#jacksalzwedel

[beauti4soul]

#StuartRogers will never forget the moment his life changed. It was an evening in January 2016. Earlier that day, Rogers, a product and field marketing director for American Family Insurance in #MadisonWI attended a company leadership meeting with some 200 colleagues. A man named #AdamBraun addressed the group. Braun founded an organization called Pencils of Promise, which #BuildsSchools in rural areas of #GuatemalaLaos and #Ghana He had an inspiring story to share, starting with how, while backpacking in India, he asked a young boy begging in the streets what he wanted most in the world. “A pencil,” the boy said. The story resonated with Rogers and stayed in his mind. There was a social hour at day’s end, and Rogers approached #JackSalzwedel the American Family CEO.  “We should build a school,” Rogers said.Braun, who launched #PencilsOfPromise in 2008, noted that $25,000 could build a school in the developing world. (The cost has since risen to $35,000.) “I said I’d love to support it,” #Salzwedel says, recalling his reaction to the idea. To Rogers he said, “You spearhead it, and the company will match it. I asked if he’d be willing to pitch it to the whole group [the next morning]. And he did. He did it all.” It was, Rogers thought later, “brilliant leadership” on the CEO’s part, and a life-changing moment for Rogers, who thought his suggestion might result in a committee being formed to discuss the idea. Instead, it was up to him. After an astonishing 28 hours in which the funds were raised, then matched by the company, Rogers led an unforgettable trip to #Africa It started an ongoing relationship with #Pencils of Promise that took him last November to New York City, where he ran his first #Marathon and raised still more money for the organization. In late 2016, Rogers visited the school in Ghana that he and his employer, American Family Insurance raised the money to build It’s the kind of outcome that could give company meetings a good name. Rogers, 38, has been with #AmericanFamily in Madison for nearly six years. He was born in Michigan and at 12 moved with his family to the Indianapolis area. Rogers attended Indiana State University, met his wife, Megan