http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/may/02/immokalee-children-get-free-laptops-education/
Today, Naples Daily News. Tomorrow, the New York Times!
All kidding aside, I think you'll agree, writer Tracy Miguel once again wrote a very good story about NSA and our endeavors.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Join us for talk on Laptops!
On Wednesday, April 30, I will be giving a presentation on Laptop South Florida. This is open to the public - no charge for admission.
5:30-6:30 PM at the Naples Regional branch of the public library (this is the one downtown).
Here is the feature on "60 Minutes" to wet your whistle: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/20/60minutes/main2830058.shtml?source=search_story
A quick synopsis:
MIT computers. Waveplace Foundation teacher-training. Local implementation.
5:30-6:30 PM at the Naples Regional branch of the public library (this is the one downtown).
Here is the feature on "60 Minutes" to wet your whistle: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/20/60minutes/main2830058.shtml?source=search_story
A quick synopsis:
MIT computers. Waveplace Foundation teacher-training. Local implementation.
That's it! Bring your questions April 30th!
Videos of kids with their laptops
The following is from Tim Falconer, president of the board of the Waveplace Foundation, which provides the educational content for the children's laptops we're bringing to Immokalee. I'm on the Waveplace board, too.
Hi everyone,
We've just posted two new videos from the St John Waveplace pilot, which concluded three weeks ago. The first shows mentoring during the pilot. The second shows students presenting their Etoys storybooks that they created during the pilot.
1) Scenes from the St John pilot (4 minutes)
http://waveplace.com/locations/usvi/movie.jsp?id=45
2) The St John Storybook Awards (8 minutes)
http://waveplace.com/locations/usvi/movie.jsp?id=44
We will be posting the actual storybooks to our website soon so you can see them for yourself.
In other news, the Haiti pilot will resume next week, since things have calmed down in Port-Au-Prince. The kids and teachers are well.
Take care,
Tim
Hi everyone,
We've just posted two new videos from the St John Waveplace pilot, which concluded three weeks ago. The first shows mentoring during the pilot. The second shows students presenting their Etoys storybooks that they created during the pilot.
1) Scenes from the St John pilot (4 minutes)
http://waveplace.com/locations/usvi/movie.jsp?id=45
2) The St John Storybook Awards (8 minutes)
http://waveplace.com/locations/usvi/movie.jsp?id=44
We will be posting the actual storybooks to our website soon so you can see them for yourself.
In other news, the Haiti pilot will resume next week, since things have calmed down in Port-Au-Prince. The kids and teachers are well.
Take care,
Tim
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
"What are your real motives, Ted?"
About a year ago, I met with a man who is very active in the area nonprofit realm; he has founded a number of very successful nonprofits; his wife has run just one, a really, really important one, for 18 years now. These are people I admire deeply.
There was only one problem: as has sometimes happened to me since our move to Naples, he didn't know what to make of me. I get this question quite a bit: "What's in it for you?" Well, this man didn't ask me, but today I learned what I had long suspected, that he thought it. I learned that from a talk with his wife. She was kind enough to ask me outright, "Ted, what do you get out of your nonprofit work?"
I have to say, that's a really sad question to have to ask. I thought the point of charity was to benefit others, not yourself. She told me that's rare. So I wrote her an email, which you can read below.
GNL refers to Greater Naples Leadership, a group that her husband presided over and (I believe) helped found that trains affluent older folks to be active on social-sector boards. As you can read, it's a Who's Who of the nonprofit community here in Naples.
It occurred to me that perhaps I don't explain myself enough - despite my business background, I still may not toot my own horn sufficiently, so that people have no idea how I put food on the table. Oh, well. I'm a work in progress.
Dear _______,
Bob Juster's partner is Walt Burdick, also a GNL-er. We were featured in the same issue of Naples Illustrated Magazine (January); Bob's write-up said that their company in Immokalee, TMI, is a "for-benefit corporation," so I called Bob up to find out what that is. If you look at my think tank's web site (www.institutenaples.org) you'll see where we've come up with something we called a "for-profit charity." We're going to change the term to "for-benefit corporation," because it turns out that is a phrase being used on the forefront of the social sector now.
Ilene Leff, who I think you know from GNL, introduced me to a remarkable international organization she works with, www.ashoka.org out of DC. They help social entrepreneurs create organizations that are hybrid for-profit/non-profit. I didn't realize it until I studied up on Ashoka, but I guess I'm a social entrepreneur, too.
I understand your and your husband's skepticism of my motives. I'm a bleeding-heart capitalist, that's all. I think a lot of people who are good at making money find that rewarding in and of itself. They are often also motivated by the fear of not having enough. Not I. I see money as a means to two ends: financial security for my family, which doesn't require all that much cash, and charity. I'm sure I'd be Port-Royal rich by now if I cared about it more. But we're only a short walk to the beach, so we have nothing to complain about.
You folks are bleeding heart capitalists, too. Maybe you should give others more credit for being inspired as you are.
There was only one problem: as has sometimes happened to me since our move to Naples, he didn't know what to make of me. I get this question quite a bit: "What's in it for you?" Well, this man didn't ask me, but today I learned what I had long suspected, that he thought it. I learned that from a talk with his wife. She was kind enough to ask me outright, "Ted, what do you get out of your nonprofit work?"
I have to say, that's a really sad question to have to ask. I thought the point of charity was to benefit others, not yourself. She told me that's rare. So I wrote her an email, which you can read below.
