December 6, 2024 • 57 mins
Executive Director Chris Blum of the Heartland Cancer Foundation joins us for an intimate conversation about his journey from Omaha and Council Bluffs to leading a nonprofit dedicated to supporting cancer patients in Nebraska. Chris opens up about his unique upbringing and how it has shaped his perspective and approach to leadership. We explore the critical mission of the Heartland Cancer Foundation, which alleviates the financial burden of cancer patients by helping cover essential expenses like mortgage and utility bills. Highlighting the importance of keeping operations local, Chris shares insights into the vital role that volunteers play in sustaining the foundation's impactful work.
Transitioning from a fulfilling 25-year career with the Boy Scouts, Chris shares how his experiences in fundraising, leadership, and volunteer recruitment seamlessly translated into his current role. In a touching story from his Boy Scouts days, Chris recalls a summer camp where a staff member helped his son overcome a fear of swimming, underscoring the power of positive interactions and shared memories. This episode is a heartfelt reminder of how creating lasting, meaningful experiences can impact individuals and communities, inspiring us all to strive for a greater positive impact.
Networking and strategic planning are at the heart of the Heartland Cancer Foundation's success, as Chris explains how forming genuine connections transforms event attendees into long-term supporters. From the annual Mardi Gras Gala to partnerships with local organizations, Chris outlines the foundation's strategic approach to fundraising. As we wrap up, we discuss various ways to engage with the Heartland Cancer Foundation, including volunteering and workplace campaigns, emphasizing the importance of involving younger generations in meaningful activities. Join us as we celebrate the power of community and the difference each of us can make.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to another episode of Stay Modern with
Murray, brought to you by MurrayCustom Homes, where we build
your dream home together.
Now sit back, buckle up andenjoy the ride with your host,
matt.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Murray, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining
us on another episode of StayModern with Murray.
I am your host today, matthewTaylor pinch, hitting for Matt
Murray.
Today, our special guest isChris Blum, with the executive
director of the Heartland CancerFoundation.
I'm also joined with JonahHamilton, our VP of sales.
Chris, how we doing today, manDoing great.
(00:35):
It's Friday.
It's Friday, that's favorite,jonah.
How's your week been, man?
I feel like we haven't touchedbase all week.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Good, we're going smooth over here.
Things are still steady, and Ithink this is the time of year
for us where people are usingthe winter to start thinking
about ideas and stuff, so we'regetting a lot of people reaching
out, so it's good.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, man, december already.
Christmas is right around thecorner.
Is everybody ready for that?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
No, nope.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Keep that snow away.
Yeah, dude, we have beenspoiled, though, if you really
start thinking about it.
I mean we had a pretty decentNovember.
I remember Halloween gettingcanceled when I was a kid
because there was so many feetof snow out and they had to
cancel trick-or-treating when Iwas younger.
So I think we've been kind ofspoiled here.
Chris man, just to kind of kickthings off, can you tell us a
(01:24):
little bit about yourself, whereyou're from, where you grew up,
what was your family life likeand kind of how you got to where
you are today?
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Sure, Well, I was born in Omaha, South Omaha, so
in some circles I'm an SOB.
You can take that either way.
If you're from South Omaha youknow what that means, Lived
there till about, I think, 1977,and we moved across the river
to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and sothat's where I kind of grew up.
But my grandparents were stillin South Omaha, so, Husker fan I
(01:54):
grew up.
We moved from the city to thecountry because we moved to a
dirt road it was a gravel roadand so went to Council Bluffs,
Lewis Central, played golf, rancross country, had a mom, dad,
younger sister families.
When I lived in Omaha it wascome home in the streetlights,
(02:16):
but we didn't have streetlightsin Council Bluffs, so it was
come home when the porch lightcomes on or come home when your
friend's parents get tired ofyou at their house.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I coach a lot of baseball man.
We play a lot up in CouncilBluffs and there's one Sonic
that we always try to stay awayfrom up there right across the
river, so I'm well-versed onthat side of things over there
too.
Yeah, man.
Well, for all of our listenerswho might not be familiar with
the foundation, can you kind ofbreak down what the purpose and
the mission is and kind of whatyour role specifically is there?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Sure Well, the Heartland Cancer Foundation is
based here in Lincoln.
It was started in 2008 by somedoctors and administrators at
Cancer Partners of Nebraska Backthen I think they're I don't
remember what the name of theclinic was I always mess it up,
but it's Cancer Partners ofNebraska Now and the mission is
to help cancer patients withtheir immediate financial needs
(03:12):
so that they can focus onhealing.
So we provide grants topatients to cover their mortgage
, their car payments, theirutilities or their travel
expenses to and from treatment,and those are bills that when
you get a cancer diagnosis, thebank doesn't care.
They're going to want theirmortgage payment.
They're going to want their carpayment.
(03:33):
So we're able to provide grantsto patients to cover those
bills while they're goingthrough treatment Based right
here in Lincoln, and we've givengrants to patients in 39
counties in Nebraska, and so aslong as you are a resident of
Nebraska and you're eligiblefinancially, you get a grant.
(03:53):
We've never denied anybody agrant who's been eligible, so
that's something we're prettyproud of.
We've been able to fulfill thefinancial commitments and the
requests.
My role as the executivedirector.
It varies from day to day.
Most days, it's talking tofolks like yourselves, to talk
(04:14):
about our mission to help withawareness also help raise some
money and help find volunteers.
We are always promoting for ourspecial events that we run
because that's how we raise themoney to fund the grants.
So a lot of days there's somegovernance things in there.
(04:36):
We just had a board meeting sowe approved all those fun stuff
like budgets and where we'regoing and strategic plans.
You've got to pay the bills.
Keep the lights on.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Matt's got an annual recap for you guys that you you
do take a look at that type ofstuff.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Yep, we've got a quarterly board meeting, so our
board is all local.
So all the decisions, all thedecisions are made here locally,
all the money is given out herelocally.
So that's the other thing we'repretty proud of and that's, I
think, what sets us apart aswell is.
That's the other thing we'repretty proud of and that's, I
think, what sets us apart aswell is research and everything
about cancer is important, butthat money doesn't necessarily
(05:11):
stay here, so we're excited thateverything is handled locally.
We've got a small staff there'smyself and three others that
run the whole show, that run thewhole, the whole show.
We have a volunteer guild ofabout 30 or 40, uh ladies who
they plan 95% of our Mardi Grasgala, from the decorations to
(05:31):
the menu, to, uh, the events andthings that are going on, to
securing all the raffle item orthe silent auction items, the
live auction items.
So, uh, without them it would,it would be an impossible task,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So you, you had hit something right when you first
started talking about thissecond segment here.
You know the bank doesn't carethat you were diagnosed with
cancer.
I can't imagine.
I mean it's a fulfilling job,right, Like everything that you
do has a purpose.
You're building towardssomething bigger than just
yourself, and that's kind ofJonah and I talk a lot about
this off topic outside of work,but what we're doing is helping
(06:08):
people's dreams come true.
Right, you are in a positionthat's almost thankless, right?
I mean, that's kind of aroundabout way to put it You're
helping people in the back sideof things.
They're never going to see you.
I'm guessing face to face, IfJonah's diagnosed with cancer
(06:30):
today, he's not going to knowthat Chris is the one that's
kind of helping him.
Go along those lines, I wouldimagine.
Right, Sure, yes.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Very, very true.
Yes and no, I guess.
So we do have.
I have met some of our patientsat some of the open houses and
things and community booths thatI've done over the last few
years.
I've had people come up to meand say you saved my life or
this organization has saved mylife.
So that's an opportunity whereI get to meet them.
(06:56):
We actually have a few of ourpatients every year who are
willing to share their story.
They come and speak at ourMardi Gras and talk to our
donors about the impact that, uh, that our grants have helped
helped with them.
Um so, yeah, there's, uh, I'vegot a wall in our office of
thank you notes of of ourpatients who have sent us and
their families who have sent usa thank you notes for, uh, for
(07:18):
helping them.
Um so, uh, but yeah, a lot of alot of our patients they don't
know who I am.
They know who Rochelle Essay is,because they're dealing with
her or their family are dealingwith her getting the grants and
she's the one that gives out allthe money and sends them all
the letters of hey, you got agrant, here's your money, and
(07:39):
actually we actually help them.
Also we pay the bills for them.
So we give them the grant, uh,in theory, but we're not sending
them a check.
We're, uh, rochelle's, workingwith them like, okay, who's,
who's your mortgage company,we'll pay.
We'll pay your mortgage or yourrent for you, um, for so, so
many months, and that allowsthem to even put more focus on
(08:01):
their medical portion ofeverything.
Yes, I'd imagine yeah, becausewe we never want a patient to
make the choice of do I pay formy medicine or my rent or my
heat?
So yeah, they don't necessarilyknow who I am and that's okay.
But if they've gotten, if thepatients have gotten help from
(08:21):
the foundation or the familiesthat have gotten help from us,
they know who the foundation is,they'll know who the board
members are, they'll know whoRochelle Essay is, before they
know who I am.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
You talked about eligibility.
Now I don't know how much youcan get into it or what you can
and can't say, but how doessomebody go about getting
eligible for this type offinancial help?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
So you can go online to heartlandcancerfoundationorg
and fill out an application.
Most of our patients comethrough us, through the social
workers and the nursepractitioners at the different
clinics Cancer Partners ofNebraska, nebraska Hematology,
oncology, bryan Health, chi.
So the social workers and thenurse practitioners.
(09:09):
They'll work with the patients.
They're aware of us and if theyknow that the patient is going
to need some financial help,they will submit the application
.
We take the federal povertyguidelines and we times those by
three.
We take the federal povertyguidelines and we times those by
three and that determines theeligibility.
(09:29):
We also, again, part ofRochelle's job and our board
program committee is they lookat all the applications that
come in and our approval processis all of like two days, so
it's a quick turnaround.
But they're also again, becauseit's local, they can look at
okay, well, this person's salarymight be $65,000, but they've
(09:50):
just got a cancer diagnosis andthey're not able to work or
they've got to work part-time,so that salary is going to be
cut in half.
So they look at that anddetermine the eligibility.
Gosh, I can't imagine.
We always try to work in favorof the patient.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, I'm sure it's.
Not every situation is blackand white.
It's probably a little bit ofgray in there from time to time.
Yes, there's always some gray.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
The nice thing is Rochelle and the program
committee.
We've got our guidelines andwe've got our mission.
So as long as we always leadwith the mission that keeps us
from well, we want to give thisspecial grant or this special
amount to do this.
That, as long as it comes backto the mission, it fits within
that mission.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
That usually helps make the decision for us um,
that usually helps make thedecision for us man.
I it is.
It is bananas to me to try tothink about, like what my, my
wife's Melissa, my daughter'sMadison, my son's Grayson.
To try to think about what lifewould be like First of all, you
know, worst case scenario if Iwas no longer here.
Secondarily, like if we weregoing through that, battling
(11:01):
through something like that.
Like the last thing you want towork or focus on is work and
finances.
Like you want to focus on yourhealth, you want to focus on
getting better.
You want to focus on yourfamily and I mean, who knows,
you know this could be the lasttwo weeks that you have with
somebody and the last thing youwant to have to worry about is,
like how is my family going tosurvive after this because of my
medical payments?
Or not even talking about yoursalary, like your, your family's
(11:24):
going to be stuck with thosebills unless you have some sort
of help.
Like that, right, that's gottabe.
And especially this time ofyear, like I'm sure you're,
you're working with countlessindividuals who have to worry
about that kind of stuff too.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Yeah, we uh.
We provide about 30 to 40grants a month, Wow.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
That was going to be my next question.
How often are you guys gettingthese applications?
Speaker 4 (11:45):
So we get applications every month and our
grant cycle runs for a whole 12months.
So if they're awarded a grantin October, we pay that grant
amount out over the 12 months.
Our grant size currently is$750, and for most of our
patients, uh, for rent, thatthat can be one to two to three
(12:07):
months.
Uh, we do know.
I do know one patient, um, shewas one that came up to me at
one point, um, and talked to meuh, the, the $500 grant that we
gave her at that time a coupleof years ago paid for six months
of her, of her rent, uh, whereshe was living.
So, uh, that was huge for forher.
(12:28):
So, um, uh, yeah, so we run, um, the grant cycle runs every
month.
They can, they can apply and uh, rochelle tracks all that,
gives all the grants out.
We've currently uh, throughthrough November, we've helped
254 patients with $198,469.
, so, um, you know, and so youmight be thinking, well, 254
(12:51):
times 750, that math doesn't addup.
Well, we haven't paid all thatmoney out yet.
So we're, you know, we're um,obligated to to fulfill grants
up to $750 per patient.
So, um, up to $750 per patient.
So, um, we're uh, yep, the needis always there and and uh,
we're just.
We've been fortunate andblessed through donors and a
(13:16):
committed board and hard workthat we've never had to say, ah,
we can't, we don't have themoney to fund this grant right
now, so, uh, wait till nextmonth.
