Growing Hope Foundation

Friends,I must share with you today one of the craziest, and coolest, public relations activities I have possibly ever heard of.  So, I was watching tv over the weekend and there came an ad for Domino's Pizza (one of my favorites).  It talked about how sometimes when you are driving home with your freshly baked pizza, you may hit a pothole and your toppings will slide off your pizza in the box.  And the ad talked about how unfortunate Domino's thought that was to lose all your tasty toppings because of hitting a pothole.  And so, the ad went on, Domino's took it upon themselves to start the "Paving for Pizza" program, in which you can call up Domino's if you hit a pothole on the way home from picking up your pizza and they will come fix the pothole.  As I was watching this ad, I started wondering if this was a joke, like the Mayhem-guy was going to pop up.  But he didn't.  And, the ad sounded like this was something they were literally going to do.  So, I did what any curious person in the 21st century would do, I jumped on the internet and learned that, sure enough, Domino's has created a program to provide grants to cities and towns to provide funding to repair their streets.  And the program is indeed called "Paving for Pizza."

Of course we can be cynical about it and say "oh, they're just doing it as a PR gimmick." Of course they are.  But, they have gone about it in the best way possible - they have done something that is a win-win.  It is a win for Domino's because it is creating quite a stir and generating exactly what Domino's was hoping for - interest in their product, and their company.  It is a win for the communities because they are getting some extra cash for some very specific projects that some towns probably don't have enough money to take care of themselves.

One person posted this comment on social media:  "Dominos is paying their own money to pave over potholes in cities because cities aren’t taking responsibility and this is the greatest PR ever and honestly so sad that a pizza chain is doing the government's job."  I do agree with this being the greatest PR ever, but I don't fault the cities for not taking the responsibility themselves, and I don't think it's sad that a pizza chain is doing the government's job.  On the contrary, I think this is a perfect example of how we need to start re-thinking how we help meet needs.  I don't think it's sad that "a pizza chain is doing the government's job."  I think it's exciting!  Not only are they paving roads, they are paving the way for a new way to invest in the communities in which their businesses are located, and they are creating a new form of publicity that benefits many.  As a company that delivers pizza, they have a vested interest in a community having good roads.  So, they are taking it upon themselves to ensure that is the case.

We have become accustomed to a certain way of "giving" and "giving back."  Perhaps it's time to start re-thinking that on many levels, and getting creative, as Domino's has just done.

So, maybe for supper tonight - Domino's Pizza?....yum....

Peace, my friends,
Julie

Hello my friends,

Today I have on my mind how easy it is to confuse having wisdom about money with being callous and cold-hearted.  I will just jump straight to my example - it is a story about my youngest daughter.  She was probably 10 years old at the time.  A friend of hers was participating in a jump-rope-a-thon fundraiser at her school to raise money for some sort of charity.  My daughter's friend asked her if she would want to donate money to the cause (I don't recall exactly what it was).  My daughter came home, checked her piggy bank, went to school the next day, and told her friend that she would pledge $10.  It wasn't until that night that I learned about any of this.  I tucked her into bed, and was just about to turn off the light when she popped back up:  "oh, by the way, I have to bring $10 to school tomorrow."  "Why?"  "I pledged it to my friend for the jump-rope-a-thon."...........this is me taking a long pause and wondering how I should proceed........It has always been important to me that my children be compassionate, charitable, and generous.  But, in that moment I realized that I had forgotten something - wisdom.  I asked her how much money she had in her piggy bank.  As a 10-year-old it wasn't much more than $10.  I had to then explain to her that, "while it was really thoughtful of you to make a pledge, do you realize you will then have almost no money?"  I know that to my daughter, again, as a 10-year-old, this probably sounded to her like I didn't want her to give her money to help others, but that instead I wanted her to keep it for herself, which I am sure she would think sounded like a contradiction to other lessons she's heard from me.  So, I had to break it down for her.  I explained to her that it wasn't the idea of her giving money to a good cause, it was the idea of how MUCH of her money she was giving in ONE moment.  I explained that by giving almost all of her money to THIS particular cause, there would be virtually none left for anything else, for her to use on something she may have been saving up for, or even to donate to another cause that could come up next week or next month.  I told her she could take the money this time, but that she needs to think this through next time.