GNL refers to Greater Naples Leadership, a group that her husband presided over and (I believe) helped found that trains affluent older folks to be active on social-sector boards. As you can read, it's a Who's Who of the nonprofit community here in Naples.
It occurred to me that perhaps I don't explain myself enough - despite my business background, I still may not toot my own horn sufficiently, so that people have no idea how I put food on the table. Oh, well. I'm a work in progress.
Dear _______,
Bob Juster's partner is Walt Burdick, also a GNL-er. We were featured in the same issue of Naples Illustrated Magazine (January); Bob's write-up said that their company in Immokalee, TMI, is a "for-benefit corporation," so I called Bob up to find out what that is. If you look at my think tank's web site (www.institutenaples.org) you'll see where we've come up with something we called a "for-profit charity." We're going to change the term to "for-benefit corporation," because it turns out that is a phrase being used on the forefront of the social sector now.
Ilene Leff, who I think you know from GNL, introduced me to a remarkable international organization she works with, www.ashoka.org out of DC. They help social entrepreneurs create organizations that are hybrid for-profit/non-profit. I didn't realize it until I studied up on Ashoka, but I guess I'm a social entrepreneur, too.
I understand your and your husband's skepticism of my motives. I'm a bleeding-heart capitalist, that's all. I think a lot of people who are good at making money find that rewarding in and of itself. They are often also motivated by the fear of not having enough. Not I. I see money as a means to two ends: financial security for my family, which doesn't require all that much cash, and charity. I'm sure I'd be Port-Royal rich by now if I cared about it more. But we're only a short walk to the beach, so we have nothing to complain about.
You folks are bleeding heart capitalists, too. Maybe you should give others more credit for being inspired as you are.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
A concern: will giving laptops for free = no value for the children?
The following is my reply to some concerns about Laptop South Florida raised by NI co-Founder Jim Fisher's agent, which Jim shared with me. You can pick up his points in the context of my reply.
Jim,
I agree with every word your agent says.
Another legitimate social justice advocate, the executive director of the Immokalee Foundation, had the exact same suggestion when it came to earning the computers. My partner in crime on this project, John Lawson, and I agreed immediately, and now service-for-computers is part of our strategy going forward. One project we are going to engage the children in is packaging dried meals for the hungry in Collier County and poor countries like Haiti, Nicaragua, and others. These kids will be the beneficiaries of charity, which has got to be disspiriting; but because they are going to help out others who are even less fortunate, they will feel better about themselves. This type of model is already at work with this and that program in Immokalee, and it has done wonders - I've spoken with a number of these children.
I agree with your thoughts on the lack of gumption of American kids. I was one, remember, so I know first-hand: I felt entitled. Our affluence has spoiled us, and our parents have been on a child-spoiling, character-undermining kick for two generations now. I can't imagine why it's happening, but we as a society need to start tilting the balance the other way. This same kind of thing is plaguing Japan and more recently Korea, and their kids are showing the same malaise as ours. I don't think there's an easy way around this when a society is experiencing unabated plenty. It's one reason I enjoy immigrants so much: they're the go-getters that many of us natives no longer are.
As for people making money off of charities... That sickens me. There are roughly 500 nonprofits in the Greater Naples area (too many, but at least it shows that people care). Through Naples Social Action (NSA - http://www.naplessocialaction.org/), which exists to support them all, I've met all manner of people in the charity realm. There are some groups composed of all volunteers, with literally no overhead, such as NSA and First Book. There are many thatunder-payy their skeleton-crew of a staff, supplement the staff with hardy volunteerism, and are very efficient at serving their clients, such as the Cancer Alliance of Naples and the Immokalee Foundation. There are others, many of them governmental agencies and others branches of large national or international nonprofits, where the workers seem to think, "Well, if we don't save people today, we can get to it next Monday. What's the rush?" Then there are others, such as what one person has dubbed "The Predatory Foundation," that seem to be in business to fleece well-meaning donors of their dollars without particularly serving any constituents at all. Fortunately, these are the rarest, but they're there.
When we started NSA, we decided right away that we would never charge a nonprofit for our services, because we want the money these groups raise to go to helping needy people, not us.
After operating for a year completely out of pocket, we've decided that a budget, a staff, a marketing plan, etc., could be beneficial in our efforts to help those 500 nonprofits. We have made a couple of thousand dollars so far from corporate advertising on our website. Now, we are going to throw some energy behind that, and actually raise funds that way. We are also going to break NSA off from the Coine Foundation and turn it into its own "for-benefit corporation." A for-benefit is a for-profit business that directs its profits to charity, along the lines of Newman's Own. An associate of The Naples Institute, Ilene Leff, turned me on to the idea through an international nonprofit she advises based out of DC called Ashoka (http://www.ashoka.org/). This hybrid idea will help me marry my business acumen with my urge to serve others. I'm very excited by the prospect.
Bottom line? I think that helping the poor, as with parenting or any other endeavor, requires relentless diligence. The urge will always be there for people to stray, to get comfortable; to give up hope of ever making fundamental change. When nonprofit leaders lose their idealism and hope, that is when they need to retire. Please watch me carefully, and warn me if I ever start to look complacent.
Jim,
I agree with every word your agent says.