Yeah, what was your life likebefore this?
(13:36):
What did you do before you wereexecutive director?
You know that they had firstaid training and a lot of our
manufacturing companies aroundLincoln and Nebraska making sure
that they were taking care oftheir workers.
He's probably watching you guyson site at the job Guaranteed.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, yeah, we had several.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
I had several conversations with the roofing
companies about are you sure youguys are tethered in?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Tied off and tied off .
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Oh, yep, yep, and it was amazing.
I would drive by differentroofing companies and I'm
looking up like no, you're not.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Doesn't look right?
Everybody but Murray Roofing.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
And then prior to that I spent a 25-year career
with the Boy Scouts all over thecountry.
I was kind of like Johnny Cashbecause I was everywhere South
Dakota, minnesota, michigan,ohio, texas and then back here
in Nebraska.
So I was doing a lot offundraising, executive
leadership, board development,volunteer recruitment, so the
(14:34):
skillset kind of justtransferred pretty easily to the
Heartland Cancer Foundation.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, from what I'm hearing, everything that's led
you to where you are now is thepeople business.
I wouldn't even say you knowthat you are a safety guy.
You are working for people.
They might not have thoughtabout it at that time but you
were, you know, helping themstay alive.
So, essentially in the peoplebusiness, from working with the
(15:00):
Boy Scouts and traveling and allthat, is there a certain memory
that kind of stands out.
A certain trip, that kind ofstands out something that you
know, where you look back andyou're like yeah, I did make a
difference in you knowso-and-so's life that day
Putting you on the spot.
Chris, that wasn't on the list.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
There are several of those.
I know not anything specificother than, like I said, when
folks have come up to me in thisjob and have said you've saved
my life.
When I was with the Boy ScoutsI did a lot of summer camps for
Cub Scouts and we traveledaround South Dakota.
(15:40):
We'd set up our little camp andkids would come and, uh, we'd
have, you know, a thousand kidsover the summer and I'd be in
Marshall, minnesota, and somekid.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Hey, mr Chris, you remember me no but yeah, buddy,
how you doing Uh day camp.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Uh and so, um, you know, those are the type of
things that uh have kind of overthe years and I'll probably
think as I'm driving out of heretoday, like, oh, I should have
shared that story.
Yeah, there's a lot of thoselittle things that come up.
I know just my kids' experienceas Cub Scouts.
(16:20):
We were at summer camp the firsttime as a first grader and you
got to take a swim test.
And he's freaking out becausehe's like I can't swim in water
over three feet, I can't do this.
So I mean he's having ameltdown and he's going from
kindergarten to first grade,never been at camp and I'm
(16:40):
thinking he's going to betraumatized.
Well, one of our staff memberscomes over and he taps on his
shoulder and he says, hey, I'vegot a special test just for you.
So he takes him over to thethree foot and he's like I just
need you to walk from one sideof the other to the other in the
three foot, you know back andforth.
And so he's walking and he'slike great, you passed, you got
your white swim badge and whichmeans you can't go anywhere but
(17:02):
the three foot in the water, butyou know he was.
He was so excited and um.
And then we later in the campwe were going to go on the canoe
but he didn't have his redbadge because he didn't know how
to swim, so he couldn'ttechnically go on the canoe.
And so he's like well, dad, Igot to learn how to swim, I got
to become a better swimmer, so Iget a swim, you know, a red
(17:23):
swim badge next year.
So just knowing that, thatstaff member who could have just
let the kid flip out, no, tookhim aside.
And that's just my kid, but Iknow that he's.
That's just kind of the youngmen and young women that are in
scouting and giving back.
(17:44):
So, yeah, that summer camp tripcost me a lot of money in swim
lessons for the next year and wewent back and he got his red
badge and we got in the canoeand so that was one story I
remember and I joke that yeah,people joke that scouting is
expensive.
Yeah, it cost me a few hundredbucks in swim lessons to swim
tactics and Rhonda.
Swim School, just so he couldgo in the canoe.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
That's you know.
Those are the type of thingsthat your boy's going to
remember forever too.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I was just going to say that I remember going to
summer camp and canoe is alwaysone of the things that stuck out
to me.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
I don't think they do those type of summer camp Like
okay, so I'm looking back onlike TV shows and movies and all
that.
Like okay, so I'm looking backon like TV shows and movies and
all that, like where you go andyou stay for weeks on end, you
know, like do they still do thatkind of stuff?
Speaker 4 (18:28):
Oh, I don't know, camp Kentucky, yeah, there are
some camps Something like that.
I don't think they spend morethan a week, but I'm yeah.
Yeah, most Boy Scout camps arestill a week long.
Camp Kentucky, through the YMCA, they've, I know that they've
done.
They've got, uh, horse campsand different, different theme
camps for the week.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
So I'm a big.
I'm a big component on makingmemories now that you can kind
of relay to your children when,when you're an adult, right Like
we talk a lot with previouspeople that have come in for
podcasts, you know, like um, uh,survivors and people that have
been through domestic violenceand all that, and we talk about
the vicious cycle.
(19:09):
But on something like this,that's also the flip script.
Right Like you can have thesememories that you created with
your son and then he can go onand your grandchildren someday,
and then their grandchildrensomeday.
Like there are positives andnegatives of everything.
And especially when you'retalking about something as
serious as cancer, like thereare, there are people like you
(19:30):
in this world that are going tomake, make a difference in other
people's lives for forgenerations and generations.
And again, going behind thescenes, you know they might not
know you as Chris, but they,they are going to remember that
somebody helped save their lifeand and that's got to come with
some great sense of of pride.
And and you are doing it theright way too, by going and
(19:52):
talking with people like Murray,custom homes, like I don't know
how you and Jonah met.
We can kind of get into thattoo, but without that
conversation.
You know you want to be heretoday.
Everything kind of happens fora reason, and I'm a big
component on on making people'slife different down the road.
I don't know, there are thingsthat I can do in a day that is
going to change somebody's life,but you are making such a
(20:14):
massive difference, and not justthe people that you meet, but
the entire community of Lincoln,nebraska, the surrounding area.
Hats off to you, man.
I don't know how people wouldbe able to survive without
somebody like you in the rolethat you're in.
Man, thank you, thank you foreverybody.
(20:35):
The amount of thank yous can'tgo a long enough way, so hats
off to you.
Um, with that being said, whatis a day in the life of an
executive director for thefoundation look like?
What?
What, outside of doing podcastsand radio interviews, what?
What does a day look like foryou?
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Well, it's a.
It's a lot like, um, probably asalesman or a customer service
rep.
So we're constantly talkingwith donors to either thank them
for their gift, renew theirgift.
We're constantly talking to newfolks about explaining, hey,
(21:16):
what we're doing for thefoundation, how they might be
able to help, trying to create apartnership, a synergy, to
create that relationship versus,hey, we got this event, can you
just write me a check?
Yeah, we've got some boardmembers that usually I've got a
call or two every day or everyother day with a board member
about they've got an idea of howwe could grow the foundation.
So we talk through that,through strategic planning.
(21:38):
There's a lot of networking typeevents that I attend just to
see and be seen and get thatmessage, that name out there.
A lot of times it's to followup.
Hey, I sent you an email.
Oh, yeah, I owe you thosevolleyball tickets for the
auction.
I need to get that informationto you.
(22:01):
Um, the day it's uh, it'sdefinitely not a behind the desk
type job, but there are dayswhere, okay, I'm, I'm writing
this proposal, uh, for the grantor for, uh, for the donor needs
a certain letter written acertain way, um, you know.
So that's uh, a lot um, a lotof strategic planning.
You know a lot of being focused, cause you can get um pulled in
a lot of different directions.
(22:21):
You know, as as every, in everybusiness or every organization
you've got, you know multiplecustomers calling you.
You really got to focus, okay,what you know, what do I need to
do?
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Yes, I could go do a B and C, but is it going to
ultimately get me in thefoundation, to our strategic
plan and our goals?
And that's where I think fromChris.
You brought this up earlier,matthew, but Chris and I met
through Center Sphere networkingopportunities here in town,
specifically at one of the golftournaments there.
We ended up playing togetherand everything.
But I think what that kind ofmade the impact on me was that a
lot of people, when they'remaking donations to foundations
(23:01):
and things like that at leastfrom my standpoint, and I think
that a lot of other peopleprobably feel this way they want
to see what that organizationis doing.
They don't just want to givemoney over and never really see
the impact of anything.
So what I think is so cool aboutyour role, chris, is that you
get to kind of give thefoundation a face.
And that's why, when I met himthrough Center Sphere, we
(23:22):
instantly connected that daythat we played golf and every
time I've seen Chris at anothernetworking event, we walk right
up to each other and just catchup like we are good friends.
But it's that instantconnection of oh yeah, chris is
out there helping thisfoundation and he's helping so
many people, and so for thosedonors and those people who are
involved with the foundation.
I think for you that's justsuch an important piece that
(23:44):
you're you're showing peoplewhat their, their donations are
doing.
The events that you guys put on, I think, are very helpful with
that and it really gives peoplea face to the foundation, I
think.
So that's kind of why I wasinstantly attracted to the work
that you did and I mean, we allknow somebody who's been
affected by cancer one way oranother, whether it's a friend
(24:05):
or a family member or personally.
You know somebody who actuallyhas cancer themselves.
So I think that was kind ofthat instant attraction to when
we met through through somenetworking and things like that.
But that's where, to me, yourrole is, uh, very, very vital
for, uh, giving the foundation aface and and letting people see
exactly what it is that theyget to do, that you guys get to
(24:26):
do with um patients and yourevents throughout the year and
stuff.
So that's that's kind of my myinsight on that piece.
Who's the better golfer?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
That day I think it was Jonah- it was a best ball
tournament, so we both threwhole one and two.
The only ones I can golf in arebest ball tournaments.
You have to be able to cipherthrough the BS.
Let's be real, right, like Imean, when you're talking about
federal funds, grants, money ingeneral, there has to.
Obviously, yes, there are huge,massive benefits to what you do
(24:56):
.
But who a part of your team?
Is there a team behind thescenes that go through and case
by case, because we talked abouteligibility, now that can't
just be like all right, my wageis here, so you're approved.
Do you have to?
Are there like interviews thatyou have to go through, or do
you handle that?
How does that go about?
Speaker 4 (25:13):
So most of our patients come through the nurse
practitioners and the socialworkers at the clinics that
they're working with, and sothey'll do a lot of so.
They would be our team wherethey kind of they know what our
guidelines are, they know whoshould apply, who shouldn't
apply, and then if they fitthose and they send the
(25:38):
application into Rochelle.
Rochelle looks at them.
If there is a question, shebrings our program committee,
which is made up of our boardmembers.
She'll bring them in and sayhere's the situation, yay or nay
, yeah, uh, so, uh, everybodythat really comes to us is pre,
(25:59):
already, pre-qualified.
Um, so that's.
You know, one of the one of thedays in my life is I, I go to
I'll go to Brian or cancerpartners and have a lunch and
learn with the staff to say,okay, here's, here's the
foundation, here's what we do.
Uh, because they To say, okay,here's the foundation, here's
what we do, because they've gotnew staff coming in all the time
.
They're ultimately your eyes,then they're our eyes, and so
(26:23):
kind of the way it works is ifthey've got a question, they'll
call me, or they'll callRochelle ahead of time.
Hey, I've got this patient orI've got this situation.
Where can I do we also get.
It goes back to that strategicplan and our mission.
We get a lot of calls for hey,my, we need a ride.
You know, can you help us witha ride?
(26:44):
Can you help us with clothing?
Or one of the questions we hada few years ago was wigs what do
you do with for wigs?
And so we actually have aresource page on our website
that, hey, while we can't helpyou with that, here's somebody
who might be able to.
Yeah, so we've tried to putthem in touch with the folks
(27:08):
that can help them out.
So, yeah, our team of folks isreally folks at Cancer Partners,
nho, nebraska CancerSpecialists, unmc, bryan, chi,
you know, or the differentclinics.
They'll have our brochure.
If they think a patient needsour help, they'll hand the
(27:28):
brochure to the folks.
Hey, have you looked into this?
Speaker 2 (27:33):
You're a brand ambassador in a sense?
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Yes, Uh, yep, uh and.
And Jonah said the face of theorganization, that's uh, uh.
That's why I'm on the podcast.
I've got a face for radio.
I say the same thing, uh, butbefore I came to work for the
foundation I'd never heard ofthem, uh and, and thankfully I
had never um needed to use them,to use them or know anybody
that needed to use them.
(27:56):
And that's not saying that mypredecessor just wasn't the face
she was.
I just I never saw her, but shewas very well connected in the
cancer partner world, the BryanHealth world.
So I would say like 85% of ourdonors and our partners now are
all from previous work.
(28:17):
So it's broadening that baseand the exposure to make folks
aware of it.
I mean because, like I said, Iwas here 10 years and I had
never, until I applied for thejob, I'd never heard of them.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
It couldn't have just been an IndeedSearchcom thing,
like how did you land there?
