Noob School - The Power of Purpose: Wendy Thacker on Philanthropy, Career Tips, and Local Impact

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

In this episode of Noob School, we sit down with Wendy Thacker, Vice President of Philanthropy and Community Engagement at ScanSource, a global leader in the distribution of technology solutions. Wendy shares her inspiring journey, from her early years growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, to the impactful work she’s doing today with ScanSource.Wendy opens up about the value of community and the power of staying rooted in your local area. She talks about how knowing your community—its culture, its people, and its opportunities—can give you a unique advantage in business. Wendy’s story is a testament to the benefits of building deep local connections and how these relationships have supported her success. Starting out in the workforce, Wendy worked at Downtown Alive in Greenville, where she was able to hone her skills in event planning, community engagement, and building relationships. These early experiences laid the groundwork for her leadership role at ScanSource, where she’s now helping shape the company’s philanthropy and community outreach efforts. We also dive into ScanSource's impressive growth over the years, both as a company and in its commitment to giving back to the local Greenville community. Wendy highlights some of the incredible initiatives ScanSource has spearheaded, from charitable donations to volunteer work, and how the company has made a lasting impact on the people and causes it supports. Throughout the conversation, Wendy shares invaluable career advice for younger professionals—like understanding the value you bring to an organization, knowing that everything is negotiable (to an extent), and how embracing purpose-driven work can lead to personal and professional fulfillment. Whether you’re just starting your career or looking to make a bigger impact in your community, this episode is filled with practical wisdom, inspiring stories, and actionable tips. Wendy’s journey proves that business is about more than just profits—it’s about people, purpose, and making a difference. Get your sales in rhythm with The Sterling Method: https://SterlingSales.co I'm going to be sharing my secrets on all my social channels, but if you want them all at your fingertips, start with my book, Sales for Noobs: https://amzn.to/3tiaxsL Subscribe to our newsletter today: https://bit.ly/3Ned5kL #SalesTraining #B2BSales #SalesExcellence #SalesStrategy #BusinessGrowth #SalesLeadership #SalesSuccess #SalesCoaching #SalesSkills #SalesInnovation #SalesTips #SalesPerformance #SalesTransformation #SalesTeamDevelopment #SalesMotivation #SalesEnablement #SalesGoals #SalesExpertise #SalesInsights #SalesTrends

New School. All right, welcome back to Noob School episode 131, 131. I should know what I'm doing by now, Wendy. I think so. I hope so. I've got a longtime friend, family friend, Wendy Thacker, joining me today from ScanSource. Yes. So thank you for being here.

I'm excited to be here and have a conversation. Great, great. Well, I know a lot of people over at ScanSource. And I've kind of known Scansaurus since before they were even founded when they were, you know, Mike and Steve were just talking about what they were going to do. But over the last 28 years that you've been there, if I really wanted to get something done, I couldn't get Mike on the phone. I would call Wendy. Yeah, just call it GSD, good stuff done. Get stuff done.

Get stuff done. Now, so again, you have run different departments within Scansource. You've run, I forget your terms for them. I've had experience in the supplier organization on the security side and on the point-of-sale barcode sign. Okay. Back when those were separate divisions, so to speak. I've been in the marketing role, but in our services group, back in marketing. Yeah.

And now in a new role focusing on community and philanthropy. Philanthropy. But in those roles, how is it that you were the person I could call of all your 4,000 employees, or wherever it is, and you knew how to get stuff done. I think that when you're with an organization and you've been there a long time, one of the huge benefits is you always know the right people. And so I consider myself a connector. Okay.

And so I'm really good, even in this new role. Right. But when you would call as well at knowing the right person who's going to know the answer, where can I go get it done, how to go figure it out. And so I think that just has to do with longevity. and being at an organization for a long time and just knowing the people that I need to go to. Plus, I know you, and I'm going to follow up in a commitment. So if you call me, I'm going to go figure out how to get it done or call you back and say, hey, I can't do it.

And so I'm one of those. Like if it comes in my inbox, it needs to be dealt with, checked off, and out of the inbox. Right, right, right. Yeah, well, Wendy's had a great career at ScanSource, probably one of our best companies in the Greenville area. multi-billion dollar company? Yeah. With thousands of employees? Yes.