Another legitimate social justice advocate, the executive director of the Immokalee Foundation, had the exact same suggestion when it came to earning the computers. My partner in crime on this project, John Lawson, and I agreed immediately, and now service-for-computers is part of our strategy going forward. One project we are going to engage the children in is packaging dried meals for the hungry in Collier County and poor countries like Haiti, Nicaragua, and others. These kids will be the beneficiaries of charity, which has got to be disspiriting; but because they are going to help out others who are even less fortunate, they will feel better about themselves. This type of model is already at work with this and that program in Immokalee, and it has done wonders - I've spoken with a number of these children.
I agree with your thoughts on the lack of gumption of American kids. I was one, remember, so I know first-hand: I felt entitled. Our affluence has spoiled us, and our parents have been on a child-spoiling, character-undermining kick for two generations now. I can't imagine why it's happening, but we as a society need to start tilting the balance the other way. This same kind of thing is plaguing Japan and more recently Korea, and their kids are showing the same malaise as ours. I don't think there's an easy way around this when a society is experiencing unabated plenty. It's one reason I enjoy immigrants so much: they're the go-getters that many of us natives no longer are.
As for people making money off of charities... That sickens me. There are roughly 500 nonprofits in the Greater Naples area (too many, but at least it shows that people care). Through Naples Social Action (NSA - http://www.naplessocialaction.org/), which exists to support them all, I've met all manner of people in the charity realm. There are some groups composed of all volunteers, with literally no overhead, such as NSA and First Book. There are many thatunder-payy their skeleton-crew of a staff, supplement the staff with hardy volunteerism, and are very efficient at serving their clients, such as the Cancer Alliance of Naples and the Immokalee Foundation. There are others, many of them governmental agencies and others branches of large national or international nonprofits, where the workers seem to think, "Well, if we don't save people today, we can get to it next Monday. What's the rush?" Then there are others, such as what one person has dubbed "The Predatory Foundation," that seem to be in business to fleece well-meaning donors of their dollars without particularly serving any constituents at all. Fortunately, these are the rarest, but they're there.
When we started NSA, we decided right away that we would never charge a nonprofit for our services, because we want the money these groups raise to go to helping needy people, not us.
After operating for a year completely out of pocket, we've decided that a budget, a staff, a marketing plan, etc., could be beneficial in our efforts to help those 500 nonprofits. We have made a couple of thousand dollars so far from corporate advertising on our website. Now, we are going to throw some energy behind that, and actually raise funds that way. We are also going to break NSA off from the Coine Foundation and turn it into its own "for-benefit corporation." A for-benefit is a for-profit business that directs its profits to charity, along the lines of Newman's Own. An associate of The Naples Institute, Ilene Leff, turned me on to the idea through an international nonprofit she advises based out of DC called Ashoka (http://www.ashoka.org/). This hybrid idea will help me marry my business acumen with my urge to serve others. I'm very excited by the prospect.
Bottom line? I think that helping the poor, as with parenting or any other endeavor, requires relentless diligence. The urge will always be there for people to stray, to get comfortable; to give up hope of ever making fundamental change. When nonprofit leaders lose their idealism and hope, that is when they need to retire. Please watch me carefully, and warn me if I ever start to look complacent.
Friday, March 21, 2008
OLPC - will it work?
The following is from an e-conversation between me and another Founder of The Naples Institute (www.institutenaples.org). The colleague in question does not think my passion for the $200 laptop (the XO www.laptop.org) for the children of Immokalee is a good use of my efforts. I disagree. Below is my reply to his concerns.
Background: I hope this changes, but at present the makers of the XO, OLPC, will only allow one group to buy XOs for the children of America. The lucky nonprofit is the Waveplace Foundation (www.waveplace.org). I agreed to join the board of Waveplace only if we could bring XOs to the children of Immokalee.
Dear Founder,
Another Founder of The Napples Institute is dead-set against the XO as well (especially for the Third World). His pet cause is to bring basics such as wells and can openers to the poor of Nicaragua, for instance, so that they don't have to disfigure themselves using axes to open cans donated by Dole. He says the truly poor need food, clean water, inoculation, and protection from mosquitoes, not comparatively prohibitively expensive computers.
This is my take: I want him to keep on with his can openers and wells, because he's right, those folks need that. That is giving them a fish, and they're starving today, so they need a fish right away. But they also need to be taught how to fish. That's where the laptops come in.
One day every poor child in the world will have some version of the laptop that we're bringing to Immokalee - be it the "XO" made by One Laptop Per Child (www.laptop.org, an offshoot of the MIT Media Lab), or something made by a competitor. That's over 2 billion kids, so yes, it will take quite some doing. But it is happening already. It's only a matter of time, because the will is there in spades. There are currently a few hundred thousand XOs out there, almost all in the Third World. The problem is of manufacturing output, not funding, at least at this point: there is a months-long wait list. So this is going to happen whether we like it or not.
I'm focused on Immokalee in particular, and South Florida in general, because someone has to be and no one else was before I started it. We can't have kids that poor right in our midst like that - we simply cannot tolerate it, not if we want to call ourselves civilized.
I'll let someone else argue for the poor in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Our pilots in St. John and Haiti are going well, but let me focus on Immokalee. You bring up an outstanding point: the kids we're trying to help out there are a world away from my daughters here "West of (Route) 41." Our girls, like the affluent kids your wife works with, are growing up in an environment where learning, reading, challenging discussion, and - most importantly by far - expectations all lead them to a life of intellectual pursuit and achievement. Jane and I joke that if our two budding geniuses don't grow up to be professors at MIT (ironically), it's all our fault - they're headed there now, and only very bad parenting can budge them off that course.