I mean you know, and I'm tryingto recall that.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
I want to say it might have been posted on
Association of FundraisingProfessionals, a group I'm in
because I was with the NebraskaSafety Council.
I was kind of looking for thenext thing A home yeah.
And I'm sure that's how thatpopped up or it might have
popped up on Indeed man.
(29:00):
I don't even remember, but Iread it and I remember it would
just kind of click like, yeah, Ican do this.
Yeah.
And then it's funny, as I gotthe job and I took over for Amy
Green, I'm sitting with Amy andI'm like man, I know, I know her
and I realized that I had,after talking to her and finding
(29:21):
out that her husband was NateGreen, who's one of the doctors
at Cancer Partners, I'm likeyour son's an Eagle Scout.
She's like, yeah, I'll be dang.
Oh my gosh, I signed his EagleScout application when I was the
scout executive here.
So, uh, so I'm like that'swhere I know, that's where I
recognize the name.
And then, as I start going downthe donor list, several of the
donors are connected to me.
(29:42):
When I was with the Boy Scoutsand, um, and so like Cornhusker
Bank is is our bank at thefoundation, they were a friend
of mine at.
You know, they were a supporterwhen I was at the?
Uh, the Boy Scouts, um, youknow, you know they were a
supporter when I was at the?
Uh, the boy Scouts, um.
You know, brian health was ahuge partner at the Nebraska
safety council.
So, uh, it's a small world.
It was all interconnected and Istarted to realize, yeah, I
(30:03):
know several of these, thesepeople, I know several of the
organizations, um, through my,through my other nonprofit work.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
So, man, that's uh what.
It's the biggest, smallest townI've ever lived in Lincoln.
I actually just heard that theother day.
That's funny.
So, true though, man, it reallyis Yep Centisphere.
Uh, so you've you've had a lotof connections through
Centisphere, man Center, center,fear center sphere Yep Um how
long have you been a part ofthat networking group, chris,
(30:31):
and and and?
is there any advice that youwould give to somebody that's
looking to and networking in myrealm isn't just getting some A
put with B with Murray CustomHomes, it's also selfishly.
I enjoy the getting to knowdifferent people.
Again, going back to, we're inthe people business, but what
advice would you give a youngprofessional who's trying to
(30:54):
expand his horizons and meet newpeople?
Speaker 4 (30:56):
So I, I joined center sphere, I think in April of
this year.
Um, again, I was uh, I've beenin chamber and other other
networking groups throughout mycareer uh, service clubs, rotary
.
Um, I was actually kind oflooking for, um, what's next?
Cause I I can get very, I wasgetting very bogged down.
(31:17):
Hey, I can go in the office, Ican make my calls, I can do my
emails, I can do my proposals, Ican see the people, my current
donors.
I was getting kind ofcomfortable.
So I'm like I need to dosomething that helps me broaden
the exposure and that can bestrategic.
It helps me broaden theexposure and that can be
strategic.
So I actually had a couple ofpeople that invited me to some
(31:38):
center sphere meetings in Omaha.
Oh, I didn't realize that thisis kind of cool, but Omaha is
not really our foundation marketyet and we got chapters in
Lincoln.
So that's how I joined and Ifound a group that I just kind
of clicked with, and you know.
So the nice thing is it's aboutmeeting and it's about
(32:00):
developing a relationship versushey, here's my business card,
let's do business.
I mean, there are those folksbut they don't last really long.
It's about you know who are you, you know what's your parent,
what's your spouse's name, kid'snames.
You know we are you, you knowwhat's your parent, what are
your, what's your spouse's name,kids' names yeah, you know, we
all got a life outside of work,and so that's the nice thing
about Center Sphere is, I feellike I know sometimes I know
(32:23):
more about the Center Spheremembers in my chapter than I do
my spouse and my kids.
They're like what's your kiddoing?
I'm like I don't know what dayis it.
But you know, ask me aboutAshley's daughter.
Yeah, she's playing.
One's playing volleyball, oneplays basketball, you know, and
so I would.
I would just say, you know, fora young professional, you got to
(32:44):
get out and get out of yourcomfort zone and and meet, meet
folks, groups like Center Sphereor whatever networking group.
You got to be strategic withyour time because you could.
You can go to a networkingmeeting every day of the week
here in Lincoln.
Or in the summertime, you cango to a golf tournament every
day of the week.
But how are you going tomaximize that?
(33:04):
Going to the golf tournament,are you going to follow up with
the people you played with Inthe same tournament with the
same people?
That doesn't really help in mymind.
Same thing with networking.
You need to go with a purpose.
Is your purpose to?
I'm just going to grab a bunchof business cards.
Well, okay, that might work fora little while, but if you
(33:25):
don't know who you're grabbingthe business card from or why
you're grabbing the businesscard, it's probably not going to
help you, because the savvyfolks they're going to see right
through it.
Hey, he or she, they're justthere to sell me something To
get out of work for a couplehours, right, yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:41):
I always tell people personally, networking is one of
those things where I would notexpect anything within the first
year of joining something new.
I mean it's not about thoseweekly meetings or showing.
It's about the behind the scene, the showing up regularly and
building relationships withthose people and ultimately
earning trust.
Building trust by giving them.
I mean for you you mentionedearlier, chris, the connection
(34:06):
piece for you maybe it's notsomething directly that the
foundation does, but by beingable to still provide them a
link to something else.
Maybe that you guys don't offerdirectly that right there puts
trust in you guys, and I thinkthat that's you know how
networking really goes a longways, I think, is in the long
run.
It's not something that you'regoing to see a return on
investment within the firstmonth of doing something like
that, but ultimately therelationships are what is most
(34:27):
important.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Yeah, and it's for me .
As I was visiting the differentchapters, I found that, hey,
I've got a lot of connectionsalready.
I was one of the chapters.
We were at Home Federal SavingsBank and I'm like, well, yeah,
the CEO played in my golftournament.
They've done a sponsorship atone of our golf tournaments.
(34:48):
And I went to another meetingand found that Merle Collision
where we were just at last nightthey'd been a supporter of our
auction and so the Merleemployee at the event, they
didn't know anything about that.
So the the Merle um employee atthe at the event, they didn't
know anything about that.
So, again, it's making thatconnection.
I found that, oh, yeah, we've,we've done business with people
here, uh, the doorstep diner,right, we've, we've done
(35:10):
business, uh, for the foundation.
So it's about you know, uh,again putting that face and
making that, that connectionthat oh, wow, okay, okay, my
organization is helping out, oh,and this is Chris, this is how
this is helping out.
So, yeah, I'm kind of with youthat first year, don't expect,
but it's definitely with CenterSphere is, what I found is, if
(35:34):
you do something in your chapter, they're going to show up.
Yeah, I joined in April and wetalked about a golf tournament
and two of my two of my um uhfolks in the chapter they did a
whole sponsorship.
I needed to fill a couple spotson the uh, on the foursome.
So I reached out hey, you'llopen, and uh, and they were able
to play.
So those are the type of thingsthat um uh you, you find out
(35:58):
through whatever group you're in.
You know are they?
Are they there for you as aperson?
Uh, first, you know, uh, or arethey just there to help your
business out?
You know, cause I mean honestlynot everybody's going to want
to buy a home right away or, youknow, be in a position to to
have a, uh, a custom built home,yeah Right, but, uh, but they
(36:19):
might know somebody, or you knowthey'll.
You know, down the road, hey, Iknow I need something help with
my house.
Jonah's in that industry.
I'll call Jonah.
Hey, who do you know that?
Can you know fix my plumbing ora water heater, or?
And then, if you get that name,you call somebody.
Oh, you know, jonah, over atMurray Home, said I should give
you a call.
(36:39):
Oh, yeah, hopefully they takeyour call.
You know, right, right, right.
So, but yeah, the networking,it's about making connections
and definitely in Lincoln it's asmall town.
So I mean you know six degreesof separation, it's probably
four or five here in Lincoln,you know meeting somebody and
you can find a link to somebody.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
You get into it or you get out of it where you put
into it.
That was the first thing thatJonah was talking about when he
started going to thesenetworking groups is you know?
Yeah, you're right, it's notgoing to all happen at once, and
we were told that when we firststarted here two years ago, or
whatever you know you're goingto, it's going to take time, but
these relationships are goingto go far beyond just Murray
custom homes and Murray roofing.
Like, I see you online all thetime where somebody is asking
(37:23):
for this or that or this.
That has nothing to do withMurray custom homes, but you do
have those connections.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
You still have this Yep, I love those, those uh
opportunities that come up.
I the one that comes to my mindis uh, it's a Facebook group.
I think it's save Lincoln local.
I want to say it is, and it'sjust great to see all the people
posting on there and all therelationships that people have
with so many different people.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
We've talked about the golf tournaments I think
we've hit that nail on the headquite a bit throughout this
podcast but your organizationhosts several different outings
and gatherings throughout theyear.
Can you kind of elaborate onwhen, where and what we could
possibly do, or anybody could do, to help those take place?
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Yeah, so our signature event is our Mardi
Gras Gala.
That happens every February orMarch, depending on when Mardi
Gras happens.
This year's event, coming up in2025, is Saturday, February 8th
.
We're usually at the CornhuskerHotel because that's one of two
places in Lincoln right nowthat can hold 450 to 500 people.
(38:26):
It's a great night.
It's a Mardi Gras theme.
This year is our.
New Orleans in the RoaringTwenties is our theme.
So we've got a silent auction,a live auction.
Omaha Steaks is our filetmignon sponsor.
(38:54):
Love it Events usually raisesabout $250,000 to $275,000.
That's our largest fundraiserand it's just a fun event.
We've got table sponsorships.
We've got a bourbon streetsponsorship.
That's kind of one of oursignature events.
There is a bourbon poll, so forI think it's $75, you get your
(39:15):
chance to walk away with one of100 bottles of bourbon and I
think this year we're doing somesort of uh, I think it's a beer
pong.
So they're they've got glasseswith the numbers correlating to
the bourbon and you kind of, uh,throw the ping pong ball into
the glass and whatever number itlands in, that's the bourbon
you walk home with.
(39:35):
Very nice, um, and we've got youknow.
So our volunteers will donatebourbon, our board will donate
bourbon.
You know our friends at theStill and Hy-Vee.
They'll help us with purchasingsome hard-to-get bourbons, and
I'm not a bourbon drinker so Ihave no idea what the different
types are, but you know sothat's kind of a fun.
(39:58):
It's a fun night for yourspouses to get all gussied up.
Yeah, folks will come incostumes.
You know Union Bank is one ofour big sponsors Oncology Supply
for that event, so tablesponsorships are always good.
We do a golf tournament inAugust it's going to be August
(40:25):
18th at Firethorn again thisyear and that's an event that
always sells out, so that's onethat's not hard to fill.
Folks like to play Firethornand because we've got such a
track record a lot of times,it's renewing and making sure
that date fits into everybody'sschedule.
We also do a couple educationalsymposiums for the doctors and
(40:45):
the nurses in the oncology worldand we sell sponsorships for
that.
So the pharmaceutical companieswill provide a sponsorship to
provide an educational table andbe able to provide information
on the newest medicines andthings out there and available.
We do one of those here inLincoln in April and then we do
(41:07):
one out in Grand Island inSeptember and we actually
partner with the Grace CancerFoundation in Grand Island and
the Nebraska Cancer SpecialistHope Foundation out of Omaha,
because all three of us servepatients out there, and so we do
one event, we bring in all themoney and then we split it
equally three ways.
After all, the bills are paid.
(41:28):
So we're in our second yeardoing that and that's pretty
exciting because we're able tooffer donors three foundations
that you're going to supportwith one check.
So those are the major eventsthat we hold from a foundation
side.
(41:50):
But then we've got severalgroups that will hold
fundraisers in October.
For us, american MedicalImaging or Advanced Medical
Imaging does a breast cancerwalk.
Orange Theory did a fundraiserfor us.
They call it Hell Week duringOctober and everybody could work
(42:11):
out and donate.
And then they had one day wherethey did you wore pink while
you worked out.
Sandhills Global does aemployee matching campaign for
us.
U-stop did the kick it back twocents per gallon in October.
For us, st Mark's UnitedMethodist Church they do a
(42:31):
mission Sunday where we're thebeneficiary.
Super C is doing an eventcoming up next week where you go
into any of the Super C storesand donate a dollar and Super C
is going to match whateverraised over that week.
That's great.
So we've got a lot of groupslike that.
I'm probably missing one hereAutoConnection.
(42:53):
They did a Breaks for Breastsso they donated money based on
every break job they did.
In October, lincoln PoliceDepartment did a Pink patch sale
fundraiser for us.
So we've got a lot of thosethings that are great because
all we have to do is supportthem through social media and
word of mouth.
(43:14):
My wife's like do you have togive to every one of these?
We're going to go broke.
It's just good job securitydear.
