Marshall V. King highlighted the organization's growth and change over the past decade. Kevin Deary, Pete McCown, and Asoera discussed the significance of leadership, communication, and strategic thinking in nonprofit organizations. The speakers also discussed the Community Foundation's initiative to build stronger brains in Elkhart County, Indiana, and its potential impact on the community's educational system and future viability. Cien expressed hope for the community's future due to the emergence of young leaders with a passion for giving back.
00:00:26: Introduction of Cien Asoera and his service
00:00:41: Introduction of Pete McCown and the Community Foundation
00:01:04: Cien's journey and involvement with the Community Foundation
00:02:30: The impact of the Community Foundation
00:03:00: Cien's career and his role as a soccer referee
00:04:20: Leadership traits and community impact
00:05:25: The relationship between CEO and Board Chair
00:07:03: Pete McCown on reporting to the board
00:09:20: Communication and relationship dynamics in organizations
00:10:31: The importance of communication and support within the Foundation
00:11:35: The importance of intentional relationships in leadership
00:13:04: Cien’s greatest moments with the Community Foundation
00:15:08: Elkhart community's vision and development
00:16:11: Impact of David Gundlach's gift
00:17:20: Philanthropy and organizational growth
00:18:03: Future vision of the Community Foundation
00:20:08: Building Stronger Brains initiative
00:23:02: Collaboration for Building Stronger Brains initiative
00:23:34: Introduction to the Community Foundation's role
00:24:01: Vision for the community 25 years from now
00:25:36: Future leadership development
00:26:33: Encouraging community investment
00:27:35: Mentorship and board governance
00:29:00: Personal reflections and motivation
00:31:00: Closing remarks and expressions of gratitude
00:32:10: What gives hope for the future
This show is a production of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded in the Viaggio Studio at weIMPACT in Elkhart's River District. Editing is done by the award-winning communication students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe Radio at 91.1 FM. Learn more about the Community Foundation of Elkhart County at inspiringgood.org You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Music is provided by Sensational Sounds. Thanks for listening. We hope you are inspired and inspire good and your community.
The conversation revolved around leadership, community impact, and philanthropy in nonprofit organizations. Cien Asoera emphasized the importance of giving back to the community, while Marshall V. King highlighted the organization's growth and change over the past decade. Kevin Deary, Pete McCown, and Asoera discussed the significance of leadership, communication, and strategic thinking in nonprofit organizations. The speakers also discussed the Community Foundation's initiative to build stronger brains in Elkhart County, Indiana, and its potential impact on the community's educational system and future viability. Cien expressed hope for the community's future due to the emergence of young leaders with a passion for giving back.
00:00:26: Introduction of Cien Asoera and his service
00:00:41: Introduction of Pete McCown and the Community Foundation
00:01:04: Cien's journey and involvement with the Community Foundation
00:02:30: The impact of the Community Foundation
00:03:00: Cien's career and his role as a soccer referee
00:04:20: Leadership traits and community impact
00:05:25: The relationship between CEO and Board Chair
00:07:03: Pete McCown on reporting to the board
00:09:20: Communication and relationship dynamics in organizations
00:10:31: The importance of communication and support within the Foundation
00:11:35: The importance of intentional relationships in leadership
00:13:04: Cien’s greatest moments with the Community Foundation
00:15:08: Elkhart community's vision and development
00:16:11: Impact of David Gundlach's gift
00:17:20: Philanthropy and organizational growth
00:18:03: Future vision of the Community Foundation
00:20:08: Building Stronger Brains initiative
00:23:02: Collaboration for Building Stronger Brains initiative
00:23:34: Introduction to the Community Foundation's role
00:24:01: Vision for the community 25 years from now
00:25:36: Future leadership development
00:26:33: Encouraging community investment
00:27:35: Mentorship and board governance
00:29:00: Personal reflections and motivation
00:31:00: Closing remarks and expressions of gratitude
00:32:10: What gives hope for the future
This show is a production of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded in the Viaggio Studio at weIMPACT in Elkhart's River District. Editing is done by the award-winning communication students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe Radio at 91.1 FM. Learn more about the Community Foundation of Elkhart County at inspiringgood.org You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Music is provided by Sensational Sounds. Thanks for listening. We hope you are inspired and inspire good and your community.