Global? Global. Yes. So we have offices across the United States, have some fake some Latin America. Yeah. I can remember, I'm sure I've told you, but I can remember, you know,

visiting with your co-founders before they started the company. And they had a little borrowed office somewhere and a whiteboard up. and they had all their ideas for a business on there. And one of them was laptops. They were going to compete with Dell. Yep. And there was a couple more.

But the last one on the list was a barcode distributor. I was like, what are you thinking? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And sure, that's what they went with. And it started. And I think one of the reasons it worked and that I want to hear, your thoughts, but, you know, they found a niche nobody else was really doing, right? No one was focusing on, that's why it was so funny to me.

It was really? And nobody was doing it and their unique experience from where they had worked previously let them know that they knew exactly how to do it. Yeah, I think that they're really good at being very intentional about different types of technology and taking the complexity out of it. So making it easy, easier to transact. But, you know, they tell stories about their early days. Our sales reps were just calling people and saying, hey, if we got a barcode scanner,

would you buy it from us? And so that's kind of how we got started, just that everybody works really hard, very entrepreneurial spirit, just to try and figure out how to get it done. And we've been intentional about different acquisitions that we've made over the years and how they complement and move the channel forward. So it's been very exciting to watch going from first million-dollar months to, you know, multibillion-dollar distributors been fun. So have you been to many of the offices around the world?

I have been in the United States primarily for Scans Force. So they've been to a lot of those offices and, of course, our distribution center, which is phenomenal in South Haven, Mississippi. It's right on Staten Boulevard. You know, Tennessee on one side, Mississippi on the other, on the tail end of FedEx's runway. And that, D.C. has always run like clockwork. I mean, you've been in plenty of distribution centers.

This place is clean, organized, ready to go. They have bicycles so you can get from point A to point B because it's so large. And we're one of the last pickups at the day. So it's allowed us that flexibility to have. that single source warehouse distribution model, which has been really nice. And with your customers, as I understand it, there are thousands and thousands of value-added resellers that are putting together configuring solutions for their customers. Many of those products are coming from scan source from that distribution facility.

So to be able to get the order out that day. Yes, it's a big deal on the specialty side of the house. So the specialty side, schemes for specialty. definitely I'm using that. And then we have Intellisusus acquisitions and some other things that that's a whole other

holo flacks to talk about. Okay, we'll get back to that. But let's back up. One of the things we like to do is back up to the beginning and figure out, you know, what's your earlier life and what your career rise has been

to get where you are today. So I think I remember you grew up in Greenville. Yes. I'm a native. There aren't that many of us left. No. Me and you. This accent is legit.

Where did you go to high school? I went to Malden. I went to Malden High School. Okay. And your brother, Mike, did he go to Malden? He went to Malden and then finished high school in Mount Pleasant. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. You know, Mike's been on the podcast. Yes. At least once, maybe twice. Maybe. He's a good sales guy. Yeah, I think he came on when he started his car business. Do you believe cars?

Listen, doing phenomenally well. And he'll tell me about the latest car, and I'm like, I don't even know what that is. I didn't know a car could cost. you not know that. Yeah. It costs more than your house. I know. He's like, this cost a million dollar car.

I'm like, I don't want to get within 10 feet of it. No. But he loves it. It's always been his passion. Yeah. And so I'm so glad and thankful to see him realize that passion. Because if you don't love what you do, then it's a job. I totally agree.

I'm so happy. I've been telling him to do this for a long time. I know. We all have. I'm glad he finally took the leap. I agree. So Ball in high school and then you became a game kind. Oh, yes, I'm a Game Cock. We've always been terrible at sports. But I was looking for, I knew since I was 12 years old, John, J.D. Hayworth, do you remember him on WIFF? Yes. So he went on, I think, to become a congressman, but he was our sportscaster. He came into my sixth grade classroom and talked about journalism. And I knew right then and there, I was going to get my degree. And mom and dad were like, you can go anywhere you want. But if it's in state and state support,

We'll pay for it. And so I said, okay. Yeah. And Carolina had a really great journalism program. So went there and had probably too much fun in the four years that I was there. That's, of course, so great. I remember the journalism program was great. Is it still great?