So yeah, so we've got a lot ofthose type of things.
Then we do our annual giving,asking our donors to renew.
But yeah, that's the otherthing that attracted me to the
(43:37):
foundation is we don't do a lotof events.
While they're great, they'revery staff, uh, time, time,
heavily driven and and, uh, ifyou don't watch costs, uh, while
you raise a bunch of money, thethe net money isn't always
great.
So, um, uh, so we, like I said,we've got four events, uh that
we, we directly handle.
(43:58):
But, uh, our, our volunteerguild handles 95% of the work
for Mardi Gras.
So there, I just tell me whatyou need from me, and it's
usually you need this, we needthis bill paid, we need this
picked up.
Yeah, or I can't get this, Ican't get this handled during my
working hours.
Can can you go ahead and takecare of it?
(44:18):
So, yeah, those are our eventsand they're always well attended
, well done, they're a good time.
And then, once the event's over,part of my job is how do I turn
those attendees into volunteersand donors and partners?
Because a lot of folks arecoming on the company dime.
(44:39):
They're not writing theirpersonal check to come sit at
the table, so we're wanting toget them to make a donation
while they're there, you know,and figure out how the magic
happens after that.
How do we get somebody that'sattending the golf tournament to
chair the golf tournament orbecome a board member, you know?
Or how do we, how do we makethose connections?
(45:01):
You know, my, you know, uh,having my board members and my
volunteers introduce me topeople in the room, you know.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
So I think that Mardi Gras thing sounds like a blast.
I know it, I know it's for agreat cause, but it sounds like
a whole bunch of fun, you know.
Speaker 4 (45:24):
I love the roaring 20s.
That's Uh it, it is always.
It is always a good time.
This will be my third one andit's amazing that we decorate
the whole ballroom and it justtransforms the ballroom and the
lobby there at the Cornhusker.
That's like, wow, this reallylooks like New Orleans.
And yeah, some of the gals getall dressed up in costumes and
masks, and yeah, so it'sinteresting to.
Some of the gals get alldressed up in costumes and masks
, and yeah, so it's.
It's interesting to see whatthe Roaring Twenties are going
to look like.
(45:45):
I know one of the plans we'regoing to have like cardboard
boxes and make an entrance likeyou're walking into a speakeasy,
oh, yeah, and so which?
I'm like, wasn't that thethirties, when we had the?
Speaker 1 (45:57):
prohibition.
But all right, the twentiess,that'll work.
Speaker 4 (46:02):
So, yeah, it's a blast, it's a good time and I
always look.
Going back to the networking, Ialways look for seat fillers,
because we're always going tohave some sponsors that they're
going to write the check and,for whatever reason, they're not
going to be able to fill their10 seats at the table.
So I go through my RolodexRolodex that's probably dated me
, sorry about that.
I go through my contact list inmy phone.
(46:23):
Yeah, yeah, and who should I?
Oh, hey, jonah, and I reach out.
Jonah, you and your wife wantto come to a Mardi Gras gala.
This is the date, and so that's.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
I was just going to ask you that so.
Are these events open to thepublic, or are most of the seats
usually filled?
Speaker 4 (46:38):
specifically, so they're open to the public.
We usually try selling outsponsorships first, and that's
again through my experience.
I'd rather have the sponsormoney up front than the
individual seats.
So we'll work at sellingsponsorships first and then
we'll open up the individualseats.
We also our individual seatskind of run, I would say, on the
(47:03):
high end.
But uh, um, you know, that'swhy we try to get folks to uh,
find, find the company sponsorfor the table and then, um, and
then you can free up your cashfor uh, for the individual
donations and the fun stuff.
So, uh, it is open to thepublic.
Like I said, of the 50 tables wetry to sell, probably 35 to 40
(47:25):
of them will be sponsored tables.
That's great.
We actually have a couple ofour sponsor levels at the I
think the $1,500 level, whereone of the perks is that they
provide two tickets to MardiGras for the cancer patients.
Wow, awesome.
And so we will.
If we've got seats to fill, wewill reach out to some patients,
(47:46):
say, hey, would you beinterested in coming and having
a night out?
And some of them will.
And that's actually how acouple years ago we started to
bring cancer patients to speakto present their testimonial and
then they've really loved it.
Because they bring their spouse, they'll bring a couple of
their other family members.
We do offer a guild for ourguild members that are working
(48:11):
for the event.
We offer a special rate forthem, and so we extend that rate
to a couple of family membersof the cancer patients who are
willing to come or want to comeand enjoy the evening.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
I'd like to get involved with that.
So, whatever, we'll have Jonahreach out, set something up and
we'll see what we can do.
That sounds like a whole bunchof fun on a Saturday night, yeah
yeah, absolutely, we're alwayslooking for volunteers.
Speaker 4 (48:38):
Setting up isn't usually a problem.
The Guild loves to do that, thethe challenge we have is the
cleanup.
Uh, afterwards Nobody likes touh, stick, stick around and
clean up, but uh, uh, but weactually, um, we've got a, a
donor who, um, a couple of yearsago, was like, well, hey, I'd
like to help.
So he, he wrote us a check andhe's like, why don't you find
(49:03):
four groups and donate $250 toeach group that comes and helps?
So I said, yeah, we, we can dothat.
So, um, so if you've got asports team or a service, a
college, high school uh club,that, uh, that is interested, um
, we've got one spot left, uh,and all they got to do is bring
six people to volunteer aminimum of four hours, and that
(49:23):
can be either the Friday or theSaturday, and we usually feed
the volunteers some Valentino'spizza.
Depending on the role thatthey're doing, they might attend
the event, and some of thevolunteers are helping sell our
beads for our bead game or sellour luminaries.
So, yeah, it's a good time andwe'd love to have Murray Holmes
(49:49):
involved.
Have both of you guys involved,love to.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
Yeah, you can put the Lincoln Rebels down for cleanup
.
We'll help you tear down.
Lincoln Rebels baseball.
That's my guys.
What age I coached the eightsthis year?
Okay, All right.
I started with a group of youngmen when they were seven and
eight.
Speaker 4 (50:05):
Okay, nice, seven years ago Nice.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
And so they're moving off to high school next year.
So I started back over with myson.
There you go, yeah, so it's awhole bunch.
It's showing up on time, beingearly, running to your positions
, respecting the game,respecting your teammates.
I need to know that you'regoing to be held accountable for
your job so I can do mine.
It's bigger than baseball.
Love it.
Yes.
How can people get involved?
(50:29):
I know we talked about theseevents.
Outside of signing up for theevents and sponsorships, how can
our listeners get involved andconnect with the Heartland
Cancer Foundation?
Speaker 4 (50:39):
So they can go to heartlandcancerfoundationorg.
They can click on volunteer.
So there's ways to help.
You can volunteer through ourvolunteer guild.
You can make a donation,personal donation.
You can talk to your companyabout doing some sort of
campaign or event for theHeartland Cancer Foundation.
Uh, you can talk to your church, uh, about doing, uh, doing a
(51:02):
campaign for us.
If you're connected in aprofessional organization, a
service club, and you need aprogram speaker, I'm happy to
come in and speak and talk.
You know 15, 20 minutes aboutwhat the Heartland Cancer
Foundation does and is, and, um,you know, and you can always,
you can always write a blankcheck.
Happy to fill that out and Iwouldn't have to hold Mardi Gras
if somebody gives me that.
(51:23):
Warren Buffett's listening, ifyou want to send me a check,
warren.
So there'sheartlandcancerfoundationorg and
we'd love to find ways thatbest match your talents and
maximize your available time andthat fits with our our
strategic mission and uh so I'mgoing to put you on the spy here
(51:45):
.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
This one's not on the list, but looking back on on
everything that you know now,all the knowledge that you've
gained, all the people thatyou've helped, all the all the
kids that you've helped becomebetter young men, um, what's a
piece of advice that you wouldgive young Chris just starting
his professional journey?
I should start writing thesedown.
Speaker 4 (52:03):
This one Keep your mouth shut.
Speaker 3 (52:10):
Me too me too.
Speaker 4 (52:11):
That usually got me in trouble.
Probably trust your instincts.
And I had a boss early on tellme that, and it was like every
time I asked him for advice hewould tell me trust your
instincts.
I'm like just give me an answer, right, trust your instincts.
And the more I think about that, I even tell my son that when
(52:33):
he's like, he'll say somethinglike well, what do you think?
What's your gut, tell you.
And he's like dad, I'm skinny,I don't have a gut, what's your
what's?
your gut tell you and he's likedad, I'm skinny, I don't have a
gut.
What are your instincts?
You know?
You know, if, cause, ifsomething doesn't feel right or
something's fishy, you know, uh,uh, it's probably you're,
you're probably right.
So I would say, you know, trustyour instincts and then
probably just don't takeyourself too serious.
(52:55):
I uh, I look back and and allthe things.
You know that it was alwaysabout driving, getting the job
done, hitting the goal and andand not celebrating the wins and
, um, you know, and beatingmyself up too much.
I think that's, uh, you know,don a lot of, uh, a lot of
(53:19):
doctors and and medicalprofessionals that they're in
some serious.
They, they've got to have someserious conversations every day
and there's, I mean, they'redealing with life and death and
but outside of the office, youknow they're, they're fun,
loving people, they're, you know, um, you wouldn't, you wouldn't
understand you, you wouldn'tknow that they just had a, had a
tough conversation, you know,or they lost a patient, you know
(53:41):
.
So, like you know, nothing I dois life or death, I mean.
So I've tried to relax a littlemore, be a little not so
focused, you know, and celebratethe wins, take time, I mean,
like, early on, somebody wouldhave said, hey, do a podcast.
I'm like I don't have time.
How is that?
(54:01):
I would have been back to Jonah, how's that going to pay off?
How's that going to make moneyfor me?
How you know, how's that goingto make a donation?
How you know?
Um, you know, but now it's likeyou know that makes sense,
cause who knows who's listening,you know, and I found, hey,
lincoln rebels, there's a,there's a group that we get an
opportunity to, uh, engage morefolks.
(54:23):
Um, you know, and and you mightbe thinking, well, I don't want
a bunch of eight year oldshelping Well, my, my son, and
when he was in sixth grade, hecame and one of his jobs was he
ran.
He read through the script whilewe went through the PowerPoint
so that it matched up, you know,and he thought that was kind of
cool, yeah, you know.
Now, three years later, he'slike can I get out of school
early on Friday and help you out?
Can I not go to school onFriday and help you out?
(54:45):
You gladly say yes, yeah, no,I'm the stickler.
I'm like, no, you got to go toschool, go help after school.
Yeah, so, but he's like, youknow, and to me that's like,
okay, so he, he gets it.
That's why, you know, while hethink it's fun, he also
(55:05):
understands.
Hey, you know, um, I'm not, uh,I'm pretty lucky to be able to
do this.
And then, uh, I think was it twoyears ago, one of our, one of
our patients that were speakingum, was one of the parents, one
of the moms, of one of thedaughter.
Her daughter is one we helpedand she was about the same age
as my son and he's like, wow, sodad, she had cancer.
I'm like, yeah, it was prettytouch and go.
(55:26):
So you're pretty lucky whenyou're griping about we don't
have any snacks in the Right, no, sweetest goldfish, yeah, we
don't have the right snacks.
She was probably worried abouthow am I going to get to the
hospital or, uh, will I seeChristmas?
So it kind of puts things inperspective.
But, um, I think I just ran, uhran the track off the trail, uh
(55:47):
, the rails there, but uh, I doit every time.
Speaker 2 (55:50):
So, um, but yeah, no, we had, uh, we had my son and
daughter go and help at thepeople's city of mission, uh
last year and Turkey giveaway,we had them do that.
We had them do uh, help stopthe yep.
The trick or treat on the trailin Hickman we had them out
there for that.
We had my son and daughter doum, help with, uh, santa stuff
(56:11):
at last December with Murraycustom homes and kind of stuff,
stockings and give socks andgive shirts and give underwear
and then walk the people down totheir car and it's again bigger
than baseball, you know, biggerthan me, and you are sitting
here Like they'll remember thosetimes for the decades and
decades to come and hopefullythey give back when they have an
(56:31):
opportunity to.
So it's big man, it's huge.
Any final thoughts anybodywants to share before we kind of
cut this thing loose here?
Speaker 4 (56:40):
Well, I appreciate you having me and and we, just
we.
I know, in just the short timeI met Jonah that you know Murray
Holmes does a lot for the, forthe community, and and, uh, you,
you guys and gals are alwaysout there, um, you know, looking
to help people.
So, um, appreciate, appreciatethat.
This was, this was great.
If there's other folks you'relooking to have on, I can
(57:02):
recommend a few folks.
Speaker 3 (57:04):
Yeah, Chris sent me a list of probably about 15, 20
people.
Speaker 4 (57:07):
Much more interesting than me.
Speaker 2 (57:08):
This is my favorite part man is this.
Speaker 3 (57:10):
We'll have you come back and co-host it.