Marshall V. King:
Welcome to the inspiring good podcast. This podcast is brought to you by the Community Foundation of Elkhart County, which serves a vibrant community in northern Indiana known for its generosity and strong network of nonprofit organizations. I'm Marshall King, your co host with Kevin dari, a veteran nonprofit CEO who now coaches others. Today we have two guests the first time we've done that on this podcast. Cien Asoera is our outgoing chairman of the Community Foundation's board. He served nine years and has been on committees overseeing scholarships, youth development and career pathways. In his professional life, Chan is a financial advisor for Edward Jones. Pete McCown is the president of the of the Community Foundation and joins us again on the heels of the last episode, which was an introduction to what a community foundation does. If you haven't heard that episode, you may want to go back and listen to it. Gentlemen, Welcome to both of you this morning.
Cien Asoera:
Good morning, Kevin Marshall, how are ya? Thank you.
Kevin Deary:
We are so pleased to welcome you both. Let's start by saying Chen first of all, thank you for your years of service to the Community Foundation, and the overall impact that you personally I've had, as well as your years of service on committees and on the board of directors, and now as our outgoing chair. So let me just start by saying thank you. It's my pleasure. You know, there's others out there that may decide they want to follow this kind of community leadership. Can you talk a little bit about how you got involved with the Community Foundation? Yeah, Kevin,
Cien Asoera:
great question. I came back to the community after having been in Chicago for about five years after graduating school. And we decided to have a family and come back and build a business because Elkhart is just such an incredible place. So when we got here, and I was building the business, obviously, I sought out some mentors on how to build a business and, and so Mike p&l ski talked to me about philanthropy, and how important it was for us to give back because the community was ours. If we don't give back, there will be no community in the future. So he got me involved. Originally, I got involved with the YMCA board back in the day and then eventually came to work on do some service for the community foundation.
Kevin Deary:
When you have the opportunity to meet people who do not understand what the Community Foundation's about, and ask you about the Community Foundation, what's your ambassador role? And what do you tell them?
Cien Asoera:
So I really like to describe how impactful the Community Foundation is. And I essentially am trying to paint a picture for people of how the Community Foundation is a vehicle to see your impact and your philanthropy to actually come to life. Right there the conduit for making it actually visually come to life for you. So that's how I like to really describe their impact all the wonderful things you see going on. The Community Foundation has its hand in.
Kevin Deary:
You know, besides being an investment professional, you're also Division One soccer coach, or soccer referee rather. Can you tell me a little bit about how you got started in that?
Cien Asoera:
Yeah, ironically enough, I started at Purdue when I was going to school as a college kid that didn't have any money, you do whatever you can to make some money. So while my friends were sleeping in on a Saturday morning, I was out at the produce soccer field referee and trying to make a little cash. So I got into it that way. When I when I graduated, I moved to Chicago Chicago's a hotbed for soccer, a lot of ethnic leagues and groups. And so I got connected with the right individuals there. And then it's all about development. I had a passion for it. So you work on your development and eventually got connected to the right people to get me involved with the big 10 conference. And from there, it's kind of kind of history from there. And
Kevin Deary:
and you have a family. So I don't know when you sleep, but we are so grateful for your leadership. When we look around Elkhart County, we are surrounded with strong leaders, men and women that love their community. I know I moved here two years ago from another part of the country and fell in love with this part of the country for their volunteerism, and the level of leadership that of community impact that they want to give back to their community that has given so much to them. If there were young people that you were talking to about getting involved, what leadership traits are most important with community impact?