If I had only told you that I did not approve of my daughter's $10 pledge to a charity, on the surface that might sound cold-hearted.  But, when you use wisdom to dig deeper into the "why", it becomes more reasonable to take a pause regarding how much to give, and when, and to whom.

Now, if you are a church-goer, you might be wondering, "what about the widow who gave 'all she had.'?"  Well, this is the deal with that story - as with any account in scripture, context is everything.  What was the context in which Jesus lifted her up as an example of how to act?  It was in the midst of a confrontation with the Pharisees.  They were hoarding most of their wealth, and taking advantage of others.  But, to the public eye, they were doing everything they could to make it LOOK like they were noble and pure and helping people.  But, they weren't.  And Jesus knew it.  They wanted people to THINK they were giving great amounts of their wealth to help the poor, but they weren't.  Jesus knew that they were only doing what they were doing 'for show', so that people would 'admire them for their generosity'.  And that is when Jesus held up the example of the poor widow, in order to shame the Pharisees.

What Jesus WAS NOT doing was giving a lesson on stewardship.  He did that in a different place in scripture.  From the gospel of Luke:  "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?"  Luke 14:28.  That is the kind of wisdom Jesus wants us to employ when we are deciding how to use our resources, not just money, but also time, energy, anything that we "spend" or "use up".  Jesus would want us to count the cost to make sure we are able to be everything Jesus has created us to be.

Have a great day, my friends! 

​Julie

Dear friends,

Today I wanted to share with you part of an interview I watched recently with a highly successful investment manager from Wall Street.  The man's name is Paul Singer of Elliot Management.  He was being interviewed by David Rubenstein on the Bloomberg News program "Peer to Peer Conversations."

Rubenstein was asking Singer about his approach to the various businesses he invests in.  His approach over the course of his career has been to offer portfolios that provide a consistent return (as opposed to having his objective being high-risk investments that, while risky, bring the possibility of much higher yields).  Over the years his approach has proven very successful with his investors, being pleased to almost-always seeming to be making money on their investments.

Not everyone approaches investing this way.  It is neither right nor wrong.  It is simply the method Singer has employed over the years.  The economy needs some people to invest conservatively, the economy needs some people to invest aggressively, and the economy needs some people to invest in a steady and deliberate manner (which is different than investing "conservatively" but that is a topic for a different day...).

The part of the program that I found the most interesting, though, was not about his "investing" strategy as it pertained to his business; it was when Rubenstein inquired about his approach to philanthropy.  Singer responded by saying that he applies the same principles to philanthropy and charitable giving as he does to investing - he looks at the charity's financials, their leadership, their goals, and tries to draw the best conclusions regarding which charities will have the most success in achieving the goals that he is passionate about.

Sometimes it is easy to think that people who apply stringent "business tactics" to philanthropy are "robbing it" of the humanity and compassion.  It was clear that Singer had a much different take on that philosophy.  Certainly in his mind it was much more humane and compassionate to align himself with the organizations that he could see, through the use of objective information, were achieving their declared goals.

Maybe Singer has something to teach us all about being good stewards.

Food for thought, my friends, food for thought. 

​Julie

Dear friends, 
There was an article in my local newspaper the other day that caught my eye and, as I read it, reminded me of a story from the Old Testament.  The article was about a meeting held in the community to make people aware of the current "landscape" of farming, how it looked a decade ago compared to how it looks today.  The one part of the article that really caught my eye was entitled "Break-even farming."  In this portion of the article it spoke first of the high prices that were experienced in farming from the years 2008-2013.  During those five years "farmers profited to an unprecedented degree."  In 2013, corn was selling for almost $7 a bushel and beans were as high as $14-15 per bushel.  Today, they are selling for a little over $3 for corn and under $9 for beans.  The high profits were obviously welcome, but one of the negative results was an over-abundance of corn and beans.  Everyone wanted to take advantage of the high profits and so everyone got busy raising as much corn and soybeans as possible.  This, among other factors, has contributed to the state of farming today.  A friend of mine often uses the image of a pendulum swinging back and forth.  Unfortunately for many farmers, the pendulum got so far out in one direction that when it came back, many were not prepared for the force with which it would need to use in order to restore some sort of balance to the market. 
 