I'll step out of here.
Speaker 2 (57:16):
Remember everybody.
You can go toheartlandfoundationorg and take
Chris's advice.
Don't take yourself too serious.
Everyone thanks for tuning inthis episode of Stay Modern with
Murray.
Stay tuned for more excitingepisodes.
Appreciate you pinch hittingJonah and thank you, shannon,
for all you do.
Chris, enjoy the weekend, man.
Speaker 3 (57:31):
Thank you, man, thanks guys, all right, thank
you.
Speaker 1 (57:35):
If you have questions or topics you'd like us to
discuss, you can email them toinfo at murraycustomhomescom.
If you liked this episode, besure to subscribe to Stay Modern
with Murray on Apple andSpotify, or check back on our
website and social mediaregularly for the latest
episodes.
Welcome to another episode of Stay Modern with
Murray, brought to you by MurrayCustom Homes, where we build
your dream home together.
Now sit back, buckle up andenjoy the ride with your host,
matt.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Murray, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining
us on another episode of StayModern with Murray.
I am your host today, matthewTaylor pinch, hitting for Matt
Murray.
Today, our special guest isChris Blum, with the executive
director of the Heartland CancerFoundation.
I'm also joined with JonahHamilton, our VP of sales.
Chris, how we doing today, manDoing great.
(00:35):
It's Friday.
It's Friday, that's favorite,jonah.
How's your week been, man?
I feel like we haven't touchedbase all week.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Good, we're going smooth over here.
Things are still steady, and Ithink this is the time of year
for us where people are usingthe winter to start thinking
about ideas and stuff, so we'regetting a lot of people reaching
out, so it's good.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, man, december already.
Christmas is right around thecorner.
Is everybody ready for that?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
No, nope.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Keep that snow away.
Yeah, dude, we have beenspoiled, though, if you really
start thinking about it.
I mean we had a pretty decentNovember.
I remember Halloween gettingcanceled when I was a kid
because there was so many feetof snow out and they had to
cancel trick-or-treating when Iwas younger.
So I think we've been kind ofspoiled here.
Chris man, just to kind of kickthings off, can you tell us a
(01:24):
little bit about yourself, whereyou're from, where you grew up,
what was your family life likeand kind of how you got to where
you are today?
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Sure, Well, I was born in Omaha, South Omaha, so
in some circles I'm an SOB.
You can take that either way.
If you're from South Omaha youknow what that means, Lived
there till about, I think, 1977,and we moved across the river
to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and sothat's where I kind of grew up.
But my grandparents were stillin South Omaha, so, Husker fan I
(01:54):
grew up.
We moved from the city to thecountry because we moved to a
dirt road it was a gravel roadand so went to Council Bluffs,
Lewis Central, played golf, rancross country, had a mom, dad,
younger sister families.
When I lived in Omaha it wascome home in the streetlights,
(02:16):
but we didn't have streetlightsin Council Bluffs, so it was
come home when the porch lightcomes on or come home when your
friend's parents get tired ofyou at their house.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I coach a lot of baseball man.
We play a lot up in CouncilBluffs and there's one Sonic
that we always try to stay awayfrom up there right across the
river, so I'm well-versed onthat side of things over there
too.
Yeah, man.
Well, for all of our listenerswho might not be familiar with
the foundation, can you kind ofbreak down what the purpose and
the mission is and kind of whatyour role specifically is there?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Sure Well, the Heartland Cancer Foundation is
based here in Lincoln.
It was started in 2008 by somedoctors and administrators at
Cancer Partners of Nebraska Backthen I think they're I don't
remember what the name of theclinic was I always mess it up,
but it's Cancer Partners ofNebraska Now and the mission is
to help cancer patients withtheir immediate financial needs
(03:12):
so that they can focus onhealing.
So we provide grants topatients to cover their mortgage
, their car payments, theirutilities or their travel
expenses to and from treatment,and those are bills that when
you get a cancer diagnosis, thebank doesn't care.
They're going to want theirmortgage payment.
They're going to want their carpayment.
(03:33):
So we're able to provide grantsto patients to cover those
bills while they're goingthrough treatment Based right
here in Lincoln, and we've givengrants to patients in 39
counties in Nebraska, and so aslong as you are a resident of
Nebraska and you're eligiblefinancially, you get a grant.
(03:53):
We've never denied anybody agrant who's been eligible, so
that's something we're prettyproud of.
We've been able to fulfill thefinancial commitments and the
requests.
My role as the executivedirector.
It varies from day to day.
Most days, it's talking tofolks like yourselves, to talk
(04:14):
about our mission to help withawareness also help raise some
money and help find volunteers.
We are always promoting for ourspecial events that we run
because that's how we raise themoney to fund the grants.
So a lot of days there's somegovernance things in there.
(04:36):
We just had a board meeting sowe approved all those fun stuff
like budgets and where we'regoing and strategic plans.
You've got to pay the bills.
Keep the lights on.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Matt's got an annual recap for you guys that you you
do take a look at that type ofstuff.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Yep, we've got a quarterly board meeting, so our
board is all local.
So all the decisions, all thedecisions are made here locally,
all the money is given out herelocally.
So that's the other thing we'repretty proud of and that's, I
think, what sets us apart aswell is.
That's the other thing we'repretty proud of and that's, I
think, what sets us apart aswell is research and everything
about cancer is important, butthat money doesn't necessarily
(05:11):
stay here, so we're excited thateverything is handled locally.
We've got a small staff there'smyself and three others that
run the whole show, that run thewhole, the whole show.
We have a volunteer guild ofabout 30 or 40, uh ladies who
they plan 95% of our Mardi Grasgala, from the decorations to
(05:31):
the menu, to, uh, the events andthings that are going on, to
securing all the raffle item orthe silent auction items, the
live auction items.
So, uh, without them it would,it would be an impossible task,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So you, you had hit something right when you first
started talking about thissecond segment here.
You know the bank doesn't carethat you were diagnosed with
cancer.
I can't imagine.
I mean it's a fulfilling job,right, Like everything that you
do has a purpose.
You're building towardssomething bigger than just
yourself, and that's kind ofJonah and I talk a lot about
this off topic outside of work,but what we're doing is helping
(06:08):
people's dreams come true.
Right, you are in a positionthat's almost thankless, right?
I mean, that's kind of aroundabout way to put it You're
helping people in the back sideof things.
They're never going to see you.
I'm guessing face to face, IfJonah's diagnosed with cancer
(06:30):
today, he's not going to knowthat Chris is the one that's
kind of helping him.
Go along those lines, I wouldimagine.
Right, Sure, yes.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Very, very true.
Yes and no, I guess.
So we do have.
I have met some of our patientsat some of the open houses and
things and community booths thatI've done over the last few
years.
I've had people come up to meand say you saved my life or
this organization has saved mylife.
So that's an opportunity whereI get to meet them.
(06:56):
We actually have a few of ourpatients every year who are
willing to share their story.
They come and speak at ourMardi Gras and talk to our
donors about the impact that, uh, that our grants have helped
helped with them.
Um so, yeah, there's, uh, I'vegot a wall in our office of
thank you notes of of ourpatients who have sent us and
their families who have sent usa thank you notes for, uh, for
(07:18):
helping them.
Um so, uh, but yeah, a lot of alot of our patients they don't
know who I am.
They know who Rochelle Essay is,because they're dealing with
her or their family are dealingwith her getting the grants and
she's the one that gives out allthe money and sends them all
the letters of hey, you got agrant, here's your money, and
(07:39):
actually we actually help them.
Also we pay the bills for them.
So we give them the grant, uh,in theory, but we're not sending
them a check.
We're, uh, rochelle's, workingwith them like, okay, who's,
who's your mortgage company,we'll pay.
We'll pay your mortgage or yourrent for you, um, for so, so
many months, and that allowsthem to even put more focus on
(08:01):
their medical portion ofeverything.
Yes, I'd imagine yeah, becausewe we never want a patient to
make the choice of do I pay formy medicine or my rent or my
heat?
So yeah, they don't necessarilyknow who I am and that's okay.
But if they've gotten, if thepatients have gotten help from
(08:21):
the foundation or the familiesthat have gotten help from us,
they know who the foundation is,they'll know who the board
members are, they'll know whoRochelle Essay is, before they
know who I am.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
You talked about eligibility.
Now I don't know how much youcan get into it or what you can
and can't say, but how doessomebody go about getting
eligible for this type offinancial help?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
So you can go online to heartlandcancerfoundationorg
and fill out an application.
Most of our patients comethrough us, through the social
workers and the nursepractitioners at the different
clinics Cancer Partners ofNebraska, nebraska Hematology,
oncology, bryan Health, chi.
So the social workers and thenurse practitioners.
(09:09):
They'll work with the patients.
They're aware of us and if theyknow that the patient is going
to need some financial help,they will submit the application
.
We take the federal povertyguidelines and we times those by
three.
We take the federal povertyguidelines and we times those by
three and that determines theeligibility.
(09:29):
We also, again, part ofRochelle's job and our board
program committee is they lookat all the applications that
come in and our approval processis all of like two days, so
it's a quick turnaround.
But they're also again, becauseit's local, they can look at
okay, well, this person's salarymight be $65,000, but they've
(09:50):
just got a cancer diagnosis andthey're not able to work or
they've got to work part-time,so that salary is going to be
cut in half.
So they look at that anddetermine the eligibility.
Gosh, I can't imagine.
We always try to work in favorof the patient.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, I'm sure it's.
Not every situation is blackand white.
It's probably a little bit ofgray in there from time to time.
Yes, there's always some gray.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
The nice thing is Rochelle and the program
committee.
We've got our guidelines andwe've got our mission.
So as long as we always leadwith the mission that keeps us
from well, we want to give thisspecial grant or this special
amount to do this.
That, as long as it comes backto the mission, it fits within
that mission.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
That usually helps make the decision for us um,
that usually helps make thedecision for us man.
I it is.
It is bananas to me to try tothink about, like what my, my
wife's Melissa, my daughter'sMadison, my son's Grayson.
To try to think about what lifewould be like First of all, you
know, worst case scenario if Iwas no longer here.
Secondarily, like if we weregoing through that, battling
(11:01):
through something like that.
Like the last thing you want towork or focus on is work and
finances.
Like you want to focus on yourhealth, you want to focus on
getting better.
You want to focus on yourfamily and I mean, who knows,
you know this could be the lasttwo weeks that you have with
somebody and the last thing youwant to have to worry about is,
like how is my family going tosurvive after this because of my
medical payments?
Or not even talking about yoursalary, like your, your family's
(11:24):
going to be stuck with thosebills unless you have some sort
of help.
Like that, right, that's gottabe.
And especially this time ofyear, like I'm sure you're,
you're working with countlessindividuals who have to worry
about that kind of stuff too.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Yeah, we uh.
We provide about 30 to 40grants a month, Wow.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
That was going to be my next question.
How often are you guys gettingthese applications?
Speaker 4 (11:45):
So we get applications every month and our
grant cycle runs for a whole 12months.
So if they're awarded a grantin October, we pay that grant
amount out over the 12 months.
Our grant size currently is$750, and for most of our
patients, uh, for rent, thatthat can be one to two to three
(12:07):
months.
Uh, we do know.
I do know one patient, um, shewas one that came up to me at
one point, um, and talked to meuh, the, the $500 grant that we
gave her at that time a coupleof years ago paid for six months
of her, of her rent, uh, whereshe was living.
So, uh, that was huge for forher.
(12:28):
So, um, uh, yeah, so we run, um, the grant cycle runs every
month.
They can, they can apply and uh, rochelle tracks all that,
gives all the grants out.
We've currently uh, throughthrough November, we've helped
254 patients with $198,469.
, so, um, you know, and so youmight be thinking, well, 254
(12:51):
times 750, that math doesn't addup.
Well, we haven't paid all thatmoney out yet.
So we're, you know, we're um,obligated to to fulfill grants
up to $750 per patient.
So, um, up to $750 per patient.
So, um, we're uh, yep, the needis always there and and uh,
we're just.
We've been fortunate andblessed through donors and a
(13:16):
committed board and hard workthat we've never had to say, ah,
we can't, we don't have themoney to fund this grant right
now, so, uh, wait till nextmonth.
Yeah, what was your life likebefore this?
(13:36):
What did you do before you wereexecutive director?
You know that they had firstaid training and a lot of our
manufacturing companies aroundLincoln and Nebraska making sure
that they were taking care oftheir workers.
He's probably watching you guyson site at the job Guaranteed.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yeah, yeah, we had several.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
I had several conversations with the roofing
companies about are you sure youguys are tethered in?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Tied off and tied off .
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Oh, yep, yep, and it was amazing.
I would drive by differentroofing companies and I'm
looking up like no, you're not.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Doesn't look right?
Everybody but Murray Roofing.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
And then prior to that I spent a 25-year career
with the Boy Scouts all over thecountry.
I was kind of like Johnny Cashbecause I was everywhere South
Dakota, minnesota, michigan,ohio, texas and then back here
in Nebraska.