Cien Asoera:
That's a great, great question. I think one of the traits is you got to have passion for people and other people, right? You know, servant leadership is a really big thing when you're you're doing things like helping with the Community Foundation. So I think you have to have have to have a passion to want people to be successful, want your community to be successful. And when you look through things with that kind of lens, right? It allows you to get invigorated and have that momentum and quite frankly The starting small just get involved, right? I talked to people about getting involved. I even talked to my kids about this, this place will be what you make it what you and your generation will make it. We're making it what it is today, if you like that, great if you don't great, but you're gonna make it. And so if not you and your generation who is the next generation to keep this thing going that we've got, it's so special here. Absolutely. And
Kevin Deary:
you know, speaking of leadership, a man to your right. Dr. Pete McCowan, he's our fearless leader. He's an amazing CEO. The relationship between the Chief Executive Officer and the board chair is so critical to the success of having impact in a community. Could you both of you, could you maybe talk about the importance of the linkage between the chief professional officer whatever they're called Executive Director, CEO, and their board chair.
Cien Asoera:
I think this is where we had so much success over the past three years that I was chair was, Pete and I singularly think about how to help people in a similar fashion, right? We think strategically we think years in advance. So we're not we're not thinking about what's going on today. We're looking at all this development going, and what's next. And what's next. And where's the next thing that can impact we're looking at, you know, we've done a number of different things for local youth organizations, for example. And that isn't enough. So now we we think about what's next, let's think about strong, you know, building strong brains and things of that nature. So I think what has really worked between the two of us is, is I'm a responsibility based manager, right? I'm one of these guys that likes to sit down, talk about the vision, what is it we're trying to accomplish, assign roles in that process and get out of people's way and give them the support, they need to be successful. And for me, I think that's what drove our success over the last three years. Pete
Pete McCown:
So you know, this is an interesting dynamic, it's the first role that I've had, where I have reported to a board. And we have 21, board members on the Community Foundation Board. And we change board chairs every two years. So after 13 years, I think I'm on my eighth board chair. So every two years, I am responsible for figuring out the relationship between me and really, probably the closest thing to an individual who is my boss. Fortunately, I have some influence over who becomes the next board chair. So I tried to make sure that there is a good rapport between me and that individual that I'm recommending. In the case of chan, he described I think there's a lot of rapport and commonality between us. But we work at being intentional in our relationship and communication. So we we schedule a breakfast every month, in which sometimes there's an agenda. And sometimes it's more just personal interaction. But the other aspect, I would say, is much like working for any boss, there is a level of don't surprise me, there are times that I will make executive decisions that are not the responsibility or the purview of the board. But I want to make sure that the board chair understands why I've made a particular decision in terms of either personnel hiring, or termination, or major budget decisions that I might otherwise make. So we've got a great relationship. It's
Kevin Deary:
very much like a marriage. Having been for a retired CEO and having worked with multiple boards. The relationship between the chief professional officer and the chief volunteer officer is very much like a marriage, the communication, the expectations, the checking in it staying on track, whether it's a family plan and or whether it's retirement or whatever. We're, you know, raising children. But the communication is so key. It's such an important part of successful nonprofits because it you can the board and the staff know, on this challenge between the chief professional officer the Chi volunteer offset, it vibrates throughout the organization doesn't.
Cien Asoera:
It does, yeah, if there's if there's tension there, and I think that's in any organization or any relationship I know, in my own personal business, like if me and my office manager are having an issue. It's very easy for a client to actually pick up in the office, the nonverbal communication that's going on. So I think it's really critical. I just really enjoyed working with Pete because of those reasons. Right. We set goals. We communicate about what's going on. My process has been to figure out what the vision is, help articulate that, and support P in the staff and whatever they need to execute, right? What is it uni? What are you? What do you need help with? How can the board help if we need to help any with anything? And I think that ongoing dialogue, it just really allows things to continually move and operate properly. I see issues when organizations have a lack of communication, and they allow that to fester or not get resolved, if there's issues and we just don't we just haven't run into that. Because I think we like pizza, we meet regularly. And, you know, it's about what do you need? What's going on? And how do we take care of it? Yeah,
Pete McCown:
but Cien, you've also been a really good thought partner with me. Fortunately, the foundation has been pretty much up into the right for the last decade. But there are occasionally decisions that may go one direction or the other. And I have benefited from having Cien helped me think through how we even lead a discussion at the board level and, and where, to what extent we take it a certain direction, or we prepare a recommendation, or we just leave it an open ended question and let the board kind of debate it all. And Chad has been really helpful in those moments.