My understanding is it's still very highly regarded. Okay. They've got a lot of broadcast experience down there, and they do a lot from the digital perspective as well. Okay. Okay. Well, that's great. There's certainly pockets of that school that are very good. They used to have the best international business program in the country. Maybe the world. Anyway, you went down there, you had a good time. Do Carolina have any good football teams while you were there? Not while I was in school. Basketball was decent. Wasn't women's basketball at that time. We were decent in basketball. But no, it's never really been about the team. It's about the tailgate and the good time. and the fun.

They can't be, they can't be this at the tailgate. No. We got the tailgate. Tailgate's fun. Yeah. And so, yeah,

I always just went to have a good Saturday time. That's correct. I've got a niece and a nephew there now. And I don't think they've crossed past one time. I mean, it's just there. It's a huge school. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. And then you got out. Did you go right to scan source? I didn't. I actually got out. We were in a little mini-rescent. session in the early 90s.

And I actually substitute to talk for a while in school just to have something to do while I look for a job. But my first job was working for the Metropolitan Arts Council. And I did Downtown Life. So that was, I mean, who wouldn't love that job? It's a 21, 22 year old plan a happy hour for all of Greenville every Thursday. Yeah. You know, that was, what years would that have been?

94, probably. Yeah. That was prime data stream time. All those young people. Oh, yes. I mean, half your crowd worked in our sales department. Yes, they did, because I knew them. Because, you know, when you're from here, you know other people.

And, yes, it really helped, I think, make that downtown kind of an evening destination that people could go to you before they went to dinner or had the rest of their evening. That was great. Do they still do that? They still do it. It's a little different. They do it at the Hyatt. And so it was back in the Piazza Barra. Right.

It was like a little area. It was like a little area. I think it's now City One Plaza. And it was fun. Yeah. I think it's, I've been down there a few times. I think it's pretty good. But, you know, sometimes when you lose, like I say, the people that were running it change and the venue changes, you know, the pixie dusk is gone.

You can't, you can't redo it. You can't take it back. It's all official now. I think we sold tickets. And I bought him at Wilson's five and nine. So did David Poe, where? worked for you for a little while. Do you remember David? I remember David. He did not, but I do remember David. So I'll tell you my David's story because he did work for you. He worked

for downtown alive, maybe when he was looking for a job. Yeah, might have been after me. And I interviewed him. And he was a great interview. And I said, what else you up to? And he goes, well, I'm volunteering at downtown alive, you know, just until I figured I'd meet some people, whatever, because you ought to come on down. I'm like, all right. So I went. So I went, on down there and he was working in the beer tent. Oh, yeah. And so I'm like, you know, give me one of those beers. And he had to me, he goes, I'll be $6.

And I'm like, wait a second. You know, you invite, don't you? And he goes, that's the rules. And that's the moment I decided to hire him because I knew he was, you know, he was strong. He wasn't going to let me, like, push him around for free beer. I think that's great. Yeah, it was a good moment. He was a great salesperson, a great manager, and now just a great friend.

But it all started at Downtown Alive. Yes. Again, connections. Yes, connections. I think it's one of the things about, you know, like you, you know, we travel around, we see some other nice places, but there's just such an advantage to having a deep bench of friends and connections in a town. I agree. From high school.

I agree. Right? From Malden, from Gamecockville, from ScandSource for the ages, from downtown alive. You know, if you were not picked up and we just said we're going to move to San Diego, it's a beautiful place, you start from ground zero. Yeah, and ground zero is hard. Yes. You know, this is not only where I grew up, but where you know everybody else. And so, especially when you're looking at working and doing business in this area, I think those connections really do.

do help you as you like to move things forward. And so I really love it. We were even out at the Triumph Made an announcement yesterday about Maldon. They're going to have a 10,000 seat stadium out at Bridgeway Station. And as the lineup of speakers came out, I'm like, oh yeah, I went to school with that one, went to school with this one. And so it's just kind of nice to know folks. Yes, yes. those decisions

you know when I get to talk to young people mostly about entering sales or something but we kind of talk about life too I'm like you know when you when you're say in high school

you almost haven't made a decision yet you know and then you have to decide where to go to college that could be a dartboard but I mean let's just say we pick a college there's one decision then you've got like really just a few more to make and you make them all could be in the next couple years for the rest of your life where am I going to be what am I going to be doing or who am I going to be doing it with

and pivotal decisions to make when you're young yes and this is where it's so important that you have that foundation whether it's your family whether it's a mentor whether it's your friends that have differing opinions than you may to kind of really help ground you and help figure out the pros and kinds. At the end of the day, it's ultimately your decision. But you've got to have some good advice, I think, to really put you on the right path. Yeah. Yeah, and my challenge has been, particularly at that age, is I didn't want to hear it. Yeah.