So I was doing a lot offundraising, executive
leadership, board development,volunteer recruitment, so the
(14:34):
skillset kind of justtransferred pretty easily to the
Heartland Cancer Foundation.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, from what I'm hearing, everything that's led
you to where you are now is thepeople business.
I wouldn't even say you knowthat you are a safety guy.
You are working for people.
They might not have thoughtabout it at that time but you
were, you know, helping themstay alive.
So, essentially in the peoplebusiness, from working with the
(15:00):
Boy Scouts and traveling and allthat, is there a certain memory
that kind of stands out.
A certain trip, that kind ofstands out something that you
know, where you look back andyou're like yeah, I did make a
difference in you knowso-and-so's life that day
Putting you on the spot.
Chris, that wasn't on the list.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
There are several of those.
I know not anything specificother than, like I said, when
folks have come up to me in thisjob and have said you've saved
my life.
When I was with the Boy ScoutsI did a lot of summer camps for
Cub Scouts and we traveledaround South Dakota.
(15:40):
We'd set up our little camp andkids would come and, uh, we'd
have, you know, a thousand kidsover the summer and I'd be in
Marshall, minnesota, and somekid.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Hey, mr Chris, you remember me no but yeah, buddy,
how you doing Uh day camp.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Uh and so, um, you know, those are the type of
things that uh have kind of overthe years and I'll probably
think as I'm driving out of heretoday, like, oh, I should have
shared that story.
Yeah, there's a lot of thoselittle things that come up.
I know just my kids' experienceas Cub Scouts.
(16:20):
We were at summer camp the firsttime as a first grader and you
got to take a swim test.
And he's freaking out becausehe's like I can't swim in water
over three feet, I can't do this.
So I mean he's having ameltdown and he's going from
kindergarten to first grade,never been at camp and I'm
(16:40):
thinking he's going to betraumatized.
Well, one of our staff memberscomes over and he taps on his
shoulder and he says, hey, I'vegot a special test just for you.
So he takes him over to thethree foot and he's like I just
need you to walk from one sideof the other to the other in the
three foot, you know back andforth.
And so he's walking and he'slike great, you passed, you got
your white swim badge and whichmeans you can't go anywhere but
(17:02):
the three foot in the water, butyou know he was.
He was so excited and um.
And then we later in the campwe were going to go on the canoe
but he didn't have his redbadge because he didn't know how
to swim, so he couldn'ttechnically go on the canoe.
And so he's like well, dad, Igot to learn how to swim, I got
to become a better swimmer, so Iget a swim, you know, a red
(17:23):
swim badge next year.
So just knowing that, thatstaff member who could have just
let the kid flip out, no, tookhim aside.
And that's just my kid, but Iknow that he's.
That's just kind of the youngmen and young women that are in
scouting and giving back.
(17:44):
So, yeah, that summer camp tripcost me a lot of money in swim
lessons for the next year and wewent back and he got his red
badge and we got in the canoeand so that was one story I
remember and I joke that yeah,people joke that scouting is
expensive.
Yeah, it cost me a few hundredbucks in swim lessons to swim
tactics and Rhonda.
Swim School, just so he couldgo in the canoe.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
That's you know.
Those are the type of thingsthat your boy's going to
remember forever too.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I was just going to say that I remember going to
summer camp and canoe is alwaysone of the things that stuck out
to me.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
I don't think they do those type of summer camp Like
okay, so I'm looking back onlike TV shows and movies and all
that.
Like okay, so I'm looking backon like TV shows and movies and
all that, like where you go andyou stay for weeks on end, you
know, like do they still do thatkind of stuff?
Speaker 4 (18:28):
Oh, I don't know, camp Kentucky, yeah, there are
some camps Something like that.
I don't think they spend morethan a week, but I'm yeah.
Yeah, most Boy Scout camps arestill a week long.
Camp Kentucky, through the YMCA, they've, I know that they've
done.
They've got, uh, horse campsand different, different theme
camps for the week.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
So I'm a big.
I'm a big component on makingmemories now that you can kind
of relay to your children when,when you're an adult, right Like
we talk a lot with previouspeople that have come in for
podcasts, you know, like um, uh,survivors and people that have
been through domestic violenceand all that, and we talk about
the vicious cycle.
(19:09):
But on something like this,that's also the flip script.
Right Like you can have thesememories that you created with
your son and then he can go onand your grandchildren someday,
and then their grandchildrensomeday.
Like there are positives andnegatives of everything.
And especially when you'retalking about something as
serious as cancer, like thereare, there are people like you
(19:30):
in this world that are going tomake, make a difference in other
people's lives for forgenerations and generations.
And again, going behind thescenes, you know they might not
know you as Chris, but they,they are going to remember that
somebody helped save their lifeand and that's got to come with
some great sense of of pride.
And and you are doing it theright way too, by going and
(19:52):
talking with people like Murray,custom homes, like I don't know
how you and Jonah met.
We can kind of get into thattoo, but without that
conversation.
You know you want to be heretoday.
Everything kind of happens fora reason, and I'm a big
component on on making people'slife different down the road.
I don't know, there are thingsthat I can do in a day that is
going to change somebody's life,but you are making such a
(20:14):
massive difference, and not justthe people that you meet, but
the entire community of Lincoln,nebraska, the surrounding area.
Hats off to you, man.
I don't know how people wouldbe able to survive without
somebody like you in the rolethat you're in.
Man, thank you, thank you foreverybody.
(20:35):
The amount of thank yous can'tgo a long enough way, so hats
off to you.
Um, with that being said, whatis a day in the life of an
executive director for thefoundation look like?
What?
What, outside of doing podcastsand radio interviews, what?
What does a day look like foryou?
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Well, it's a.
It's a lot like, um, probably asalesman or a customer service
rep.
So we're constantly talkingwith donors to either thank them
for their gift, renew theirgift.
We're constantly talking to newfolks about explaining, hey,
(21:16):
what we're doing for thefoundation, how they might be
able to help, trying to create apartnership, a synergy, to
create that relationship versus,hey, we got this event, can you
just write me a check?
Yeah, we've got some boardmembers that usually I've got a
call or two every day or everyother day with a board member
about they've got an idea of howwe could grow the foundation.
So we talk through that,through strategic planning.
(21:38):
There's a lot of networking typeevents that I attend just to
see and be seen and get thatmessage, that name out there.
A lot of times it's to followup.
Hey, I sent you an email.
Oh, yeah, I owe you thosevolleyball tickets for the
auction.
I need to get that informationto you.
(22:01):
Um, the day it's uh, it'sdefinitely not a behind the desk
type job, but there are dayswhere, okay, I'm, I'm writing
this proposal, uh, for the grantor for, uh, for the donor needs
a certain letter written acertain way, um, you know.
So that's uh, a lot um, a lotof strategic planning.
You know a lot of being focused, cause you can get um pulled in
a lot of different directions.
(22:21):
You know, as as every, in everybusiness or every organization
you've got, you know multiplecustomers calling you.
You really got to focus, okay,what you know, what do I need to
do?
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Yes, I could go do a B and C, but is it going to
ultimately get me in thefoundation, to our strategic
plan and our goals?
And that's where I think fromChris.
You brought this up earlier,matthew, but Chris and I met
through Center Sphere networkingopportunities here in town,
specifically at one of the golftournaments there.
We ended up playing togetherand everything.
But I think what that kind ofmade the impact on me was that a
lot of people, when they'remaking donations to foundations
(23:01):
and things like that at leastfrom my standpoint, and I think
that a lot of other peopleprobably feel this way they want
to see what that organizationis doing.
They don't just want to givemoney over and never really see
the impact of anything.
So what I think is so cool aboutyour role, chris, is that you
get to kind of give thefoundation a face.
And that's why, when I met himthrough Center Sphere, we
(23:22):
instantly connected that daythat we played golf and every
time I've seen Chris at anothernetworking event, we walk right
up to each other and just catchup like we are good friends.
But it's that instantconnection of oh yeah, chris is
out there helping thisfoundation and he's helping so
many people, and so for thosedonors and those people who are
involved with the foundation.
I think for you that's justsuch an important piece that
(23:44):
you're you're showing peoplewhat their, their donations are
doing.
The events that you guys put on, I think, are very helpful with
that and it really gives peoplea face to the foundation, I
think.
So that's kind of why I wasinstantly attracted to the work
that you did and I mean, we allknow somebody who's been
affected by cancer one way oranother, whether it's a friend
(24:05):
or a family member or personally.
You know somebody who actuallyhas cancer themselves.
So I think that was kind ofthat instant attraction to when
we met through through somenetworking and things like that.
But that's where, to me, yourrole is, uh, very, very vital
for, uh, giving the foundation aface and and letting people see
exactly what it is that theyget to do, that you guys get to
(24:26):
do with um patients and yourevents throughout the year and
stuff.
So that's that's kind of my myinsight on that piece.
Who's the better golfer?
Speaker 2 (24:33):
That day I think it was Jonah- it was a best ball
tournament, so we both threwhole one and two.
The only ones I can golf in arebest ball tournaments.
You have to be able to cipherthrough the BS.
Let's be real, right, like Imean, when you're talking about
federal funds, grants, money ingeneral, there has to.
Obviously, yes, there are huge,massive benefits to what you do
(24:56):
.
But who a part of your team?
Is there a team behind thescenes that go through and case
by case, because we talked abouteligibility, now that can't
just be like all right, my wageis here, so you're approved.
Do you have to?
Are there like interviews thatyou have to go through, or do
you handle that?
How does that go about?
Speaker 4 (25:13):
So most of our patients come through the nurse
practitioners and the socialworkers at the clinics that
they're working with, and sothey'll do a lot of so.
They would be our team wherethey kind of they know what our
guidelines are, they know whoshould apply, who shouldn't
apply, and then if they fitthose and they send the
(25:38):
application into Rochelle.
Rochelle looks at them.
If there is a question, shebrings our program committee,
which is made up of our boardmembers.
She'll bring them in and sayhere's the situation, yay or nay
, yeah, uh, so, uh, everybodythat really comes to us is pre,
(25:59):
already, pre-qualified.
Um, so that's.
You know, one of the one of thedays in my life is I, I go to
I'll go to Brian or cancerpartners and have a lunch and
learn with the staff to say,okay, here's, here's the
foundation, here's what we do.
Uh, because they To say, okay,here's the foundation, here's
what we do, because they've gotnew staff coming in all the time
.
They're ultimately your eyes,then they're our eyes, and so
(26:23):
kind of the way it works is ifthey've got a question, they'll
call me, or they'll callRochelle ahead of time.
Hey, I've got this patient orI've got this situation.
Where can I do we also get.
It goes back to that strategicplan and our mission.
We get a lot of calls for hey,my, we need a ride.
You know, can you help us witha ride?
(26:44):
Can you help us with clothing?
Or one of the questions we hada few years ago was wigs what do
you do with for wigs?
And so we actually have aresource page on our website
that, hey, while we can't helpyou with that, here's somebody
who might be able to.
Yeah, so we've tried to putthem in touch with the folks
(27:08):
that can help them out.
So, yeah, our team of folks isreally folks at Cancer Partners,
nho, nebraska CancerSpecialists, unmc, bryan, chi,
you know, or the differentclinics.
They'll have our brochure.
If they think a patient needsour help, they'll hand the
(27:28):
brochure to the folks.
Hey, have you looked into this?
Speaker 2 (27:33):
You're a brand ambassador in a sense?
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Yes, Uh, yep, uh and.
And Jonah said the face of theorganization, that's uh, uh.
That's why I'm on the podcast.
I've got a face for radio.
I say the same thing, uh, butbefore I came to work for the
foundation I'd never heard ofthem, uh and, and thankfully I
had never um needed to use them,to use them or know anybody
that needed to use them.
(27:56):
And that's not saying that mypredecessor just wasn't the face
she was.
I just I never saw her, but shewas very well connected in the
cancer partner world, the BryanHealth world.
So I would say like 85% of ourdonors and our partners now are
all from previous work.
(28:17):
So it's broadening that baseand the exposure to make folks
aware of it.
I mean because, like I said, Iwas here 10 years and I had
never, until I applied for thejob, I'd never heard of them.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
It couldn't have just been an IndeedSearchcom thing,
like how did you land there?
I mean you know, and I'm tryingto recall that.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
I want to say it might have been posted on
Association of FundraisingProfessionals, a group I'm in
because I was with the NebraskaSafety Council.
I was kind of looking for thenext thing A home yeah.
And I'm sure that's how thatpopped up or it might have
popped up on Indeed man.
(29:00):
I don't even remember, but Iread it and I remember it would
just kind of click like, yeah, Ican do this.
Yeah.
And then it's funny, as I gotthe job and I took over for Amy
Green, I'm sitting with Amy andI'm like man, I know, I know her
and I realized that I had,after talking to her and finding
(29:21):
out that her husband was NateGreen, who's one of the doctors
at Cancer Partners, I'm likeyour son's an Eagle Scout.
