The Middlekauff Foundation

"This foundation was set up to help those in need, especially youth who maybe given help to choose the road less traveled; the high road.  It is not limited to only youths, however that is the emphasis. 

It is my personal mission statement "to serve" and give away what I have been fortunate to receive in my life. I feel that my family and I have been blessed and we need to pass it on.  When I was a child, I was living with my divorced mom and older brother. We barely had enough to make ends meet and the thought of going on to college was not a bright prospect.  However, the Medford, Oregon Rotary gave me a 4-year partial scholarship to Oregon State University and the light at the end of the tunnel became much lighter.  Being dyslexic and having average grades it made it even more difficult, but by spending one year at a junior college I got my grades up to an acceptable level to enter Oregon State University.  Growing up, I had some mentors in my life that helped me realize that despite my learning disability I could achieve anything in life.  One in particular was my high school teacher Mrs. Carla Mundt who helped me realize that numbers were magic and just because my reading skills lacked I could excel in numbers and that I did.  I graduated in accounting and belonged to Beta Alpha Psi the accounting honor society.   If it were not for that teacher, and then help of our local Rotary club I may have taken the wrong road and who's knows where I would have ended up. 

Families struggle in this world and it sometimes only takes a little help or even a word of encouragement to help them go towards the light.  That is exactly what our foundations goal is; Change a Child's life, Change the world!  We want to make a difference.  

In 1988 even with the good fortune of achieving success in obtaining my own business, we hit a difficult time where it was just getting by.  My mom, God rest her wonderful soul gave me a small book I think she got from one of those spiritual shows on TV.  It had several stories of business owners and leaders who were struggling like Mary Kay and Roger Stauback on how they gave until it hurt especially in times when they personally were struggling.   It was just one of those desperate times in life you are looking for something or someone to give you encouragement and this book landed in my hands.  Any other time I would have "oh thanks mom" and tossed it on the shelf. 

I read it several times; one story that stuck out was about Mary Kay. Her business was struggling when she gave a large sum of money to her church to expand against the advice of her son who was their CFO.  He said "mom you will hurt our business", but she did it anyway.  Well, you know the end of the story on Mary Kay? She was wildly successful!

At that same time our kids were attending a private Episcopal school named Rowland Hall St. Marks and I was on the board. They asked for a minimum of $50,000 donation-an amount I barely had and the business really needed it at that time-but with blind faith and the Mary Kay story I said sure.  I can't tell you how hard it was to pull that amount of money together at that time, but I guess you call it blind faith.  With my wife Sallee's approval we gave.

It was not six month later when extraordinary windfalls happened.  At the time I guess it was the faith in the book, but later on in life Sallee and I realized that giving was more than a test, it felt good and it did make a difference.  So the Middlekauff Foundation was just a way to funnel most of the profits of our businesses into an organization that is dedicated to paying it forward to others. 

Sallee works on the St. Luke's Foundation board and I am on the Southern Idaho Learning Center board for learning differences children and honored to be the President of the Boys and Girls Club of Magic Valley for the years 2008-2010.  We feel we should not only give our resources but of our time.

So far we have been fortunate enough to make some great investments and to have three great franchises with Ford, Lincoln-Mercury, and Honda.  We are also fortunate to have our two children join the causes and work in the businesses and in the foundation. We are blessed, and we only hope we can do a very small part in making someone else's life blessed, improved, or inspired. 

We have never done this to be recognized, but Ford Motor Company searched the entire US and Canada and we were one of four dealers who have been honored for "serving".  It is an honor to receive the award from Mr. Edsel Ford himself, but not even close to the honor it is when we have made a difference in someone else's life that is in need.

Giving is magic, you too should try It! "

- Gregg Middlekauff