You know, it's like, I think I know what I want to do. I'm going to do it. if I ask someone about it, there's a chance they might tell me something I don't want to hear. And so, but that's the wrong way to be thinking. You're just got to say, I'll hear everything. I'll sort it all out, and then I'm going to choose. It's hard. But when you're young, you don't realize that input from other people is valuable.

Yeah. But don't ask if you don't want to hear because people are going to tell you. It's a hard lesson in your early twins. It's hard in your 50 some days. I'm like, I know. I'm going to do what I want to do. I know. But I think that you've really, I've been fortunate.

I know you have to, you have to surround yourself with those folks that are going to lift you up, going to cheer you on, but also going to grab you by the shirt collar and go, what are you doing? Right. And I think it's important to kind of have that group, whether it's your family, your friends, coworkers, or a combination. Right. You're really going to have that sounding board to help you along. Well, I'm still learning. Always.

Always to learn it. There's something to learn every day. I know, I know. Okay, well, let's back up. I keep getting ahead of myself. So you were with the MAC, the Metropolitan Arts Council. Yes. Who ran the Mac?

Oh, gosh. That's a good question. Who runs it now? Alan runs it now, I believe. He was not there when I was there. Do you not remember the lady's name? Okay. It's been a while.

It's been a while. I think so. Other runs it now. Yeah. And I want to say, I think the festival is run by a different group now, too. I think it benefits the MAC, but we used to run it ourselves. I think that's a smart move for the listeners. If you're getting out of school and you're not sure what you want to do or you can't find a job or whatever,

go to work for some organization that does something for all the businesses in the city, like the chamber, the MAC, because then you have the business card that allows you in every door. 100%. And you get to meet everyone. Yeah. I met all kinds of people. I met business owners in the downtown district.

I got to serve on different boards that were down there that were, you know, destination downtown. Yeah. Was the big mantra then. Now we have plenty of people downtown. Right. They're coming to enjoy everything. But you're right. I got to meet at the Chamber of Commerce.

I got to meet local business people. Yeah. And so it really helped me figure out kind of what I wanted to do. And I knew I liked events. I had in college worked for One Price Clothing Stores in their corporate office and gotten to do some of their events. And so I said, well, this sounds like a fun job. I'll be able to use my skills and do it.

And it was fun for a while. And but back then, nonprofits didn't have luxuries like benefits. Right. You know, significant pay raises. You know, so as you moved on, it was a great training ground. Yeah. But I started to look and go, okay, what else is out there that can move me to the next place that I want to be. Right.

And was that Scansource? It was Scansource. So it's a funny story. Laura Bauer and Teresa Roche owned the White Room at the time. And they always used to say, oh, you should go talk to my husband. You know, Laura would always say. And the white room was like the nicest. the nicest wedding place.

Yeah. And I was like, no, I love my job. Like, my job is so fun. And so it was funny because I didn't even realize that scan source was that company until I had gotten an offer there. So, and I came in the door a little bit sideways. They owned a wholly owned subsidiary called Transition Marketing. It's actually walked in the door as an employee of transition marketing.

And we were owned by ScanSource and Globel. So Globel is also, they were an IT distributor. They're no longer. Yeah. And outlasted, I don't know, a series of months. And then we were absorbed, 100% best kids worse. But walked in doing events for them. Okay.

Same concept, different, different events. So how did you know they were, how did you get the interview? I had a friend that I went to college with that already worked there. You had a connection. I had a connection. And she showed up at downtown live one night and it was just one of those setups. It was hot. You know, I was the lucky.

and all the tables. They didn't have the plastic six-foot tables then. They were the wooden ones. And she said, you should come work for us. We're hiring. And I'm like, okay, great. So when I met with them and got offered the job, and I will tell you,

one of the mistakes I made as a young person was agreeing to go over for the same salary that I was currently making at my old job. So in my mind, I rationalized, you know, benefits and other things. The older me would never do that. But the younger me at the time did. And so I've learned everything is negotiable. And it was a life lesson for me.

