As told by Reach’s executive director, Mark Hecker.
$53,740 of $200,000 raised.
Steve. Steve. Bill. Madeline. George. Hank. Tom.
Any financial support is significant. But, when it comes via seven checks in a single envelope, it’s even more noteworthy. Those names mean something more to me. They were my father’s law partners. And, 25 years ago, we grieved together when my dad died.
And, as Reach celebrates 10 years of existence, they chose to honor my father with a gift 25 years after his death. Many that know me know that it matters to me that my dad’s initials stare at me each day. Reach tells me to to re-ach…to again do what Andrew Carlisle Hecker did (I’m a literacy guy, I know what the “re” prefix means).
My dad lived by a saying: “I shall pass through this world just once. Any good I can do, therefore, or any kindness I can show, to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it, nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
That’s how I try to live. My team and my kids have heard me say it a different way: “whatever you need, whenever you need it.”
As a kid, I ran the halls of the offices of Hecker, Brown, Sherry and Johnson playing hide-and-go-seek. Later, I suffered my father’s death. I started a non-profit. I celebrated its growth. The names above were, quite literally, #AlwaysThere. My father would thank you.
So do I.
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