It Was a Great Year, Again
I have written before on fraternal organizations and their unique structure. As a quick reminder, fraternals are member-owned organizations that deal in financial products. They use revenue from their financial services operations to fund projects and encourage member participation in local activities.
So as an advisor with Modern
Woodmen of America, I help people with budgeting, insurance needs and investment planning, right? But
I also meet with my clients/members to help people around us, as well as the community at large. All our money must remain local, and all activities require involvement of clients/members. In other words, I (in my role with Modern Woodmen) cannot simply write a check. We DO.
Why is this relevant? Each year, I pull together a summary of what I and Modern Woodmen members have done in Starkville in through the year. The numbers are humbling and amazing, and they remind me in what an incredibly caring and generous community we live.
Hometown Heroes – Each year, we’re invited to recognize local heroes, people who go above and beyond, either in their work lives or as volunteers. We like to choose individuals who might have flown under the radar in the past. For this person, Modern Woodmen recognizes his or her efforts with a certificate, and also a donation to the charity of his or her choice. We honored seven Hometown Heroes this year. Dollars back to Starkville - $700.
Educational Projects – Modern Woodmen educational projects are as broad in scope as there are members in the organization. We hosted lunch-and-learns, a Pilates class, a self-defense seminar, and participated in Touch-A-Truck, to name a few. Dollars back to Starkville - $1,400.
Service Projects – Our service projects can be for an individual, for a group or for the community at large. They can involve an expenditure of money, or simply of time. In 2018, we created art and played games with people living in local nursing homes and assisted living homes, provided lunches for Habit for Humanity collegiate volunteers, coordinated a fundraiser for a local police officer, conducted a beautification project for the Golden Triangle Early College High School at EMCC, and donated a large amount of clothing and other needed supplies to the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District’s various clothing closets. We also sponsored a very cool geometric mural project on Lampkin Street, and just this week we watched smiles light the faces of a group of preschool students to whom we gave new bikes for Christmas. Our final event of the year will be providing food for the Almost Like Home Christmas Dinner coordinated by Starkville resident Lisa McReynolds. Dollars back to Starkville - $10,451.
Matching Funds – A matching fund project can, again, be for an individual or for something in the community. The need must be specific and the dollars cannot go into a general operating fund. As with everything else we do, members must be involved. In 2018, we sold tickets (LOTS of tickets!), served food, played trivia, and cooked meals to benefit Boys & Girls Clubs of the Golden Triangle, Christian World Missions, Starkville Community Theater, Salvation Army, Starkville teachers, the Prayers for Matt Savage effort, the Oktibbeha Heritage Museum, and the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office. Dollars back to Starkville - $94,428
If you don’t have a calculator handy, I’ll help you. That’s $106,979 in real dollars put back into Starkville and Oktibbeha county. Real dollars. This doesn’t include time, donated items, discounted items or manpower. In a community the size of ours and by an organization that is, for all intents and purposes, a relative newcomer to Starkville, I say that’s amazing. (Modern Woodmen has been around since 1883 and our president is a Starkville native; however, there was no Starkville office for many years before I opened mine in 2012.) I’m proud to be part of an organization that’s doing good, and I’m grateful to my chief planners/organizers – Jamey Bachman, Ben Bachman, Susan Griffin, Angela Hill, Lori Smith, Lee Ann Williamson, Lauren Lang, Daphne Knox, and Eddie Coats. They’re the idea people and the worker bees who make everything happen.
Want to hear something even more impressive? I’m one of maybe fifteen Modern Woodmen representatives in the north half of Mississippi – above the Highway 82 dividing line. Among us all, along with our clients/members, we put back just over $1 Million into our collective area. Holy smokes, folks! I’m so proud of the people I work with!
There is so much going wrong in our world today, and so much bad news. Yet there is so very much good. I’ll end with this – If you can have your financial business, insurances and investments with anyone, why would you not want to work with an organization that affords you the opportunity to be a part of this?s.
Barbara Runnels Coats*, FICF, RICP, Modern Woodmen of America Financial Representative.