Kevin Deary:
I think great board governance is a board that works together, sees the big picture asks, How can I help with my gifts. And one of the things that I've been most impressed with, with this organization is the level of engagement that each board member has inside their skill sets. If you're not an accountant, bank, your murder if you're not somebody who understands investments, there are plenty of people on the board who do those who understand some of the greater impact on poverty and some of the needs that we have throughout the community. Those folks are engaged. And then how they all work together is is probably the one key dynamic to a successful board. That gets to have all the impact that we've had over the years. Because without that great communication, and trust and engagement of the board, because then the staff feed off of that. Volunteers feed off of that. And donors pick up that vibrancy. And they want to support that. And that's a beautiful thing. When you see it actually happening then that vibrancy that's happening from within that vibrates without outside to the rest of the world. Chant in your time with us. And you've been here since 2004. Serve on different committees. And here you are as chair and you're finally ending your time. What do you think is the greatest moment for you that you are the most proud of?
Cien Asoera:
Wow, there there are there, there are quite quite a few. But I'll tell you, two things that I would struggle between choosing from Juan is getting to watch the scholarship brunch every year and watch watch these young people, you don't get full ride scholarships to the to the school of their choice here in Indiana. And it's just, it's just so joyous to watch in the families. And because these are all first time. You know, our Lily winters are all first time college attendees, neither parent went to a four year school or went to post secondary education. So it's just an incredible joy to watch. And the second thing I would tell you that I look back on and I just I still can't believe it was able to happen was was this new development that we've got here in the River District. You know, watching what happened with the old YMCA and watching the new Aquatic Center come to fruition. And when we were looking at that project and considering things like that, we had no idea that we'd be even in a building like this. After we were done with that we thought maybe it could happen that none of us could see it. So those are the two things that I tell you it like I look back and I go holy cow. This is just amazing.
Kevin Deary:
When you think of vision, you think of seeing distance being able to see in the future what could be, but also been able to see clearly and be able to see what's in front of you. And I think that the journey of the healthcare community has been able to see into the future, and then also clearly lay out and define the steps that need to happen to make that miracle happen. And I think any community will be proud to see not only what's happened at the Aquatic Center And here on the river, Ben, but what's happening throughout the city, because of thought leaders.
Marshall V. King:
Cien, you, you would have joined the board on the heels of this large gift from David gunlock. And you mentioned Mike p&l ski, Mike was integral in helping secure that gift for the foundation and for the community. So I mean, your time on the board was this time of tremendous change and growth for the organization. So the organization that you're kind of exiting at this as this volunteer is a very different one than the one that you joined, you know, nearly a decade ago talk talk a little bit about that, if you would, and just kind of how, you know, you you work in a business that's focused on growth and, and sustainability at the same time. So how, how has that how have you watched that happen with this organization,
Cien Asoera:
it's been really fun to watch. Going from, I think, Pete, we're at 40 million when you came on board to plus 400 million a 10 fold increase over that period of time, it's really amazing to see what has happened. You mentioned the gun lock gift and how it's changed things. What I think the biggest change it had was sure the dollars were transformational. But I don't think enough people understand the byproduct of that transformational gift, right? So we were at $40 billion. When Dave Gan lac, gifted us this wonderful gift. Today, at the Community Foundation, we average on an annual basis, somewhere between I'll say 25 and 35 million on a regular basis, annually in gifts now to the Community Foundation. So I think the byproduct of that, and what what I think has changed and, and why we had to think differently. When I came here, we were still working out of the first floor of the Key Bank office. And then we had to get some offices on the second floor. And then we had to move over to nibco Parkway. And now we're here. And quite frankly, you know, we're running out of space here, right? So I think the byproduct of that gift was this energizing around the community. And so the byproduct is now we see our philanthropy tremendously different, which again, Marshall then requires us to think a lot differently. We have a bigger organization with more staff. So how do we make sure we're utilizing those resources appropriately, efficiently to deliver the biggest impact in the community? So that's kind of where we're at. And we're already thinking about the next five and 10 years, not the next couple years?