The vast majority of kids in Immokalee have no such benefits of environment. Their parents are likely illegal immigrants, and worse, they are likely either illiterate in their first language or under-educated - I know this because we have been teaching just this type of person English and literacy for years at Coine Language School. In many cases, they don't value education; they may not even have a single book or even magazine in their home. At present, half of the kids in that town drop out of high school before they graduate; the other half don't exactly "make it," either. The expectation for any of the kids out there is so low that adults think it's praiseworthy if they merely stay out of a gang, don't get pregnant, and go into a trade - any trade, including landscaping.
These computers, coupled with the courseware and teacher-training that we will provide along with them, will work to nullify all of that negative influence in this one generation. That is what is so exciting to me. For one thing, the lessons are interactive and thrilling. Have you ever seen a 4th grader, even a nice middle-class one, sit still for 90 minutes? I've been a teacher for a dozen years now, and two weeks ago was my first time. I saw 25 migrant children sit still for that long while the Waveplace founder, Tim Falconer, led them through a fun - very fun - lesson where they learned artistic design on the computer, basic code-writing, and high school geometry. This is not exaggeration. I was right there.
You know me a bit by now: I wouldn't bother with this project were it not going to absolutely, fundamentally disrupt the status quo - in this case my favorite ax to grind, education. It is. We are destroying and rebuilding simultaneously. I thought this would happen when I first learned about the XO 4 years ago; in the past few months, with our pilots in the Islands, I heard about its actually coming to pass; in the past two weeks, I have seen it in action.
Within a very short time, beginning June first, there will be no reason left for the poorest children in America to be less well-educated than the wealthiest. Of course there will be problems and disappointments - maybe even scandal; no, certainly even scandal. But we'll trudge on regardless.
110 years ago, in 1898, children were working in mines for pennies a day. 60 years ago, in 1948, black children in one third of our nation were not allowed to use the same restrooms and water fountains or go to the same schools as whites. Today, in 2008, there are poor children across our country who have no reasonable hope of attending college if they so choose.
What will we say in 2048? In 2098? I'm incredibly optimistic.
Background: I hope this changes, but at present the makers of the XO, OLPC, will only allow one group to buy XOs for the children of America. The lucky nonprofit is the Waveplace Foundation (www.waveplace.org). I agreed to join the board of Waveplace only if we could bring XOs to the children of Immokalee.
Dear Founder,
Another Founder of The Napples Institute is dead-set against the XO as well (especially for the Third World). His pet cause is to bring basics such as wells and can openers to the poor of Nicaragua, for instance, so that they don't have to disfigure themselves using axes to open cans donated by Dole. He says the truly poor need food, clean water, inoculation, and protection from mosquitoes, not comparatively prohibitively expensive computers.
This is my take: I want him to keep on with his can openers and wells, because he's right, those folks need that. That is giving them a fish, and they're starving today, so they need a fish right away. But they also need to be taught how to fish. That's where the laptops come in.
One day every poor child in the world will have some version of the laptop that we're bringing to Immokalee - be it the "XO" made by One Laptop Per Child (www.laptop.org, an offshoot of the MIT Media Lab), or something made by a competitor. That's over 2 billion kids, so yes, it will take quite some doing. But it is happening already. It's only a matter of time, because the will is there in spades. There are currently a few hundred thousand XOs out there, almost all in the Third World. The problem is of manufacturing output, not funding, at least at this point: there is a months-long wait list. So this is going to happen whether we like it or not.
I'm focused on Immokalee in particular, and South Florida in general, because someone has to be and no one else was before I started it. We can't have kids that poor right in our midst like that - we simply cannot tolerate it, not if we want to call ourselves civilized.
I'll let someone else argue for the poor in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Our pilots in St. John and Haiti are going well, but let me focus on Immokalee. You bring up an outstanding point: the kids we're trying to help out there are a world away from my daughters here "West of (Route) 41." Our girls, like the affluent kids your wife works with, are growing up in an environment where learning, reading, challenging discussion, and - most importantly by far - expectations all lead them to a life of intellectual pursuit and achievement. Jane and I joke that if our two budding geniuses don't grow up to be professors at MIT (ironically), it's all our fault - they're headed there now, and only very bad parenting can budge them off that course.
The vast majority of kids in Immokalee have no such benefits of environment. Their parents are likely illegal immigrants, and worse, they are likely either illiterate in their first language or under-educated - I know this because we have been teaching just this type of person English and literacy for years at Coine Language School. In many cases, they don't value education; they may not even have a single book or even magazine in their home. At present, half of the kids in that town drop out of high school before they graduate; the other half don't exactly "make it," either. The expectation for any of the kids out there is so low that adults think it's praiseworthy if they merely stay out of a gang, don't get pregnant, and go into a trade - any trade, including landscaping.
These computers, coupled with the courseware and teacher-training that we will provide along with them, will work to nullify all of that negative influence in this one generation. That is what is so exciting to me. For one thing, the lessons are interactive and thrilling. Have you ever seen a 4th grader, even a nice middle-class one, sit still for 90 minutes? I've been a teacher for a dozen years now, and two weeks ago was my first time. I saw 25 migrant children sit still for that long while the Waveplace founder, Tim Falconer, led them through a fun - very fun - lesson where they learned artistic design on the computer, basic code-writing, and high school geometry. This is not exaggeration. I was right there.