She's like, yeah, I'll be dang.
Oh my gosh, I signed his EagleScout application when I was the
scout executive here.
So, uh, so I'm like that'swhere I know, that's where I
recognize the name.
And then, as I start going downthe donor list, several of the
donors are connected to me.
(29:42):
When I was with the Boy Scoutsand, um, and so like Cornhusker
Bank is is our bank at thefoundation, they were a friend
of mine at.
You know, they were a supporterwhen I was at the?
Uh, the Boy Scouts, um, youknow, you know they were a
supporter when I was at the?
Uh, the boy Scouts, um.
You know, brian health was ahuge partner at the Nebraska
safety council.
So, uh, it's a small world.
It was all interconnected and Istarted to realize, yeah, I
(30:03):
know several of these, thesepeople, I know several of the
organizations, um, through my,through my other nonprofit work.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
So, man, that's uh what.
It's the biggest, smallest townI've ever lived in Lincoln.
I actually just heard that theother day.
That's funny.
So, true though, man, it reallyis Yep Centisphere.
Uh, so you've you've had a lotof connections through
Centisphere, man Center, center,fear center sphere Yep Um how
long have you been a part ofthat networking group, chris,
(30:31):
and and and?
is there any advice that youwould give to somebody that's
looking to and networking in myrealm isn't just getting some A
put with B with Murray CustomHomes, it's also selfishly.
I enjoy the getting to knowdifferent people.
Again, going back to, we're inthe people business, but what
advice would you give a youngprofessional who's trying to
(30:54):
expand his horizons and meet newpeople?
Speaker 4 (30:56):
So I, I joined center sphere, I think in April of
this year.
Um, again, I was uh, I've beenin chamber and other other
networking groups throughout mycareer uh, service clubs, rotary
.
Um, I was actually kind oflooking for, um, what's next?
Cause I I can get very, I wasgetting very bogged down.
(31:17):
Hey, I can go in the office, Ican make my calls, I can do my
emails, I can do my proposals, Ican see the people, my current
donors.
I was getting kind ofcomfortable.
So I'm like I need to dosomething that helps me broaden
the exposure and that can bestrategic.
It helps me broaden theexposure and that can be
strategic.
So I actually had a couple ofpeople that invited me to some
(31:38):
center sphere meetings in Omaha.
Oh, I didn't realize that thisis kind of cool, but Omaha is
not really our foundation marketyet and we got chapters in
Lincoln.
So that's how I joined and Ifound a group that I just kind
of clicked with, and you know.
So the nice thing is it's aboutmeeting and it's about
(32:00):
developing a relationship versushey, here's my business card,
let's do business.
I mean, there are those folksbut they don't last really long.
It's about you know who are you, you know what's your parent,
what's your spouse's name, kid'snames.
You know we are you, you knowwhat's your parent, what are
your, what's your spouse's name,kids' names yeah, you know, we
all got a life outside of work,and so that's the nice thing
about Center Sphere is, I feellike I know sometimes I know
(32:23):
more about the Center Spheremembers in my chapter than I do
my spouse and my kids.
They're like what's your kiddoing?
I'm like I don't know what dayis it.
But you know, ask me aboutAshley's daughter.
Yeah, she's playing.
One's playing volleyball, oneplays basketball, you know, and
so I would.
I would just say, you know, fora young professional, you got to
(32:44):
get out and get out of yourcomfort zone and and meet, meet
folks, groups like Center Sphereor whatever networking group.
You got to be strategic withyour time because you could.
You can go to a networkingmeeting every day of the week
here in Lincoln.
Or in the summertime, you cango to a golf tournament every
day of the week.
But how are you going tomaximize that?
(33:04):
Going to the golf tournament,are you going to follow up with
the people you played with Inthe same tournament with the
same people?
That doesn't really help in mymind.
Same thing with networking.
You need to go with a purpose.
Is your purpose to?
I'm just going to grab a bunchof business cards.
Well, okay, that might work fora little while, but if you
(33:25):
don't know who you're grabbingthe business card from or why
you're grabbing the businesscard, it's probably not going to
help you, because the savvyfolks they're going to see right
through it.
Hey, he or she, they're justthere to sell me something To
get out of work for a couplehours, right, yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:41):
I always tell people personally, networking is one of
those things where I would notexpect anything within the first
year of joining something new.
I mean it's not about thoseweekly meetings or showing.
It's about the behind the scene, the showing up regularly and
building relationships withthose people and ultimately
earning trust.
Building trust by giving them.
I mean for you you mentionedearlier, chris, the connection
(34:06):
piece for you maybe it's notsomething directly that the
foundation does, but by beingable to still provide them a
link to something else.
Maybe that you guys don't offerdirectly that right there puts
trust in you guys, and I thinkthat that's you know how
networking really goes a longways, I think, is in the long
run.
It's not something that you'regoing to see a return on
investment within the firstmonth of doing something like
that, but ultimately therelationships are what is most
(34:27):
important.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Yeah, and it's for me .
As I was visiting the differentchapters, I found that, hey,
I've got a lot of connectionsalready.
I was one of the chapters.
We were at Home Federal SavingsBank and I'm like, well, yeah,
the CEO played in my golftournament.
They've done a sponsorship atone of our golf tournaments.
(34:48):
And I went to another meetingand found that Merle Collision
where we were just at last nightthey'd been a supporter of our
auction and so the Merleemployee at the event, they
didn't know anything about that.
So the the Merle um employee atthe at the event, they didn't
know anything about that.
So, again, it's making thatconnection.
I found that, oh, yeah, we've,we've done business with people
here, uh, the doorstep diner,right, we've, we've done
(35:10):
business, uh, for the foundation.
So it's about you know, uh,again putting that face and
making that, that connectionthat oh, wow, okay, okay, my
organization is helping out, oh,and this is Chris, this is how
this is helping out.
So, yeah, I'm kind of with youthat first year, don't expect,
but it's definitely with CenterSphere is, what I found is, if
(35:34):
you do something in your chapter, they're going to show up.
Yeah, I joined in April and wetalked about a golf tournament
and two of my two of my um uhfolks in the chapter they did a
whole sponsorship.
I needed to fill a couple spotson the uh, on the foursome.
So I reached out hey, you'llopen, and uh, and they were able
to play.
So those are the type of thingsthat um uh you, you find out
(35:58):
through whatever group you're in.
You know are they?
Are they there for you as aperson?
Uh, first, you know, uh, or arethey just there to help your
business out?
You know, cause I mean honestlynot everybody's going to want
to buy a home right away or, youknow, be in a position to to
have a, uh, a custom built home,yeah Right, but, uh, but they
(36:19):
might know somebody, or you knowthey'll.
You know, down the road, hey, Iknow I need something help with
my house.
Jonah's in that industry.
I'll call Jonah.
Hey, who do you know that?
Can you know fix my plumbing ora water heater, or?
And then, if you get that name,you call somebody.
Oh, you know, jonah, over atMurray Home, said I should give
you a call.
(36:39):
Oh, yeah, hopefully they takeyour call.
You know, right, right, right.
So, but yeah, the networking,it's about making connections
and definitely in Lincoln it's asmall town.
So I mean you know six degreesof separation, it's probably
four or five here in Lincoln,you know meeting somebody and
you can find a link to somebody.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
You get into it or you get out of it where you put
into it.
That was the first thing thatJonah was talking about when he
started going to thesenetworking groups is you know?
Yeah, you're right, it's notgoing to all happen at once, and
we were told that when we firststarted here two years ago, or
whatever you know you're goingto, it's going to take time, but
these relationships are goingto go far beyond just Murray
custom homes and Murray roofing.
Like, I see you online all thetime where somebody is asking
(37:23):
for this or that or this.
That has nothing to do withMurray custom homes, but you do
have those connections.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
You still have this Yep, I love those, those uh
opportunities that come up.
I the one that comes to my mindis uh, it's a Facebook group.
I think it's save Lincoln local.
I want to say it is, and it'sjust great to see all the people
posting on there and all therelationships that people have
with so many different people.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
We've talked about the golf tournaments I think
we've hit that nail on the headquite a bit throughout this
podcast but your organizationhosts several different outings
and gatherings throughout theyear.
Can you kind of elaborate onwhen, where and what we could
possibly do, or anybody could do, to help those take place?
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Yeah, so our signature event is our Mardi
Gras Gala.
That happens every February orMarch, depending on when Mardi
Gras happens.
This year's event, coming up in2025, is Saturday, February 8th
.
We're usually at the CornhuskerHotel because that's one of two
places in Lincoln right nowthat can hold 450 to 500 people.
(38:26):
It's a great night.
It's a Mardi Gras theme.
This year is our.
New Orleans in the RoaringTwenties is our theme.
So we've got a silent auction,a live auction.
Omaha Steaks is our filetmignon sponsor.
(38:54):
Love it Events usually raisesabout $250,000 to $275,000.
That's our largest fundraiserand it's just a fun event.
We've got table sponsorships.
We've got a bourbon streetsponsorship.
That's kind of one of oursignature events.
There is a bourbon poll, so forI think it's $75, you get your
(39:15):
chance to walk away with one of100 bottles of bourbon and I
think this year we're doing somesort of uh, I think it's a beer
pong.
So they're they've got glasseswith the numbers correlating to
the bourbon and you kind of, uh,throw the ping pong ball into
the glass and whatever number itlands in, that's the bourbon
you walk home with.
(39:35):
Very nice, um, and we've got youknow.
So our volunteers will donatebourbon, our board will donate
bourbon.
You know our friends at theStill and Hy-Vee.
They'll help us with purchasingsome hard-to-get bourbons, and
I'm not a bourbon drinker so Ihave no idea what the different
types are, but you know sothat's kind of a fun.
(39:58):
It's a fun night for yourspouses to get all gussied up.
Yeah, folks will come incostumes.
You know Union Bank is one ofour big sponsors Oncology Supply
for that event, so tablesponsorships are always good.
We do a golf tournament inAugust it's going to be August
(40:25):
18th at Firethorn again thisyear and that's an event that
always sells out, so that's onethat's not hard to fill.
Folks like to play Firethornand because we've got such a
track record a lot of times,it's renewing and making sure
that date fits into everybody'sschedule.
We also do a couple educationalsymposiums for the doctors and
(40:45):
the nurses in the oncology worldand we sell sponsorships for
that.
So the pharmaceutical companieswill provide a sponsorship to
provide an educational table andbe able to provide information
on the newest medicines andthings out there and available.
We do one of those here inLincoln in April and then we do
(41:07):
one out in Grand Island inSeptember and we actually
partner with the Grace CancerFoundation in Grand Island and
the Nebraska Cancer SpecialistHope Foundation out of Omaha,
because all three of us servepatients out there, and so we do
one event, we bring in all themoney and then we split it
equally three ways.
After all, the bills are paid.
(41:28):
So we're in our second yeardoing that and that's pretty
exciting because we're able tooffer donors three foundations
that you're going to supportwith one check.
So those are the major eventsthat we hold from a foundation
side.
(41:50):
But then we've got severalgroups that will hold
fundraisers in October.
For us, american MedicalImaging or Advanced Medical
Imaging does a breast cancerwalk.
Orange Theory did a fundraiserfor us.
They call it Hell Week duringOctober and everybody could work
(42:11):
out and donate.
And then they had one day wherethey did you wore pink while
you worked out.
Sandhills Global does aemployee matching campaign for
us.
U-stop did the kick it back twocents per gallon in October.
For us, st Mark's UnitedMethodist Church they do a
(42:31):
mission Sunday where we're thebeneficiary.
Super C is doing an eventcoming up next week where you go
into any of the Super C storesand donate a dollar and Super C
is going to match whateverraised over that week.
That's great.
So we've got a lot of groupslike that.
I'm probably missing one hereAutoConnection.
(42:53):
They did a Breaks for Breastsso they donated money based on
every break job they did.
In October, lincoln PoliceDepartment did a Pink patch sale
fundraiser for us.
So we've got a lot of thosethings that are great because
all we have to do is supportthem through social media and
word of mouth.
(43:14):
My wife's like do you have togive to every one of these?
We're going to go broke.
It's just good job securitydear.
So yeah, so we've got a lot ofthose type of things.
Then we do our annual giving,asking our donors to renew.
But yeah, that's the otherthing that attracted me to the
(43:37):
foundation is we don't do a lotof events.
While they're great, they'revery staff, uh, time, time,
heavily driven and and, uh, ifyou don't watch costs, uh, while
you raise a bunch of money, thethe net money isn't always
great.
So, um, uh, so we, like I said,we've got four events, uh that
we, we directly handle.
(43:58):
But, uh, our, our volunteerguild handles 95% of the work
for Mardi Gras.
So there, I just tell me whatyou need from me, and it's
usually you need this, we needthis bill paid, we need this
picked up.
Yeah, or I can't get this, Ican't get this handled during my
working hours.
Can can you go ahead and takecare of it?