The article went on to talk about how prices have now come back to what one speaker termed "break-even" farming, where the input costs are not much lower than the revenue generated by the crops.  The speaker went on to say that the break-even model was basically what the business of farming looked like for about three decades, until that spike in prices began about ten years ago. 
 
Not to mention that the world of agriculture has only gotten to be more global than it was even 20 years ago.  A new model is taking shape and farmers need to watch it closely and adjust accordingly if they are going to survive and thrive in this new economic environment. 
 
I mentioned in the beginning of this post that the article called to my mind a story from the Old Testament.  The story is of Joseph, son of Jacob, that dreamer who received from his father a multi-colored coat which threw his brothers into a collective jealous rage.  Long story short, Joseph grew up in the land of Canaan with his father and brothers, but his fiendish brothers got rid of him and he ultimately ended up in Egypt where, through a series of bizarre events, he ended up becoming the right-hand-man to the Pharaoh of Egypt, the most powerful man in that region of the world at that time.  The main reason Joseph garnered such favor with the Pharaoh is the Pharaoh was having these crazy dreams (which, at that time, people put a lot of stock into the meaning of their dreams) and none of his advisors could tell him what the dreams meant.  Here are the gist of his two most troubling dreams:  Dream #1 - Seven sleek, fat cows came up out of the Nile River and were grazing on the riverbanks.  Then, seven gaunt looking cows came up out of the river and ate the seven fat cows.  Dream #2 - Seven healthy heads of grain grew up on a single stalk.  Then, seven more heads of grain grew, except these were thin and scorched by the east wind.  Just as with the cows, the seven thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy heads of grain. 
 
Joseph understood what the dreams meant and explained them to the Pharaoh:  The seven fat cows and the seven healthy heads of grain represented seven years of plenty.  The seven thin cows and thin heads of grain represented seven years of drought and famine.  Joseph advised Pharaoh that in order to prepare for the seven bad years, he needed to properly plan how to take advantage of the seven years of plenty.  Because Pharaoh had come to trust Joseph, and considered him wise, Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of creating such a plan.  And Joseph's plan worked.  When the rest of the region was suffering on account of the seven years of drought, Egypt continued to flourish. 
 
The lesson from that story, and from the article on "break-even" farming, is basically the same.  We never want to let our guard down and assume that the good times are here to stay.  The good times are meant to be an opportunity to properly prepare for when the more challenging times come, because they always do.  It is that swinging pendulum. 
 
That is my thought for you today, my friends! 
 
Peace, 
Julie ​

Hello friends, 
Normally I am the kind of person that "wants to know" - I like to learn; I think it's fun and also important.  So, it feels a little counter-intuitive to be promoting the value of "not knowing".  But let me explain.  You see, every year the National Corn Growers Association has a Corn Yield Contest.  The winner this past year (2016) was a man named Randy Gowdy.  He yielded 500+ bushel corn.  This was his second time winning.  He also won in 2014, being the first producer to ever cross the 500 bushel threshold. 
 
You might be shocked by the amount of corn he was able to raise.  Here is a portion of an article with Randy in which he shares some of his perspective on his accomplishments: 
 
“I always say in all of the meetings that we go to and I try to influence growers that a definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results,” Dowdy said. “We farmers are creatures of habit. Jesus could tell some farmers what to do, and they still wouldn’t do it any different. I understand that. And that’s a tough battle. Industry has a tendency to get tunnel vision and farmers are guaranteed to have tunnel vision and universities tend to have tunnel vision.” 
 
Yes, 500+ bushel might be shocking.  But, even more shocking may be to learn that prior to 10 years ago, Randy had no farming experience.  He was not raised on a farm; he had not been a farmer by trade, until he decided to give it a try.  And he ended up winning the highest yield contest, twice. 
 
Ironically, the most important tool in his tool box was not his knowledge of farming, but actually, it was the fact that he came into farming with NO knowledge.  What some people might consider a DISADVANTAGE was actually his biggest ADVANTAGE.  There were no ideas that were off the table for him; he had no emotional attachment to any certain way of doing anything.  He was strictly trying to find WHAT WORKED, and his lack of previous knowledge provided him with a clean slate. 
 
Don't ever think that because you don't know something, that you can never learn.  As Randy Dowdy has proven, there is great value in not knowing something.  You can learn things that "the experts" might have discounted years ago.  And, I am hoping as you read this you realize that this applies to much more than just farming.  In anything in life, if you have a knowledge gap, don't consider it a deficit, consider it an opportunity! 
 