You know me a bit by now: I wouldn't bother with this project were it not going to absolutely, fundamentally disrupt the status quo - in this case my favorite ax to grind, education. It is. We are destroying and rebuilding simultaneously. I thought this would happen when I first learned about the XO 4 years ago; in the past few months, with our pilots in the Islands, I heard about its actually coming to pass; in the past two weeks, I have seen it in action.
Within a very short time, beginning June first, there will be no reason left for the poorest children in America to be less well-educated than the wealthiest. Of course there will be problems and disappointments - maybe even scandal; no, certainly even scandal. But we'll trudge on regardless.
110 years ago, in 1898, children were working in mines for pennies a day. 60 years ago, in 1948, black children in one third of our nation were not allowed to use the same restrooms and water fountains or go to the same schools as whites. Today, in 2008, there are poor children across our country who have no reasonable hope of attending college if they so choose.
What will we say in 2048? In 2098? I'm incredibly optimistic.
Friday, March 7, 2008
One Laptop Per Child on 60 Minutes
This week, my friend Tim Falconer, Founder and President of the Waveplace Foundation(http://www.waveplace.org/), joined us in Naples, Bonita, and Immokalee to help me get the ball rolling on Waveplace South Florida.
Before you continue, I suggest you watch this segment from "60 Minutes" featuring the laptops that we're bringing to our part of the state: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/20/60minutes/main2830058.shtml?source=search_story
Now, some more details:
- I'm on the board of the Waveplace Foundation. Its founder, Tim, is owner of a software design firm in Pennsylvania. I'm the only board member in Florida.
- Waveplace has created curriculum and software to go with the XO laptops they feature on "60 Minutes." We provide teachers with that software and curriculum for their students, and we train teachers in how to use that software and curriculum.
- We have a 10-week pilot almost wrapped-up in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Another has been underway for two weeks in Haiti. #3 will be in St. Vincent, U.S. Virgin Islands. The fourth and final pilot class will be in Immokalee, from June 1st through August 10th.
- Waveplace's area of focus is the Caribbean. Tim explains the whys of that very well on the Waveplace site. When he asked me to join the board, I said, "Well, I really appreciate what you're doing, but I want to brings those computers to the kids of South Florida, particularly Immokalee, and I can't afford to be distracted from that goal. If Waveplace could include our region in its scope of endeavor, then sure, I'm in!" I made my pitch - that our economy is blighted by tourism just as are Jamaica, St. John, etc., and that Immokalee is a land-locked island. I'll share more on that at a later time.
- In any event, Tim agreed, and his visit here this week confirmed his decision. We are talking about making Southwest Florida the "Caribbean" base of operations for the Waveplace Foundation. A number of factors make that attractive.
- John Lawson of the One-by-One Leadership Foundation (http://www.leadershipfoundations.org/Display.asp?Page=SWFLA) has been instrumental in connecting us to the right people to discuss funding and implementation locally. He is an integral part of our leadership here in South Florida.
- John is a good friend and a very good guy. (I don't share his religious agenda, however.) We featured him as a Neapolitan of Note in an early issue of our e-newsletter for Naples Social Action. You can read that issue here: http://naplessocialaction.org/Newsletters/Archive.html
- We're days away from officially establishing Waveplace South Florida (which we'll tie in some way to The Naples Institute) - an independent group closely-affiliated with Tim's Waveplace Foundation. We're going to hold our first organizational meeting next week. If you're interested in participating, please contact me: ted@naplessocialaction.org.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Forbes Mag. on Capitalism 2.0
Okay, okay, I know: Forbes Magazine doesn't even accept that Global Warming is a scientific fact; how can you take anything they say seriously? Kooky, that's how I'd have to describe Steve Forbes and his magazine. (More's the pitty: I'm a HUGE proponent of the flat tax!)
Well, that may be so. But you still may find this article on ethical companies interesting: www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0310/030.html.
(The last paragraph is a big let-down, sadly.)
Well, that may be so. But you still may find this article on ethical companies interesting: www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0310/030.html.
(The last paragraph is a big let-down, sadly.)
Neapolitans of Note Earl & Thelma Hodges (Part I)
The italicised portion of this entry was published in our e-newsletter, NSA Issue 14. Where the italics end, the unpublished portion of the story begins.
If you would like to subscribe to the NSA e-newsletter, email us at nsa@naplessocialaction.org.
Originally From: Earl - Tennessee / Thelma – Massachusetts
Neapolitans Since: 1955
Careers: Funeral Home Director / Nurse
The first thing you have to know about Earl and Thelma Hodges is, they’re good people.
They didn’t inherit a fortune or make it to the big time with an IPO. They don’t live in a castle in Port Royal, although their house is very nice. They drive a Dodge Caravan (Earl: “The stow-and-go seat sold me”), not a Rolls Royce. Themla works the cash registers most Thursdays in the White Elephant, NCH’s thrift shop (as do Ted’s Mom and stepfather). It’s Earl’s favorite place to shop. He loves the $1 name-brand shirts he often finds there.
Oh, and they have a university named after them: Hodges University, known as International College before their $12 million endowment last summer.
If any of this doesn’t add up, you haven’t been paying attention. Here’s a news flash: good things happen to good people. Specifically, if you spend your life giving more to your neighbors and community than you could ever get back, and if you build a business based on genuine relationships and personal integrity, then you, too, can give your fortune away some day.