Kevin Deary:
Well, let's take that and run with that for a second. So for Pete & Cien, 25 years from now, what will the Community Foundation look like?
Cien Asoera:
Pete, you on take crack at that?
Pete McCown:
Kevin, I have no idea. I'd be perfectly candid. Even in the 13 years I've been President, the foundation has gone through at least four or five significant reiterations of itself. Some might observe that I tend to be a bit opportunistic and entrepreneurial. And so I will bolt something on that no one saw coming, and then I'll bolt something else on because the right moment came. I certainly know that in the next 25 years, we will receive more hope. I would I don't think I'm exaggerating, saying billions of dollars worth of additional contributions. We have individuals that have disclosed to us their end of life plans. And if you took a calculation of that, it would be probably close to $2 billion. So over the next 25 years, a lot of those gifts will mature if you will, let alone investment performance and an asset growth as well. So the foundation will be a very different organization, even 10 years from now than it is today.
Kevin Deary:
Isn't it interesting that tomorrow's leaders are in middle school in high school right now. And they're the same ones that are sitting in the Lilly scholarship. Then there'll be sitting on the board of directors, owners of businesses, and sitting on this board and replacing us to staff this next generation and what will they be facing as far as community needs. So that's an exciting thing to look at to know that we're going to be able to continue to have impact through the next generation and many of them because of the work and because of the gifts of the philanthropist that had that vision to even make it possible. for them to even be in school to be able to give back. So I just think that's a tremendous vision of both clarity, and distance. Cien, let me ask you a question about, you said BSB, building stronger brains. And you mentioned that initiative. You're excited about it. Can you talk about what your vision is for that program? And why did we even start that initiative?
Cien Asoera:
Yeah, this is the I think this this, this program has the opportunity being, you know, as much as Dave gunlock Skiff was transformational to the community from, you know, from a support standpoint, I think building strong brains has the potential to be incredibly transformational to the educational system, and the US then contribute to the viability of our community going forward. And so I am super excited, I grew up the son of a Third World immigrant. And because of that, coming over here to the United States, I, my dad ingrained into us because of his background, that right, success is determined by you and you alone, right? It's not, it's not always achieved on your timeline. But you have a lot of influence. And so I feel like this building strong brains program, what it's doing is it's allowing those kids that don't have the resources from a mentorship and from a parental standpoint, or things of that nature that I had growing up to help me see that vision. I believe this is the key. This is the key to get kids reading, to get them understanding themselves, be self aware to get them in environments where they have an opportunity to succeed, you've heard the story can't lead a horse to water, you can lead a horse to water, you can't make them drink. We're not even today, leading our kids to the water. And building strong brains is going to get us an opportunity to get them to the water. We won't save everyone but but we need to give every kid in this community the opportunity. That's what we can do. We're not going to save everybody, we can't take care of everybody. What we can do in this community through philanthropy is create opportunities for everybody to succeed on their own and create a support structure to help them do that.
Kevin Deary:
And that would mean schools, churches, nonprofits, all working together, to have to be the handoff of that building strong brain. So which is really the definition of it takes a village. And we
Cien Asoera:
know it can work. Heck, we built this building behind us. With all these organizations working together and figuring out how it was going to happen. How many do we have there, we had government, we have private industry had school systems, and we had all these different entities from different organizations come together with a common goal. That's how I feel about building strong brains. I'm so excited about it, because of the partners in the coalition that have come together. It's the right group. Pete,
Kevin Deary:
anything you'd like to add to that on BSB?