And so I always try and talk to interns or young folks that are coming in to work with us to go, you have a value. And it's okay to ask. You don't always get a guess, but you can always ask. Right, right, yeah. You don't get without getting. Right. It's a Bill Garcia.

Yeah, absolutely. A quote. It's just really important to people understand that is that they at least attempt to understand what kind of value I'm bringing to the business owner. Yes. You know, if I come to work for you, I'm going to bring you a million dollars a year.

Yeah. If you're going to pay me $150, when you shake on it, it's like a pretty good deal. Yeah. And when you're dealing with the business owner, they'll shake on that all day long. 100%. But if you're dealing with, you know, the HR person,

they're going to be like, we can't give out more than a 3% raise this year. It's the rule book right here. Yeah, it's always an interesting process. So you used connections, power of connections, to get that first job, and I'll give you credit. At least you got your foot in the door at a better place. I got my foot in the door, and I asked for a leg up fairly quickly.

Yeah. Fairly quickly once I got my foot in the door. Good. Yeah. They knew what they had. That's good. And so you were doing events. Yes.

And did you do any events down in Savannah? We did events in Savannah later in my career. Early on, we were doing large pipe and drape trade shows that we were putting on and technology sessions with end users and with resellers. It was very interesting at the time. And so we would be responsible for all of it. There were two of us in events, and we would utilize. We were scrappy and small at the time.

So we had a lot of people. from the team that would come together to pull off these events of magnitude. But as I look around, I'm always one of those that's like, okay, what's next? Like, this is great. But what else can I do to provide more value? Right. So also, so that I can learn my skills. But I knew at that time I wanted to go back and ask for more.

And so in order to do that, I had to give more, not just ask for more. So I got more responsibility. and then made some asks about doing some other things. And was that in merchandising? It was. So I took on some things and then I moved into a merchandising role. And so just for everyone to understand, it's taking me a long time to understand this. I understand the sales side.

Yeah. Merchandising means you're dealing with your suppliers. With suppliers. And we now call it the supplier business. That's better. Thank you. Yes, merchandising to me means you're at the department store. Yeah, merchandising.

Yes. We were, it was a line where I was responsible for marketing that supplier out to our reseller community. Okay. It's kind of what it was in a nutshell. And got to do that and loved it. Had a good time again, always looking around for kind of what's next. And that's been what's great about being with the distributor is that you have lots of different types of jobs. It's like a mini city in there.

Right. You've got HR. You've got finance, you've got tech, you've got sales, you've got supplier, you've got marketing. And so they're all different types of roles. And you can go in there, make your connections with people that work there, deliver when you're asked to do something. Yeah. And then opportunities open. Yeah.

And it's about this time, too, John, that I really started looking to it. Other ways to personally fulfill what I wanted to do, which is. was to help kids and to be very compassionate and focused on what we could do for the betterment of others. And so we had a foundation. And so I served on that board for many, many years and started some different programs with the help of a lady named Joan Burkett. And she and I worked on a lot of different things that kind of fulfilled that nonprofit vein that I had come to love at the Arts Council, but also allowed me to have a job. And so that's when you transitioned to the philanthropy side of the business?

Yes and no. I've had probably 12 different jobs in the building. We could talk about the different jobs. I know you're marketing and merchandising, marketing, marketing, merchandising. Yeah, and back again. I did services for a little while. So, yes, I went to Mike, who's our CEO in January. And, you know, COVID put a damper on a lot of things.

Scansores has always been super intentional about finding needs in the community and working on programs to fulfill those needs. So over the years, we've worked with the Dunbar Child Development Center to extend their K-4 to full day to offer English's second language coursework. To have a mom and baby room, we brought a dental mobile to Greenville so that low-income places could have access to dental care. mammography stuff helped with the New Horizons Health Clinic. We've always said, let's focus on the need and where it is. And so I felt like I could add some value there in January. I wasn't looking to move roles. I left my job.

I was running North America Channel Marketing. And he said, this is terrific. I want you to come work for me. And I was like, well, look, not asking for a job. I said, I'll do it on nights and weekends. And so that lasted not that long. And so I agreed to kind of come on board and work, hard work, rewarding work, to figure out what we could do as a company. We have access to all of our employees, our suppliers, our partners.