Thelma and Earl met when they were introduced by Les and Betty Johnson in 1956 – Les was president of the Chamber of Commerce at the time. Earl was one of the few bachelors in the sleepy little fishing village of Naples; Thelma was one of the founding nurses at Naples Community Hospital. She had moved to Naples the year before from Massachusetts with her younger sister and a friend. They were staying right across an alley from Earl’s aunt and uncle. Thelma, no wilting flower, invited Earl to the Junior Women’s Club ball. There were plenty of single women in Naples at that time, but talking to Earl, it’s clear that wasn’t a distraction. “I was a bumpkin,” he says, still clearly grateful that Thelma took a liking to him 52 years ago. “I didn’t even own a watch.”
That bumpkin, mind you, had begun his business career at thirteen. Attending the funeral of a friend’s father, Earl was smitten by the hearse, and ended up talking to the undertaker through the entire service. He began working for that funeral director without pay until his one-year anniversary, when the owner handed him an envelope. Inside was one dollar. “It was okay that they didn’t pay me; I was getting an education. I was thrilled to get that dollar!”
Earl held numerous other jobs, served in the Maritime Service (the Merchant Marine) in World War II, joined the Army Reserve after the war, and served in grave registration for the Army in the Korean War.
Nothing Earl has ever done was simple, but nothing kept him from achieving his goals, either. For instance, he tried to sign up for military service during WWII, but he failed the physicals for the Marines, the Navy, the Army, and the Coast Guard, each time because he had too much protein in his urine. Undaunted, he befriended a nurse who advised him to drink lots of water before his physical, because that would dilute the protein in his system. He did, and passed the exam for the Maritime Service. He wanted to serve his country in the War, and he did. Earl Hodges doesn’t make excuses; he makes things happen.
Here’s another one. He moved to Naples, began work at Pitman’s Funeral Home, and married Thelma. It was supposed to take him four years to qualify for his own funeral director’s license, but Pitman didn’t have enough customers to qualify in one of those years (that’s how small Naples was back then), so it took him five years instead. During all that time, Earl built up a reputation around town as a man of honor, a good man who thought nothing of going the extra mile – or several extra miles – for his customers and his friends.
Finally, a funeral home operator from the Keys came to Naples with an eye toward opening a spot to compete with Pitman’s. Earl out-maneuvered the out-of-towner for the lot he was going to buy for his funeral home; he started his own business instead. “It was time,” he said. “The town was growing, and someone was going to enter the market anyway.”
Well, Mr. Pitman didn’t see it that way, so he badmouthed Earl around town – which blew up in his face, because everyone knew what a stand-up guy Earl was. Then, Pitman bought the lot south of the Hodges’ funeral home, and erected a mammoth billboard there to advertise his own business, blocking much of Earl’s visibility from the street. Again, it backfired.
“I would have gladly paid rent on that sign,” he laughs. “Folks in town thought that was unfair, so it helped us a lot.”
Says Earl, “I don’t believe in cut-throat business practices. Pitman did, and it hurt his business. A lot.”
Things got better from there. Naples grew, and with it, the Hodges’ fortunes. They ended up with a number of funeral homes, including some in other parts of the state, a memorial garden, and two crematoriums. A look at Earl’s resume shows he founded or served on the boards of a few local banks, and he and Thelma invested a bit in property, as well.
Things didn’t happen overnight for these two. They lived over their funeral home from 1960 to 1976, when they bought their current home for $156,000. (It’s worth a bit more today.) Thelma continued working up until their move. In other words, Thelma and Earl Hodges are the spitting image of Stanley and Danko’s Millionaire Next Door.
More than the business success, though, when you talk to the Hodges, you hear again and again about their involvement in philanthropy. Thelma has been active in thirteen area nonprofits; Earl, twenty-nine.
A very partial list for Thelma: she seems to have served in every officer position of the NCH Auxiliary. She has been president of the Junior Women’s Club and Visiting Nurse’s Council, and she was chairman of Bazaar Luncheons. She is presently Chairman of the Old Timers’ Association (yes, there really is an Old Timers’ Association in Naples). Every month, she and her friends still meet at the Women’s Club downtown.
Earl has served as Past President of the Naples Area Chamber of Commerce, Naples Shrine Club, United Way of Collier County (where he was also Campaign Chairman), and Collier County Junior Deputies’ League, which works with forth and fifth graders – he remains a director of this organization. He also served as Chairman of the Collier County Red Cross for ten years, and spent another ten years as president of Swamp Buggy Days, where he is Chairman Emeritus.
And there’s more… and more… for each of them. The bottom line? The Hodges aren’t just people who decided to have a university named after them. More accurately, their incredibly active civic engagement over the past fifty-plus years is why the university now bears their name. The horse came before the cart, you could say.
But we had one question that really needed answering: Why the university? With all of these great causes, why donate such a large sum to one particular organization, and why that one in particular?
“Because Terry (President Terry McMahan) broke Earl down,” Thelma quips with a sparkle in her eye that reminds us of a much, much younger version of Ted’s Grandma.
She continues, “People are very impressed with the money, but I have two jobs now because Earl gave all our money away.”
…And that about sums it up for this feature. To read more about Earl and Thelma – and there is a lot more that we mean to share about these two wonderful Neapolitans – keep opening your email from Naples Social Action. We’ll be running another feature on the Hodges soon, focusing next time on their passionate interest in their namesake, Hodges University.
If you would like to subscribe to the NSA e-newsletter, email us at nsa@naplessocialaction.org.
