Image provided by Jack and Barb Moberg
Courtney Wentz, Communications & Program Services Director, spoke with past Executive Director, Jack Moberg, to see how the past has influenced our present and will shape our future.
Courtney Wentz: Hi Jack. First, thank you so much for coming in and sitting down with me. Do you want to just start by telling me a little bit about your background?
Jack Moberg: Where do you want to start? My rock and roll days? I ran a teenage nightclub in the sixties. I bet you did not expect that.
CW: I definitely did not.
JM: Yeah. Yeah, nobody does. I’m a Penn State grad. Spent a couple of years trying to figure out how to make a living. I ended up coming to the Lafayette Hotel the Friday before Thanksgiving of 1972 to apply for a job in the oil and gas business. The guy (Mr. Bill Haas) hired me and I started in January. I was 14 years in the oil and gas business. I was in Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, and a little bit of New York. I ended my oil and gas career in Pike County, but I did a turn in North and South Dakota. I came back here with a little bit of money, an airplane and a desire to get out of the oil and gas business. I built a thing called Motor Care, which is the ten-minute oil and lube on Pike Street. We broke even on the first week. On its second weekend, I took off and went skiing at Snowshoe. And that was the last time I broke even for over four years. The job at the Chamber of Commerce came up and I applied and didn't get an interview. They hired a guy with chamber experience. And eleven months later, he left. The job came up again and I applied, got an interview, and got accepted. I still had my oil change business and I was still losing $2,000 a month. Guess how much the Chamber job paid? $2,000 a month, so I was back to zero. I did 14 years at the Chamber and of the 14, I think I was on the Board of the Foundation for like 12 of those years. And we had Connie Struebing, of course, and we hired eventually a young man named Bret Bicoy. I learned everything I knew about operating the Foundation from Bret Bicoy while I was a board member and he was the guy that was working for us. He was sharp. He was a good operator. And so I inherited a well-oiled machine when he left. Chief among that machine was my office mate, Judy Atkins. Between the two of us, we moved from the College down to Putnam Street Commons and ran the show for, I think three, four and a half years.
CW: What made you get involved with the Foundation? Why did you become a board member?
JM: I was at the Chamber of Commerce and had a recognized, high profile in the community and for whatever reason, was asked to join the Board. Really, I think what they were doing was trying to figure out how to train me to run the Chamber. I don't think anybody envisioned me running the Foundation. But, I sat and listened and learned.
CW: What was it like transitioning from being a board member to being the executive director all of a sudden?
JM: You find out what time the office opens, and what you need to do between 8 and 5 to make sure the phones get answered and the door is always open. And I got to go out and meet a lot of people who began or created funds and some of the grant recipients. I just gained a whole different perspective, being on the employee side from being on the board side. It kind of made the board look simple, or easy. It's a little more challenging being the person in charge.
CW: I could see that being the case! So, what do you feel was your most significant achievement?
JM: You know, I've wrestled with that. Moving away from the campus, despite the fact that it was a great place to be. They were wonderful hosts. They did a lot for the Foundation in terms of running the payroll and the benefits package and a lot of other stuff that was to our advantage. But it was good to get away and develop our own identity. And at the time, the J. C. Penny building was a high-profile place to be. But as far as significant achievements, I kind of came to the Forrest Gump conclusion about 4:00 this morning, I thought, you know, I was in the right place at the right time for a lot of things that I got credit for. But they just happened around me like Forrest Gump. We created a lot of funds. It seemed like I was creating a new fund every couple of days, but really it was more like every couple of weeks or so. Are there 300 funds now?
CW: Mm-hmm, a little over.
JM: A lot of those happened during that period, for whatever reason. And again, it was kind of a Forrest Gump-ish thing. I had a high profile at the Chamber and I brought that here. It was like people said to me, “what is that Foundation thing you’re doing?” So, it wasn't that I had done anything, but people knew who I was and came on board. Again, like Forrest Gump! Things just happened.
CW: I recognize that you're still involved with the Foundation. You are a fund holder. You're part of the Legacy Society. What makes you stay involved?
JM: I've done a lot of reflection on that question. Through the 40-plus years that I've been paying attention to this community, since I moved here in ‘73, we've gone away from being an industrial manufacturing job, classic American small-town community. We have lost those jobs. We have lost those industries. We have lost those people who were in a position to write checks. Mostly anonymously. The Wesel family, Mr. Warren, Mr. Bertram. Mr. Broughton, many others. When I was at the Chamber and we needed money for a project, I knew the phone numbers of five local plants, and I knew the plant managers by name and I could call them up and say, “We're doing this, this, this and this. Can you help us out?” And I’d go to their office and walk away with a $1,000-$5,000 or more check. Did I tell you about the day Mr. Haas came in to my office at his place and put a $10,000 check on my desk to help the Players Theater buy their building? He had raised it at breakfast at The Hotel. Those days are gone. So, why do I stay involved? Because we need a revenue generator, a donation source to replace those people who are no longer with us. I can't call the plant manager at Shell and sing my song and go down and pick up a $5,000 check. But the Foundation, to a certain extent, can fill that gap. And as it grows, it has more of an ability to meet those needs. I can't create plants, but I can stay involved with the Foundation and encourage people to direct their funds this way.
JM: Oh, here's the other reason I stay involved. *Jack hands Courtney a pile of thank you notes from various organizations. We do not have a big fund here. But we get a ton of thank you notes from organizations that have been granted money from our little fund. And they write us a thank you note. That's pretty cool. You know, I could write $100 checks all day long and not get thank you notes like we get from the spin-off from that fund. Also, there’s something that I have never said out loud because I haven't figured out how to express it without offending the florists. When somebody we know passes away, we write a check here. And then you guys write a thank you note. It’s not something like flowers that you only get to enjoy for three days.
CW: They’re both things that can bring you joy, but this can last longer. It leaves more of an impression.
JM: And then the person gets the Annual Report the following year with their loved ones listed, and you expand your mailing list and awareness of the Foundation.
CW: Thinking about people who don't really know what the Foundation is. What would you want them to know?
JM: Uh, that it exists. That it's a source of funds for a lot of causes and organizations, and that there's an opportunity to do good for the community through the Foundation. I think it's important for people to realize or recognize the Community Foundation as a way to make charitable contributions without having to guess whether or not the charity is qualified or tax-deductible. The Foundation handles your money well.
CW: That's perfect. Is there anything else you would like to add?
JM: Only if you want to work in the fact that Jack Moberg would not kill Bret Bicoy if he dropped out of the Legacy Society, but he’d be awfully disappointed. And he knows it, so for that reason, he won't. Bret Bicoy brought a level of experience and professionalism to the Community Foundation, that despite the many local heroes we had who sponsored, founded, and got this thing going, Bret knew what he was doing with running the Foundation and raising funds. He was a welcome addition to the Foundation and the community. He made it possible for me to take the job when he left.
CW: That’s wonderful. Thank you again for coming in, Jack. I appreciate it.
Honor the past and benefit the future — click the button below to make a gift in Jack’s honor.