Pete McCown:
You know, building strong brains is an Early Childhood initiative to make sure every child in Elkhart county is ready for kindergarten. There are a lot of individual organizations that are children's serving, and the hospital systems and the federally qualified health clinics and the like. I think one of the roles that Community Foundation has the privilege of playing today is that we have the ability to gather people together in a bit of a neutral setting. And we have we are field talks about convening power. And I would say that there, there's a lot of evidence that we do have the ability to call people together to work on a common problem.
Marshall V. King:
Cien, when Kevin asked about, you know, what does the community foundation look like? 25 years from now, you you graciously handed the question to Pete. So I'll ask you a different version of the question. And you just talked about it with building strong brains and kind of how you hope that changes our community. But what, how? How does our community look 20 years, 25 years from now, in part because of building strong brains and the work of the Community Foundation? What how is it? How will our community continue to evolve and change because of this organization? So
Cien Asoera:
so I don't know how it's going to look. I know how I'd love it to look right. And that that is I would love a community where you have young and old generations right in commonality with one another right so we're talking about this development. It's going to be great for me to see grandpa and grandma live in here. The young student living here having real Relationships engaging with older students, for example. So I see this entire area completely looking differently than what we see today. Right, it should look totally different based upon the development that's going on now. And so I would see that and, and I'm going to enjoy watching the young leaders who, as you mentioned earlier, are in school today, and that we're watching grow up and develop and, and are even younger leaders who are now out of school coming back to the community to work. I'm so excited about about them right there. They're good young leaders, and we've got a really good leadership. You know, I'll call it a leadership development pipeline. Right? The things that Mike p&l ski, talked to me about 20, some years ago, or the very things that I talk to my friends about who aren't involved yet, that Pete and I regularly talk about in terms of, Hey, who are future board members? Who are future volunteers? Who do we need to get engaged with this organization? Those are fun discussions, we really on a regular basis, talk about this stuff and talk about names and, and go through those things. So it's going to be an exciting time. I can't wait to be an old guy, you know, sitting around walking down here going, Wow, this is neat.
Marshall V. King:
Well, and you have you have been such a friend of the foundation, but now and you have been doing it. But as a financial advisor, you're going to be encouraging your clients to invest in the foundation and and therefore invest in the community. What what does that pitch sound like?
Cien Asoera:
Yeah, it's great. So so what I talked to them about is, what do you want your impact and legacy to be so so I'm in a business where for the most of people's lives, we we teach them how to be disciplined and save money and watch this big pile of money grew up? You know, what we're not really good at, is explaining to people how to how to joyously spend their money that they say, right? And so we're really now I'm really focused on that in my, in my personal business, you know, the business aspect of things. But also, you know, in philanthropy, I'm very, very much involved with that. So I always talk about with clients, what are you passionate about? How can we, how can we do some things to get you involved? How can we make you live your best life? I talk and our philosophy is, I want to make you live a rich life. And Rich is a definition that isn't what we think it is. It's not about money.
Kevin Deary:
We keep we talk about board governance, and we talk about the pipeline of leadership. Do you have somebody you're mentoring right now you think it's going to be a game changer? For the community?
Cien Asoera:
I have a couple people that I am talking to that are that are on the foundation's radar because Pete and I have talked about them specifically. But I think they don't understand yet the impact that they can have, right? So they want to get involved. But I think they they don't actually understand how good they are, right. And so I'm working to try and get them to understand, like, how incredibly awesome it's going to be when you get involved heavily, right? Like, I'm thinking about it from a foundation perspective going, Oh, these are good feet. These are good leaders, and they're going to do good things. They bring good perspective.