Originally From: Earl - Tennessee / Thelma – Massachusetts
Neapolitans Since: 1955
Careers: Funeral Home Director / Nurse
The first thing you have to know about Earl and Thelma Hodges is, they’re good people.
They didn’t inherit a fortune or make it to the big time with an IPO. They don’t live in a castle in Port Royal, although their house is very nice. They drive a Dodge Caravan (Earl: “The stow-and-go seat sold me”), not a Rolls Royce. Themla works the cash registers most Thursdays in the White Elephant, NCH’s thrift shop (as do Ted’s Mom and stepfather). It’s Earl’s favorite place to shop. He loves the $1 name-brand shirts he often finds there.
Oh, and they have a university named after them: Hodges University, known as International College before their $12 million endowment last summer.
If any of this doesn’t add up, you haven’t been paying attention. Here’s a news flash: good things happen to good people. Specifically, if you spend your life giving more to your neighbors and community than you could ever get back, and if you build a business based on genuine relationships and personal integrity, then you, too, can give your fortune away some day.
Thelma and Earl met when they were introduced by Les and Betty Johnson in 1956 – Les was president of the Chamber of Commerce at the time. Earl was one of the few bachelors in the sleepy little fishing village of Naples; Thelma was one of the founding nurses at Naples Community Hospital. She had moved to Naples the year before from Massachusetts with her younger sister and a friend. They were staying right across an alley from Earl’s aunt and uncle. Thelma, no wilting flower, invited Earl to the Junior Women’s Club ball. There were plenty of single women in Naples at that time, but talking to Earl, it’s clear that wasn’t a distraction. “I was a bumpkin,” he says, still clearly grateful that Thelma took a liking to him 52 years ago. “I didn’t even own a watch.”
That bumpkin, mind you, had begun his business career at thirteen. Attending the funeral of a friend’s father, Earl was smitten by the hearse, and ended up talking to the undertaker through the entire service. He began working for that funeral director without pay until his one-year anniversary, when the owner handed him an envelope. Inside was one dollar. “It was okay that they didn’t pay me; I was getting an education. I was thrilled to get that dollar!”
Earl held numerous other jobs, served in the Maritime Service (the Merchant Marine) in World War II, joined the Army Reserve after the war, and served in grave registration for the Army in the Korean War.
Nothing Earl has ever done was simple, but nothing kept him from achieving his goals, either. For instance, he tried to sign up for military service during WWII, but he failed the physicals for the Marines, the Navy, the Army, and the Coast Guard, each time because he had too much protein in his urine. Undaunted, he befriended a nurse who advised him to drink lots of water before his physical, because that would dilute the protein in his system. He did, and passed the exam for the Maritime Service. He wanted to serve his country in the War, and he did. Earl Hodges doesn’t make excuses; he makes things happen.
Here’s another one. He moved to Naples, began work at Pitman’s Funeral Home, and married Thelma. It was supposed to take him four years to qualify for his own funeral director’s license, but Pitman didn’t have enough customers to qualify in one of those years (that’s how small Naples was back then), so it took him five years instead. During all that time, Earl built up a reputation around town as a man of honor, a good man who thought nothing of going the extra mile – or several extra miles – for his customers and his friends.
Finally, a funeral home operator from the Keys came to Naples with an eye toward opening a spot to compete with Pitman’s. Earl out-maneuvered the out-of-towner for the lot he was going to buy for his funeral home; he started his own business instead. “It was time,” he said. “The town was growing, and someone was going to enter the market anyway.”
Well, Mr. Pitman didn’t see it that way, so he badmouthed Earl around town – which blew up in his face, because everyone knew what a stand-up guy Earl was. Then, Pitman bought the lot south of the Hodges’ funeral home, and erected a mammoth billboard there to advertise his own business, blocking much of Earl’s visibility from the street. Again, it backfired.
“I would have gladly paid rent on that sign,” he laughs. “Folks in town thought that was unfair, so it helped us a lot.”
Says Earl, “I don’t believe in cut-throat business practices. Pitman did, and it hurt his business. A lot.”
Things got better from there. Naples grew, and with it, the Hodges’ fortunes. They ended up with a number of funeral homes, including some in other parts of the state, a memorial garden, and two crematoriums. A look at Earl’s resume shows he founded or served on the boards of a few local banks, and he and Thelma invested a bit in property, as well.
Things didn’t happen overnight for these two. They lived over their funeral home from 1960 to 1976, when they bought their current home for $156,000. (It’s worth a bit more today.) Thelma continued working up until their move. In other words, Thelma and Earl Hodges are the spitting image of Stanley and Danko’s Millionaire Next Door.
More than the business success, though, when you talk to the Hodges, you hear again and again about their involvement in philanthropy. Thelma has been active in thirteen area nonprofits; Earl, twenty-nine.
A very partial list for Thelma: she seems to have served in every officer position of the NCH Auxiliary. She has been president of the Junior Women’s Club and Visiting Nurse’s Council, and she was chairman of Bazaar Luncheons. She is presently Chairman of the Old Timers’ Association (yes, there really is an Old Timers’ Association in Naples). Every month, she and her friends still meet at the Women’s Club downtown.
Earl has served as Past President of the Naples Area Chamber of Commerce, Naples Shrine Club, United Way of Collier County (where he was also Campaign Chairman), and Collier County Junior Deputies’ League, which works with forth and fifth graders – he remains a director of this organization. He also served as Chairman of the Collier County Red Cross for ten years, and spent another ten years as president of Swamp Buggy Days, where he is Chairman Emeritus.