Have a great day! 
Julie ​

Dear friends, 
I read an interesting article recently about a subject matter I don't believe I have ever written about in the past.  But it really struck me probably because it was regarding a part of the American culture that has been a standard of my generation - the shopping mall, and retail shopping in general.  As most of us are aware, online shopping has definitely affected the viability of retailers, actual store-fronts where you physically walk into the place, browse around, and make your purchase at a counter, where you are waited on by a human being.  But, I guess I did not realize how huge the impact has been, probably because when I do set out to go shopping, I only stop to think about "where to go"; I don't think about "where I can't go anymore because there are no longer any stores there." 
 
One statistic I learned through the article was that in every state in America, retailing accounts for at least one in ten jobs.  And, that because of that large percentage of workers who are employed in the retail industry, it has not been since the 1980's that an industry has had so many workers so drastically impacted by the current reality. 
 
And, many stores try to compete by offering online shopping of their own.  But even then they are basically cannibalizing themselves as they have to have a more sophisticated digital presence, as well as provide reliable shipping to customers.  And all of that costs the store more money, thus cutting into their profits. 
 
The whole subject brought to mind for me a notion that may not sound very palatable to many, probably even controversial, but I am going to mention it anyway.  The notion is that many people in our country feel antagonistic towards other countries that we are told have "stolen" our jobs.  Manufacturing that has left our borders for possibly more inexpensive labor, etc. in other countries.  This, people want to argue, has left citizens in our own nation under-or un-employed.  And, we want to point a finger at the "they" who have done this thing to "us." 
 
But, isn't it interesting that the industry that is suffering a similar fate now to that of manufacturing of the 1980's is suffering because of direct choices we, the consumer, are making because we are exerting our freedom of choice to shop from the comfort of our own homes? 
 
My intent here is not to point the finger at anyone who shops online.  I shop online quite often.  It's handy, and it saves a ton of time if you are after hard-to-find items.  My intent of this post is, as usual, simply to draw out a point of contemplation.  To consider, before we start bemoaning the "state of the world these days" and that "others" have made it so, to consider our role in it.  And, at the same time, to ponder if maybe things today aren't quite as bad as some would lead us to believe.  There are always challenges in life, to be sure.  We are broken humans.  There are problems that need to be addressed, negative experiences felt by some at the hands of others.  But, we can't simply shake a finger at someone else.  Maybe the first step is simply to acknowledge a new paradigm, and join with one another in saying, "okay, this is the new normal.  Now what?"  And face it head-on, with confidence. 
 
Peace, my friends. 
 
Julie ​

Hello friends, 
So, my title is indeed relevant to this post, but I admit I made it sound outlandish in order to really pique your curiosity.  A 266% return on investment (ROI)??  What am I talking about?  After all, these days you are hard pressed to find interest rates on a 12-month cd higher than 1%, and banks even have billboards advertising such rates as if that is impressive!  You've got to be kidding me!  But, I digress....  This isn't about interest rates at a financial institution.  It's actually about a 266% ROI based on one farming operation's experience using a 23-year no-till system and integrating cover crops into that system.  But, even more than that, this post is actually about the value of counting the cost in general.  Not just for farmers, but for all of us. 
 
First, the 266% figure.  The article in which this story was recorded is from No-Till Farmer Magazine.  The farming operation is located in Indiana.  The article breaks down into three categories the economics of what they are trying:  #1 is the cost of the cover-crops; #2 is the savings they experience through using cover-crops; #3 is the soil health increase they see through using cover-crops. 
 
I am not going to include the charts and graphs into this blog post because some of you might just be interested in the overall general life-lesson here, but if you are interested in the actual article, send me an email and I will send you a link to the article. 
 
But, the gist of it is this:  these folks have sat down and counted the cost vs. benefit per acre of every aspect of using cover-crops.  Here is the breakdown: 
 
Costs they take into account:  seed, aerial seeding, tractor hours, labor, fuel, planter repairs/wear. 
 
Economic benefits they take into account:  fertilizer saved, crop yield increase, drought tolerance, soil quality, erosion reduction, CSP program payment. 
 
And because they are doing this on a field that has been continuous no-till for 23 years, at the end of the day, they can honestly show a 266% return on investment of using cover-crops on that field. 
 
