I’m looking forward to seeing former classmates this evening and I am grateful the Good Lord has allowed me to be in this place at this time—life is good so get out there and enjoy it! 

The Iowa Transportation Museum, located in Grinnell, is a $25 million initiative that is being developed to recognize contributions to the field of transportation that occurred in Iowa or were made by Iowans.  The museum will showcase Iowa’s leadership in creating, building, and using the systems that move people, ideas, and dreams safely and efficiently.  The Iowa Transportation Museum also will explore the evolution of transportation in Iowa, making it come alive to enhance our understanding of how transportation systems and workers contribute to the culture and quality of life we enjoy.

The Museum will also host the National Transportation Heroes Center, an internet-based “registry” that will recognize transportation heroes of all types who have made a distinct contribution to the quality of life we enjoy as Americans.

So, why is this so cool?   Because the Good Lord has provided me an opportunity to combine my passion for helping nonprofit organizations with my passion for transportation in a way that I did not envision and for a purpose much greater purpose.  If you keep moving forward it’s amazing what you might run into or might be allowed to make happen.

You can learn more about the Iowa Transportation Museum by visiting www.iowatransportationmuseum.org.

*The Charitable Giving Resource Center is a wholly owned subsidiary of Syverson Strege & Company.

My attraction for the newness of things may be based on the feelings I experienced during those first days of school and I am proud to carry that same attraction with me today.  Some of my friends view this propensity to chase something new as an inability or unwillingness to focus; I see it differently.  The thrills I derive from the chase are a function of my complex personality and my spirituality, as well as my recognition that nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The point is this–embrace your own complexity and capture its power.  Accordingly, you will achieve whatever you desire at whatever point in life God deems it appropriate.  The first days of school may be in your rear view mirror but those  feelings of anticipation and excitement and, yes, concern, for something new can be experienced today.

While our carbon-based container begins to detoeiorate the moment we are born, our mind and our creative forces grow and expand to the end of our days.  We need to be mindful of this fact and, more importanlty, live our lives accordingly.  We should frame ”senior moments” as expressions of knowledge and insight and wisdom and wisdom and a very, very good thing.  We should view “growing old” as a gift, not a burden.   

We are humans becomming—not simply humans being.  Preserve your body.  Expand your mind.  Let your inner light shine.  Be thankful for your many days on this earth. 

The United States is the most generous nation in the world.

Data from Giving USA reveals:

•         Americans donate approximately 2% of the value of our gross domestic product; Great Britain is next at approximately 0.7%

•         Americans donated $295 billion in 2006 and 76.5% of this total came from individuals.

•         89% of Americans—regardless of race, color, or creed– contribute to others.

And here is a “good news/bad news” item–more people donate than vote.

Our nation’s generosity is part of our unique American heritage. In 1630, John Winthrop, the Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts, shared these words with his fellow residents of the “New World”.

 “We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities for the supply of other’s necessities.”   

Winthrop called for generosity as a way to build our new land.  He called for sharing as a way of life.  He called for those who had sufficient :superfluities” to give to those who did not.  He reinforced the notion of “love your neighbor as yourself”.  And, he established generosity as one of the foundations of our western heritage.

Further evidence of our nation’s “foundation of generosity” is contained in these words from our Declaration of Independence.

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

Our founding mothers and fathers called each of us–as Americans—to help assure our mutual well-being.  As Americans, we are obligated to be generous and personally engage for the advancement of our fellow citizens. 

Throughout multiple generations, our nation’s generosity legacy has helped advance three primary forms of capital—physical, human, and intellectual.  Imagine our communities without the buildings funded by donors—hospitals, museums, libraries, theatres.  Imagine our lives (your life) if all the people who were educated by privately donated scholarships had been deprived of that education.  What if all the inventions funded by private gifts (i.e. polio vaccine and radar) disappeared?

Philanthropy is part of our unique American heritage—if we see a problem, we don’t have to wait for the government or a for-profit business for the solutions.  We take care of business ourselves…”we seek to satisfy the necessities of others.”

As Americans, each of us is obligated to share our God-given gifts (time, talent, and treasure) to help advance the physical, human, and intellectual capital of our wonderful country. 

Novelist and theologian Frederick Buechner said “the place God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”  We each should ask ourselves: What is my community/school/church hungering for right now and how can my unique gifts (time, talent and treasure) satisfy that hunger?

The person or group that routinely neglects his or her fellow citizens in the pursuit of individual happiness violates our democracy’s social contract. Therefore, let us each “abridge ourselves of our superfluities to satisfy the necessities of others.”

My university collegue is a few years younger than I and he and his new wife are embarking on a journey to San Francisco.  As we met for what could very well be the last time, he thanked me for the guidance and support and friendship I had provided him the past four years.  He thanked me for making him think (the ultimate compliment!) and he thanked me for being his mentor.  He made me smile.

But, my mentoring with him was not complete.  Just as I had befriended him in 2003 and provided him the insights and perspectives that served him well these past four years, he now had the responsibility and opportunity to do the same for someone.  I reminded him that when the student is willing, the teacher will come.  He performed admirably as a willing student; soon his time will arrive to function as the mentor. 

 Be ready.  Be willing.  Be well, Raj.

Each and every day, community foundations strive to advance the physical, intellectual, and social capital of their communities.  In many communities, the accomplishments are easily recognizable—art centers, libraries, beautidication projects–in some communities the accomplishments are less recognizable–training for board members and directors of non-profit organizations.  Not only do community foundations direct resources to buildings and structures, they also invest in building the organizational capacity of non-profit organizations.  Subsequently, foundations leave their legacy, in part, by how they help other organizations succeed.

The continued success of community foundations is critical to the physical, intellectual, and social prosperity of our nation.  We must each do our part to ensure the community foundation in OUR community derives benefit from the blessings each of us has accumulated in our lifetimes.  We can leave our legacy, in part, by how we help the foundation in our home town.