And there’s more… and more… for each of them. The bottom line? The Hodges aren’t just people who decided to have a university named after them. More accurately, their incredibly active civic engagement over the past fifty-plus years is why the university now bears their name. The horse came before the cart, you could say.
But we had one question that really needed answering: Why the university? With all of these great causes, why donate such a large sum to one particular organization, and why that one in particular?
“Because Terry (President Terry McMahan) broke Earl down,” Thelma quips with a sparkle in her eye that reminds us of a much, much younger version of Ted’s Grandma.
She continues, “People are very impressed with the money, but I have two jobs now because Earl gave all our money away.”
…And that about sums it up for this feature. To read more about Earl and Thelma – and there is a lot more that we mean to share about these two wonderful Neapolitans – keep opening your email from Naples Social Action. We’ll be running another feature on the Hodges soon, focusing next time on their passionate interest in their namesake, Hodges University.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
"The Predatory Foundation"
The following is from an email I sent to an acquaintance, in reply to her sensing I'm not fond of an organization here in Naples. I feel compelled to share this, even though I should just go for a run and burn off my bad thoughts instead. Yes, I suppose I can delight in being petty, just like anyone.
I've blocked out the name of the organization and people to which I refer, because I'm not comfortable saying bad things about others.
Hi Pal,
As for the XXXXXXX Foundation.... I try to bite my tongue and not badmouth anyone - it's been a successful strategy of mine and useful in my career, even if it's not always easy. I'll tell you, though, I genuinely believe that I'm being intentionally snubbed by __________ (their executive director) and her colleagues. Jane and I met with xxxxxxx ( a pleasant guy) and _____'s #2 (whose name escapes me) when we were first starting the Coiné Foundation about 18 months ago. Our temperaments couldn't be more different, and I think this lady decided not to be engaged with us on any level at that point. We were clearly like oil and water. I act quickly and decisively, which is how I've built the Coiné Companies and NSA in such a short time: why plod when you can gallop? Some people admire that, others don't get it - or me. I don't worry too much about the latter.
Maybe part of the problem is that we don't want to accept charity from them - NSA is completely out of pocket, and we haven't even bothered completing our 501(c)3 application, because the three of us involved don't know how to ask others for donations in any event - it would just be a waste of money and a lot of rigmarole at this point, though we're open to changing our minds at a later date. All we would want from the XXXXXXX Foundation, actually, is to help them by promoting their events through our calendar and by helping the organizations they serve. As you know from your nonprofit, we try to be useful friends to have.
I have a few friends at some of the more influential foundations and nonprofits who find them arrogant and difficult to deal with. They seem to be good at attracting affluent donors, though. Perhaps that's why one such friend has dubbed them "The Predatory Foundation," although I haven't had enough experience with them to know about that myself. All I know is that I have a strong distaste in my mouth, based on, as I said, this cold-shoulder treatment. It's gotten to the point that I find _____________ unprofessional, and I'd tell her so to her face (thus I'll write it in this email) if we ever met.
Wow, what a lot of bile! I'm sorry for sharing such poison with you.
Maybe I've just insulted your friends. If so, I apologize. And to be fair, I do have other friends who regard them highly. I think my opinion is biased by my personal experience - or should I say, lack of experience? - with them.
Enough of that! I'll be pleasant now, I promise.
I've blocked out the name of the organization and people to which I refer, because I'm not comfortable saying bad things about others.
Hi Pal,
As for the XXXXXXX Foundation.... I try to bite my tongue and not badmouth anyone - it's been a successful strategy of mine and useful in my career, even if it's not always easy. I'll tell you, though, I genuinely believe that I'm being intentionally snubbed by __________ (their executive director) and her colleagues. Jane and I met with xxxxxxx ( a pleasant guy) and _____'s #2 (whose name escapes me) when we were first starting the Coiné Foundation about 18 months ago. Our temperaments couldn't be more different, and I think this lady decided not to be engaged with us on any level at that point. We were clearly like oil and water. I act quickly and decisively, which is how I've built the Coiné Companies and NSA in such a short time: why plod when you can gallop? Some people admire that, others don't get it - or me. I don't worry too much about the latter.
Maybe part of the problem is that we don't want to accept charity from them - NSA is completely out of pocket, and we haven't even bothered completing our 501(c)3 application, because the three of us involved don't know how to ask others for donations in any event - it would just be a waste of money and a lot of rigmarole at this point, though we're open to changing our minds at a later date. All we would want from the XXXXXXX Foundation, actually, is to help them by promoting their events through our calendar and by helping the organizations they serve. As you know from your nonprofit, we try to be useful friends to have.
I have a few friends at some of the more influential foundations and nonprofits who find them arrogant and difficult to deal with. They seem to be good at attracting affluent donors, though. Perhaps that's why one such friend has dubbed them "The Predatory Foundation," although I haven't had enough experience with them to know about that myself. All I know is that I have a strong distaste in my mouth, based on, as I said, this cold-shoulder treatment. It's gotten to the point that I find _____________ unprofessional, and I'd tell her so to her face (thus I'll write it in this email) if we ever met.
Wow, what a lot of bile! I'm sorry for sharing such poison with you.
Maybe I've just insulted your friends. If so, I apologize. And to be fair, I do have other friends who regard them highly. I think my opinion is biased by my personal experience - or should I say, lack of experience? - with them.
Enough of that! I'll be pleasant now, I promise.
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