Now, before you start breaking out in a cold sweat, wondering, "how can I get involved in something that would give me a 266% return on investment??" because that sounds crazy, but also tempting......  Like a Ponzi scheme that I might fall for....  The point of this blog post is not to get you to translate into your own life "where can you make financial investments that will bring in those kinds of returns?"  The point of this blog post is to use a really extreme example in order to remind us all of the immense value of sitting down and counting the cost in the most common, mundane aspects of our own lives. 
 
Every choice we make, be it financial, time, relationships, etc, etc, can be evaluated in a cost/benefit way.  But, I don't necessarily mean the financial cost and the financial benefit.  There are lots of way to evaluate cost/benefit that don't necessarily translate into dollars.  An example:  Say my son has a soccer game in a neighboring town.  Should I go to the game?  Yes or No?  Well, I might find the best answer to that question if I first evaluate it from a cost/benefit standpoint.  In order to do that I need to answer a few questions:  How much will it cost in fuel to drive to the game and home again?  Will I be gone over the supper hour?  If so, will I: skip supper, bring a sandwich with me, buy fast food or buy food at the concession stand?  Will any of my other kids want to come along?  How much will that increase food costs?  How much does it cost to get into the game?  Again, how much more will it cost depending on any other kids who join me?  What about the time I will spend - driving to the game, driving home, and actually watching the game?  What will I NOT be able to accomplish at home by choosing to go to his soccer game?  Can I do those things at a later time?  Will I be missing something that is time-specific such as a meeting or the school event of one of my other kids?  What will it mean to my son that I attend his game?  Have I missed all of his previous games?  Have I attended all of his previous games?  And, when the time comes that he graduates and moves away from home, how important will it have been to me that I went to THIS particular game?  How important will it have been that I went to ANY of his games? 
 
This is counting the cost.  My simple yes-or-no question is not so simple if I really take time to sit down and count the cost. 
 
I realize this sounds exhausting.  But, that just may be why so many people live with so many regrets.  They made decisions that they thought at the time were simple but didn't realize the long-term impact of those decisions because they didn't take time to sit down and count the cost. 
 
This can be played out on the farm field, the soccer field, or wherever life takes you.  Sitting down and counting the cost can be the best way to know if you are going to get a really good return on investment, whatever the currency - money, time, relationships, etc.  Is it exhausting to do this?  Sometimes.  But, anything that is worth doing well takes a little extra effort and attention.  I am of the mind that how we spend our lives is definitely worth the extra effort. 
 
Peace my friends, 
Julie ​

Hello friends, 
Let me share with you today a tiny fact about myself:  I am not a fan of the "one-liner" - you know, simple statements that try to address complex issues.  But, as I pondered that thought, I realized there is a distinct difference between a "one-liner" and a "little nugget of wisdom".  A "little nugget of wisdom" could, at first glance, look like a "one-liner", but I would say the difference between the "one-liner" and the "little nugget of wisdom" is that the "one-liner" is the last stop in shutting down communication, whereas the "little nugget of wisdom" is the first step to opening up communication. 
 
If you have read many of my blogs, you are probably thinking to yourself right about now, "I bet she is going to share a little nugget of wisdom with us."  You are correct!  The little nugget is a statement I read on an Internet thread, the subject of which was how much is the average daily wage of a person in "an impoverished country."  (I am intentionally not naming the specific country because the 'nugget' is not about that particular country, but about the idea of the nugget in general.) 
 
This is what someone wrote regarding how much many of the people earn:  "Too much to die; too little to live."  That is a powerful statement, one that is meant to propel us forward, in thought and in action.  I cannot imagine an existence that would rob me of peace and contentment more than being caught in between death and life.  To live fully is to know peace.  To die fully is the pinnacle of peace.  To be suspended between both would be utter torture. 
 
The solution is too complicated for one simple blog post.  But, as with many things I write about here, the first step is giving it thought.  Consider the power of that brief statement - that the people earn "too much to die; too little to live."  It is a profound call to action.  We can't sit idly by when there are those in the world whose existence is suspended between life and death. 
 
What can we do?  The question is not rhetorical, it is personal.  Let us each work to discern what our answer to that question might be. 
 
Your ponderous friend, 
Julie ​