Everyone has time, talent, and resources. And some people have all three. And so it was really important for me, for us to. to create something very intentional to take forward. And so one of the ideas that Mike and I talked about early on was we would like to look at a Title I school. And so when we started looking at that, we both agreed we wanted Title I, we wanted the West Side of Greenville. Because we have, I want to say, it's either 10 or 12 Title I schools in Grable County at the elementary level. and that is a federal program where those schools receive some extra money.

And so typically when you have a Title I school, you also have 100% reduced our free lunch. So met with the school district, met with public education partners, and a lot of these connections that I had made along the way very quickly and came up and we're actually working with Thomas Cairns Elementary now, which is right down the road. They have, it's interesting, John, you have no PTA. So not that the parents don't want to be involved, they're just working. And so that opportunity for them to be there isn't as much. And so we are looking at how do we take a 360 degree view of that school and of that child,

everything from nutrition to clothing, clothing and hygiene, education, mentorship, life skills. How do we kind of wrap that around? And so we're fortunate that

Scansource has a foundation. And so the foundation has been generous enough to fund this endeavor and help us to build a pilot

here that we can prove out, figure out what works, and then move to other populations where we have people across the United States. Very nice.

And so it's this that I'm most passionate about. How do we do that? What is it going to take? And how do we get teachers to stay? Why would you stay at this school when you could be at a school two miles down the road where you're being showered with gifts and showered with parent helpers and all the things?

So we've got to make that staff want to stay there as well. That's tough. That's tough. I love the idea of trying to figure out a model that can work in lots of place. You know, Upward Sports did that. Do you have made with Upward Sports? They're over in Spartanburg, but they had a guy, I can't remember his name, but he was like in charge of the sports for this big Baptist upward-upward church,

upward Baptist Church. And sports got so popular that they had to build another gym and then build another gym. And pretty soon they just had all these people using the gym, and he had this great, you know, kind of religious-oriented basketball thing going on. And one of the board members, someone like Mike, said, why don't we quit building gyms and let's take this model global? That's what they did. So Upper Sports is everywhere now using this model. So I love the idea of doing that.

When you went to Mike and you wanted to start helping more in January, how long did it last before you went full-time? Well, let's see. I think I officially got announced in June. Okay. So a couple of months, but there were some behind-the-scenes things that, you know, always take some time to work out. And then we had our partner first event. And so we had to get through that as well. So it's probably, I would say, less than 90 days really kind of focused on the work.

Yeah. But again, if you find something you love and that you're passionate about, I was willing to work the night. and weekends because, you know, children have no collateral. Children have no ability to do for themselves. They don't have access to food. They don't have access to transportation. They don't have access to put a roof over their head. And so regardless of the situation that they're in from a guardianship or parent perspective,

they deserve what every other kid has in Greenville County. And while the show of the school is the same, the contents of the school differs. And so I really felt like our employee population could get behind this and really make a difference. And so it's interesting. We talk a lot about how change takes everyone. So it takes every employee, every supplier, every partner, every person involved to really affect what's going on. And so it's just a, it's one step, right? And it's a drop in the bucket.

But if we can make that better, if we can make that experience more meaningful. You know, you might reach one kid who ends up being the person who solves school problem. Yeah. You never know. Yeah. And this school, they work hard. The principal's fantastic. Yeah.

The teachers are hardworking. We're just there to kind of help them along. You know, I took donuts in yesterday. Yeah, that was yesterday. I got to see the sunrise at the school. School starts at an insane hour. Oh, man. So teachers have to be there between 645 and 7.

Yeah. And so we had parlor donuts delivered. Fancy, you know what I'm talking about the fancy? No. Oh, okay. They're fancy layered donuts. They're delicious. You would have thought we brought gold in that door.

I mean, that and cold brew coffee. You're going wild. It was such a hit. But they deserve to be true. They hadn't been treated. And so, you know, just all those things. And I'll tell you one of the early ideas in brainstorming with the school was a festival. So in five and a half weeks with Helene in the middle of it, we pulled off a fall festival at that school.

And we served them happily with everything. We had a trunk or treat. We had tattoos, crafts, games. Chick-fil-A came and did dinner. Poppington's popcorn, all of the things. They said, oh, we've never had more than 300 show up to anything. We said, okay, let's plan for 550. 500 people, 50 volunteers.