Kevin Deary:
It's amazing, the intergenerational board development process when we're working with people in their 60s or 70s, or 50s, and their adult children and coming up, and they have grown up watching their parents give talent, time and treasure to the community. And it at some point, something tips to scale to them that says it's my turn to give back. Not only take care of my parents, but also take care of something that I'm passionate about in the community. And you talked about that. So your initial 2004 When you started, what was your motivator in 2004?
Cien Asoera:
So that's a great question. And people asked me that. And the reality was, I was building a business I needed to make connections. So my original motivation, I would tell you is not what it is today, right back then it was I need to make connections so I can meet people and get connections to other people and a way to do that is to get involved in not for profit so that I can meet people naturally right and serve. Right. Now my did explain that's part you know, he he was a really good mentor to me. And it was it was that was part of kind of what you get instilled the same way your parents instilled some fundamental belief in you, right? So he did instill that in me. And so what that did then is when I got to the point where the business now was functioning right, then the motivations began to change, right? It wasn't about building the business anymore. It was about the community I live in and all the cool things that we were doing and my ability to have some impact for others, right? Because I was doing that in my daily job. I wanted to do that in everything that I do. So, you know, you mentioned that I used to referee I used to referee now I actually coordinate, I'm the coordinator of officials for the big 10. So I assigned the referees development train. And one of the things for me mindset was when I'm a signer is it's not about me, it's about Hey, Kevin, you're you're a young referee, how can I? How can I get you where you want to go? Right? How can I give you opportunities? How can I train you? How can I develop you because you deserve it? Same way that I deserve the opportunity. You'll either make it or you won't. But how can I help you get where you want to be? And I've had that philosophy and philanthropy in business in pretty much most of the things that I do.
Marshall V. King:
Pete, as we're getting ready to wrap up, we have one more question for Cien. But I want to give you the chance to express our appreciation to this gentleman sitting with us. For this time, I mean, you've worked closely, most closely with him in your role, what say, Say what you will,
Pete McCown:
huh? Well, John, thank you. It's been a pleasure working with you, as a, as a, as a board member, but also getting to know you're in becoming personally connected as friends as well. You know, the foundation has the great benefit. And we've talked about this, not just a board volunteers, but we have probably 40 or 50, non board volunteers that contribute something meaningful based on their expertise, or connectivity in the community. And that cadre of people deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the growth and development and and effectiveness of the foundation, as well. So Cien, thank you for your service. And the good news is, as a former board chair, you will always be a lifetime member now of our nominating committee. And so there's, you will serve the rest of your life in some capacity at the Foundation.
Cien Asoera:
Thank you, P. Appreciate that.
Marshall V. King:
Cien, we we usually wrap up the podcast by asking our guests, what gives you hope.
Cien Asoera:
I'll tell you, our young people give me hope. I know that our young generation, people say a lot about them. And hey, this generation grows up in the tech world. And so it's impersonal and that kind of stuff. But I have hoped for this community. I have seen some of the young leaders in this community, stepping into roles. And I'm like, wow, right really early, and they just have a passion to give back. And so it gives me tremendous hope for this community. I see some of the young business owners who are coming into their own now, right starting businesses. So that entrepreneurial spirit that's always been here is continuing. I was talking to somebody the other day, and we were out on the golf course. And he was talking about some business that he just got into, he already owns three or four other businesses. And he's like, I just got into this business here. And I looked at the person he was telling to and I go, that's why I love this guy. It's so fun to watch him work and be into things and make things happen. Right, that gets me excited. And so I have hope because of things like that. Right? The the young people that I see leading in the community and wanting to get involved, right, and that entrepreneurial spirit is still here alive and well. And so I'm just really excited. Thank
Marshall V. King:
you so much for all your service and and for joining us to chat today. This show is a production of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded in the viaggio studio at we impact in El cartes River District. Music is provided by sensational sounds. Editing is done by the award winning communication students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to globe radio at 91.1 FM or online. Learn more about the Community Foundation of Elkhart County at inspiring good.org You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired and inspire good in your community.