Friends,
I hope you have been finding value in “Reading for Leading” – whether you have been getting it every Monday for eight years, or for just eight weeks. With your indulgence, once or twice a year, I go off track a little and seek your help. With Fathers Day coming up and in this graduation season, I have a request and an idea.
The Request: Today, tomorrow and Wednesday of this week, Meijer supermarkets in Michigan are offering a great deal for Mentor Michigan. For every $25 gift card purchased, Meijer will give $2 to Mentor Michigan. Last year in two days we raised over $12,000 to support our vision to make sure that every child has a caring and stable adult in their life. We hope to far surpass that amount this year. You can give a card away to dads or grads or just turn around and use the cards for your shopping. Spend $100 on cards and you’ll painlessly give $8 to Mentor Michigan.
The Idea: If you’ve enjoyed “Reading for Leading,” you might consider giving my book, Everyday Leadership: Getting Results in Business Politics and Life as a gift to a grad or a dad. I’m happy to sign and personalize a copy, and we’ll get it out in the mail right away (with free shipping). Sales of the book have already generated over $5,000 for Mentor Michigan.
Many of us have been blessed with a caring dad. In my case, my dad was my primary leadership model. One way to honor your dad is to support the boys (and girls) who unfortunately have no such model in their life. Become a mentor or just consider finding another simple way to give.
Lead with your best self!
Dan
I assume you mean MeiJer ??
My father died when I was in 4th grade, and I still recall the extra efforts that my 6th grade teacher went to in order to help me out. He frequently lent me books that he knew I’d like to read. (Geeky grown-up stuff like Elie Able’s account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, or Theodore White’s “The Making of the President 1960.” Not what my classmates were reading at the time!) On at least one occasion, he took me to the WMU football game. I appreciated his extra efforts, and I know that my mom did, also. As any of you who have lost a parent know, going through life without that parent is an indescribable void. Although I didn’t use the term “mentoring” for many years, my teacher was helping out a kid who could have gone down the wrong road in life, but turned out okay. Dan, this is a good reminder for me to try to “pay it forward” to someone today who’s not so different than I was then.
Is the Mentor Michigan Program available at all Meijer locations? I never heard of it before…
Glad to do the Meijer fund raiser, Dan. You can guess what the grocery bill is like at our house. Father’s Day is always special to me. I was blessed to have my Dad until I was 13. Then, his favorite brother, my uncle Louis, stepped in unobtrusively and without pushing, to be there in Dad’s stead when I needed him. Both were amazing examples and I miss them every day.
This year, as always, we will celebrate the six men who are the birth fathers of our daughters. We will remmeber their sacrifice and be grateful that they helped make our family possible.
Mike
Dan, this Mentor Michigan program should be offered by Meijer’s 24/7 twelve months out of the year. My wife enjoys shopping at Meijer’s. Please mention my request to Meijer’s! Let Meijer’s have this program every year for twelve months! It is truly a great idea.
Dan,
Great message. I’m glad to see you are thinking about your Dad this Father’s Day. Let’s hope our kids, and mentees, look to us with similar gratitude someday. And, of course, let’s work to deserve their gratitude.
I recently read your book and look forward to discussing it with you sometime in the near future.
JCE
Readers of the blog should be aware that it’s a $2 donation for any purchase of a Meijer gift certificate of $25 or more (or at least, that’s what it was last year). So, if you bought one $100 gift card from Meijer, you donated $2. But, if you bought four $25 gift cards from Meijer, you donated $8. So, just buy a whole bunch of cards, rather than just one card for a large amount.
Dan, if I’m wrong, please clarify.
djb