A couple weeks ago, I traveled with 9 other volunteers from Greater Kansas City to Burnsville, Yancey County, North Carolina, to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Although it has been over 4 months since the area of Western NC and Eastern Tennessee was hit with what could be [...]
In a sweeping move that sent shockwaves through the nonprofit sector, President Donald Trump issued a memo pausing federal funding for nonprofit organizations shortly after being sworn in as the 47th President. While the policy was temporarily halted by a court order, and ultimately rescinded by the White House, it [...]
Last week we had Giving Tuesday. According to its official website of www.givingtuesday.org, Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 within the 92nd Street Y and its Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact in NYC. It now is an independent nonprofit inspiring millions to give, collaborate and celebrate generosity. According [...]
While I am generally never afraid of sharing my faith in these columns, I also am cognizant of the fact that my beliefs aren’t necessarily shared by all of my readers so I try to keep my articles as secular as possible. However, recently my pastor, Neil Chesshir of One [...]
This morning, I am sitting while awaiting breakfast in Creston, Iowa, with a group of about 35. I came up yesterday as a member of a chainsaw crew of the Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief organization to cut up and cut down damaged or downed trees the tornado caused last week [...]
The period of December through New Year’s Day is now called the holidays. Even that term is an amendment of Holy Days so you really cannot get away from the religious significance. Historically, it has been dominated in our culture as Christmastime. We give gifts to each other, presumably in [...]
As financial advisors one of the primary things we do is help people prepare for retirement. For most advisors, that is accomplished by helping clients build up and grow their retirement accounts in order to make sure the client can afford the standard of living they want when no longer [...]
As I have confessed before in other columns, I have a bad habit of buying things, not because I need them, but because I have found such a good deal. Sadly, the philosophy that says “I’d be a fool not to buy it at this price” can often lead to [...]
If you give to any favorite charities, you must wonder by year end whether every dollar you give only buys more paper, ink, and postage for more solicitations. I think it is safe to say that the cards and letters are effective. If they were not, they would not send [...]
While it will be several weeks before we have a clear picture on total retail sales this holiday season, we do know that it started very poorly with November sales numbers, typically the highest month of the entire year, actually dropping .6% when compared to October. Many on Wall Street have interpreted [...]