(44:18):
So, yeah, those are our eventsand they're always well attended
, well done, they're a good time.
And then, once the event's over,part of my job is how do I turn
those attendees into volunteersand donors and partners?
Because a lot of folks arecoming on the company dime.
(44:39):
They're not writing theirpersonal check to come sit at
the table, so we're wanting toget them to make a donation
while they're there, you know,and figure out how the magic
happens after that.
How do we get somebody that'sattending the golf tournament to
chair the golf tournament orbecome a board member, you know?
Or how do we, how do we makethose connections?
(45:01):
You know, my, you know, uh,having my board members and my
volunteers introduce me topeople in the room, you know.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
So I think that Mardi Gras thing sounds like a blast.
I know it, I know it's for agreat cause, but it sounds like
a whole bunch of fun, you know.
Speaker 4 (45:24):
I love the roaring 20s.
That's Uh it, it is always.
It is always a good time.
This will be my third one andit's amazing that we decorate
the whole ballroom and it justtransforms the ballroom and the
lobby there at the Cornhusker.
That's like, wow, this reallylooks like New Orleans.
And yeah, some of the gals getall dressed up in costumes and
masks, and yeah, so it'sinteresting to.
Some of the gals get alldressed up in costumes and masks
, and yeah, so it's.
It's interesting to see whatthe Roaring Twenties are going
to look like.
(45:45):
I know one of the plans we'regoing to have like cardboard
boxes and make an entrance likeyou're walking into a speakeasy,
oh, yeah, and so which?
I'm like, wasn't that thethirties, when we had the?
Speaker 1 (45:57):
prohibition.
But all right, the twentiess,that'll work.
Speaker 4 (46:02):
So, yeah, it's a blast, it's a good time and I
always look.
Going back to the networking, Ialways look for seat fillers,
because we're always going tohave some sponsors that they're
going to write the check and,for whatever reason, they're not
going to be able to fill their10 seats at the table.
So I go through my RolodexRolodex that's probably dated me
, sorry about that.
I go through my contact list inmy phone.
(46:23):
Yeah, yeah, and who should I?
Oh, hey, jonah, and I reach out.
Jonah, you and your wife wantto come to a Mardi Gras gala.
This is the date, and so that's.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
I was just going to ask you that so.
Are these events open to thepublic, or are most of the seats
usually filled?
Speaker 4 (46:38):
specifically, so they're open to the public.
We usually try selling outsponsorships first, and that's
again through my experience.
I'd rather have the sponsormoney up front than the
individual seats.
So we'll work at sellingsponsorships first and then
we'll open up the individualseats.
We also our individual seatskind of run, I would say, on the
(47:03):
high end.
But uh, um, you know, that'swhy we try to get folks to uh,
find, find the company sponsorfor the table and then, um, and
then you can free up your cashfor uh, for the individual
donations and the fun stuff.
So, uh, it is open to thepublic.
Like I said, of the 50 tables wetry to sell, probably 35 to 40
(47:25):
of them will be sponsored tables.
That's great.
We actually have a couple ofour sponsor levels at the I
think the $1,500 level, whereone of the perks is that they
provide two tickets to MardiGras for the cancer patients.
Wow, awesome.
And so we will.
If we've got seats to fill, wewill reach out to some patients,
(47:46):
say, hey, would you beinterested in coming and having
a night out?
And some of them will.
And that's actually how acouple years ago we started to
bring cancer patients to speakto present their testimonial and
then they've really loved it.
Because they bring their spouse, they'll bring a couple of
their other family members.
We do offer a guild for ourguild members that are working
(48:11):
for the event.
We offer a special rate forthem, and so we extend that rate
to a couple of family membersof the cancer patients who are
willing to come or want to comeand enjoy the evening.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
I'd like to get involved with that.
So, whatever, we'll have Jonahreach out, set something up and
we'll see what we can do.
That sounds like a whole bunchof fun on a Saturday night, yeah
yeah, absolutely, we're alwayslooking for volunteers.
Speaker 4 (48:38):
Setting up isn't usually a problem.
The Guild loves to do that, thethe challenge we have is the
cleanup.
Uh, afterwards Nobody likes touh, stick, stick around and
clean up, but uh, uh, but weactually, um, we've got a, a
donor who, um, a couple of yearsago, was like, well, hey, I'd
like to help.
So he, he wrote us a check andhe's like, why don't you find
(49:03):
four groups and donate $250 toeach group that comes and helps?
So I said, yeah, we, we can dothat.
So, um, so if you've got asports team or a service, a
college, high school uh club,that, uh, that is interested, um
, we've got one spot left, uh,and all they got to do is bring
six people to volunteer aminimum of four hours, and that
(49:23):
can be either the Friday or theSaturday, and we usually feed
the volunteers some Valentino'spizza.
Depending on the role thatthey're doing, they might attend
the event, and some of thevolunteers are helping sell our
beads for our bead game or sellour luminaries.
So, yeah, it's a good time andwe'd love to have Murray Holmes
(49:49):
involved.
Have both of you guys involved,love to.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
Yeah, you can put the Lincoln Rebels down for cleanup
.
We'll help you tear down.
Lincoln Rebels baseball.
That's my guys.
What age I coached the eightsthis year?
Okay, All right.
I started with a group of youngmen when they were seven and
eight.
Speaker 4 (50:05):
Okay, nice, seven years ago Nice.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
And so they're moving off to high school next year.
So I started back over with myson.
There you go, yeah, so it's awhole bunch.
It's showing up on time, beingearly, running to your positions
, respecting the game,respecting your teammates.
I need to know that you'regoing to be held accountable for
your job so I can do mine.
It's bigger than baseball.
Love it.
Yes.
How can people get involved?
(50:29):
I know we talked about theseevents.
Outside of signing up for theevents and sponsorships, how can
our listeners get involved andconnect with the Heartland
Cancer Foundation?
Speaker 4 (50:39):
So they can go to heartlandcancerfoundationorg.
They can click on volunteer.
So there's ways to help.
You can volunteer through ourvolunteer guild.
You can make a donation,personal donation.
You can talk to your companyabout doing some sort of
campaign or event for theHeartland Cancer Foundation.
Uh, you can talk to your church, uh, about doing, uh, doing a
(51:02):
campaign for us.
If you're connected in aprofessional organization, a
service club, and you need aprogram speaker, I'm happy to
come in and speak and talk.
You know 15, 20 minutes aboutwhat the Heartland Cancer
Foundation does and is, and, um,you know, and you can always,
you can always write a blankcheck.
Happy to fill that out and Iwouldn't have to hold Mardi Gras
if somebody gives me that.
(51:23):
Warren Buffett's listening, ifyou want to send me a check,
warren.
So there'sheartlandcancerfoundationorg and
we'd love to find ways thatbest match your talents and
maximize your available time andthat fits with our our
strategic mission and uh so I'mgoing to put you on the spy here
(51:45):
.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
This one's not on the list, but looking back on on
everything that you know now,all the knowledge that you've
gained, all the people thatyou've helped, all the all the
kids that you've helped becomebetter young men, um, what's a
piece of advice that you wouldgive young Chris just starting
his professional journey?
I should start writing thesedown.
Speaker 4 (52:03):
This one Keep your mouth shut.
Speaker 3 (52:10):
Me too me too.
Speaker 4 (52:11):
That usually got me in trouble.
Probably trust your instincts.
And I had a boss early on tellme that, and it was like every
time I asked him for advice hewould tell me trust your
instincts.
I'm like just give me an answer, right, trust your instincts.
And the more I think about that, I even tell my son that when
(52:33):
he's like, he'll say somethinglike well, what do you think?
What's your gut, tell you.
And he's like dad, I'm skinny,I don't have a gut, what's your
what's?
your gut tell you and he's likedad, I'm skinny, I don't have a
gut.
What are your instincts?
You know?
You know, if, cause, ifsomething doesn't feel right or
something's fishy, you know, uh,uh, it's probably you're,
you're probably right.
So I would say, you know, trustyour instincts and then
probably just don't takeyourself too serious.
(52:55):
I uh, I look back and and allthe things.
You know that it was alwaysabout driving, getting the job
done, hitting the goal and andand not celebrating the wins and
, um, you know, and beatingmyself up too much.
I think that's, uh, you know,don a lot of, uh, a lot of
(53:19):
doctors and and medicalprofessionals that they're in
some serious.
They, they've got to have someserious conversations every day
and there's, I mean, they'redealing with life and death and
but outside of the office, youknow they're, they're fun,
loving people, they're, you know, um, you wouldn't, you wouldn't
understand you, you wouldn'tknow that they just had a, had a
tough conversation, you know,or they lost a patient, you know
(53:41):
.
So, like you know, nothing I dois life or death, I mean.
So I've tried to relax a littlemore, be a little not so
focused, you know, and celebratethe wins, take time, I mean,
like, early on, somebody wouldhave said, hey, do a podcast.
I'm like I don't have time.
How is that?
(54:01):
I would have been back to Jonah, how's that going to pay off?
How's that going to make moneyfor me?
How you know, how's that goingto make a donation?
How you know?
Um, you know, but now it's likeyou know that makes sense,
cause who knows who's listening,you know, and I found, hey,
lincoln rebels, there's a,there's a group that we get an
opportunity to, uh, engage morefolks.
(54:23):
Um, you know, and and you mightbe thinking, well, I don't want
a bunch of eight year oldshelping Well, my, my son, and
when he was in sixth grade, hecame and one of his jobs was he
ran.
He read through the script whilewe went through the PowerPoint
so that it matched up, you know,and he thought that was kind of
cool, yeah, you know.
Now, three years later, he'slike can I get out of school
early on Friday and help you out?
Can I not go to school onFriday and help you out?
(54:45):
You gladly say yes, yeah, no,I'm the stickler.
I'm like, no, you got to go toschool, go help after school.
Yeah, so, but he's like, youknow, and to me that's like,
okay, so he, he gets it.
That's why, you know, while hethink it's fun, he also
(55:05):
understands.
Hey, you know, um, I'm not, uh,I'm pretty lucky to be able to
do this.
And then, uh, I think was it twoyears ago, one of our, one of
our patients that were speakingum, was one of the parents, one
of the moms, of one of thedaughter.
Her daughter is one we helpedand she was about the same age
as my son and he's like, wow, sodad, she had cancer.
I'm like, yeah, it was prettytouch and go.
(55:26):
So you're pretty lucky whenyou're griping about we don't
have any snacks in the Right, no, sweetest goldfish, yeah, we
don't have the right snacks.
She was probably worried abouthow am I going to get to the
hospital or, uh, will I seeChristmas?
So it kind of puts things inperspective.
But, um, I think I just ran, uhran the track off the trail, uh
(55:47):
, the rails there, but uh, I doit every time.
Speaker 2 (55:50):
So, um, but yeah, no, we had, uh, we had my son and
daughter go and help at thepeople's city of mission, uh
last year and Turkey giveaway,we had them do that.
We had them do uh, help stopthe yep.
The trick or treat on the trailin Hickman we had them out
there for that.
We had my son and daughter doum, help with, uh, santa stuff
(56:11):
at last December with Murraycustom homes and kind of stuff,
stockings and give socks andgive shirts and give underwear
and then walk the people down totheir car and it's again bigger
than baseball, you know, biggerthan me, and you are sitting
here Like they'll remember thosetimes for the decades and
decades to come and hopefullythey give back when they have an
(56:31):
opportunity to.
So it's big man, it's huge.
Any final thoughts anybodywants to share before we kind of
cut this thing loose here?
Speaker 4 (56:40):
Well, I appreciate you having me and and we, just
we.
I know, in just the short timeI met Jonah that you know Murray
Holmes does a lot for the, forthe community, and and, uh, you,
you guys and gals are alwaysout there, um, you know, looking
to help people.
So, um, appreciate, appreciatethat.
This was, this was great.
If there's other folks you'relooking to have on, I can
(57:02):
recommend a few folks.
Speaker 3 (57:04):
Yeah, Chris sent me a list of probably about 15, 20
people.
Speaker 4 (57:07):
Much more interesting than me.
Speaker 2 (57:08):
This is my favorite part man is this.
Speaker 3 (57:10):
We'll have you come back and co-host it.
I'll step out of here.
Speaker 2 (57:16):
Remember everybody.
You can go toheartlandfoundationorg and take
Chris's advice.
Don't take yourself too serious.
Everyone thanks for tuning inthis episode of Stay Modern with
Murray.
Stay tuned for more excitingepisodes.
Appreciate you pinch hittingJonah and thank you, shannon,
for all you do.
Chris, enjoy the weekend, man.
Speaker 3 (57:31):
Thank you, man, thanks guys, all right, thank
you.
Speaker 1 (57:35):
If you have questions or topics you'd like us to
discuss, you can email them toinfo at murraycustomhomescom.
If you liked this episode, besure to subscribe to Stay Modern
with Murray on Apple andSpotify, or check back on our
website and social mediaregularly for the latest
episodes.
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