Over 700 people show up. 700. Well, I would like to offer a pledge of jazz trio. Yeah. Anytime you think the music would be helpful. I would love it. Just tell me, I'll bring the boys and we'll play. I think that would be amazing.

Good exposure to the children, maybe. I think it would be great. exposure, you know, just getting people in there and exposing them to different things. You know, we're trying to get them, do we get them to a drive game or to the Children's Museum and how do we provide transportation and make that a family night? So really, I think exposure to things that are different is huge for them. That's always been my biggest thing with my kids and now my grandkids. It's just see this, see this, meet these people, you know, just where they start. to kind of put it all together and see a bigger picture of the world.

Yeah. I think it would be great. I'll definitely take you up on that. I do not forget. You got the card. I got the card. That's right. So on the new job, heading up to philanthropy for Scansource, what has surprised you so far?

I think there have been a couple of things. So one of the first things I did was call a lady named Katie Smith. And if you don't know Katie, she's phenomenal. She works for Greater Good Greenville, and they bring together funders and nonprofits. We have nearly 3,000 nonprofits in the upstate. Whoa. It's a huge number, but the number of funds aren't necessarily correlating with the growth of nonprofits. And so that really surprised me that there were that many different types of things.

The second thing that I think really surprised me is just the, passion and the spirit not surprised me, but just to watch how hard everyone works in that space. And I think people, not that they don't value nonprofits, but I think they're like, oh, you're going to go work for a nonprofit. They're working just as hard, if not harder, than people here are working for corporations or businesses. And so there's a lot of hard work. And these folks are super passionate about making the world a better place. And so it's been really lightened my day and brightened my outlook to feel that passion about what goes around. Even during Hurricane Helene is a great example.

Mike and I were texting quickly like, hey, what do we do? Our employees were able to raise a lot of money in conjunction with our suppliers and partners for Operation AirDrop. There was airlifting supplies. But I even checked on our nonprofit partners and talking to Dan from Mill Village. He's like, hey, can you meet me at Sam's In Easley in 20 minutes? Like, well, where in Easley is the Sam's? He's like, oh, it's close. It's close.

I'll shoot it to you. I was like, okay. And they were out there, John, every day filling a huge refrigerated truck with supplies. And they were driving and dropping off in Swananoa in Lake Lure and Asheville every single day. And people were showing up. And you just have to ask. And people want to do. People want to help.

Right. People at our offices want to give back. And so we have to just provide those opportunities for people to serve. You know, that's what really drives culture. People want to talk about culture at companies and kind of what, you know, how do you get your culture that you have? It's very different when you're standing next to John out of sales and Wendy out of this department. We may not have known each other before. But when you go and serve with someone, it's a different. forged relationship. It's a different connection point that you have to someone that you work with. I think it's a wonderful answer. I love the forging, but what you said before that was that people want to be helpful. They want to serve. And your job, your new job, is to make that available to

them. Like we're doing, we're doing this this Saturday and this so and so and so and this so and so. But if you don't ask me or tell me what's going on, I'm not going to really be looking for it. You know, I watch the football game or something, you know. 100%. So I think that's kind of just people in general. Yeah, you've got to tell them. And then you've got to, you know, this is our foundation. We're really lucky.

It's employee led. So none of us have any, none of our executive team has a say on kind of how they operate and what they fund. But I think you've got to give people the opportunity. opportunity to serve, but you've also got to show people what you're building or what you've built. And so I think that's just as important for people to understand because some people have resources, some people have time and some people have talent. And so it's, and some have all three.

Some are very talented. Yeah. But I think that you've got to show people. It's kind of if you build it, they will come. They will. But you've got to go show them. How are you using the dollars that they gave? you out of their paycheck or that the supplier was generous enough to send in.

Yeah. I always ask like some of these organizations in the state that are like taking state money or, you know, investors money, whatever, and giving it startups. And they're all like, we funded 14 startups and I'm like, any of them done any good. Right. And they're like, what? And I'm like, no, seriously, do you have one out of ten? one out of 14.

And, you know, that's, I think that, whether they have or not, that's the question to ask is, what's the graduation rate now? Right. Or what's the trouble truancy rate or whatever the thing is. 100%. There's always got to be a metric. You've got to measure your impact in order to know whether or not what you're doing is working. That's why I love the word pilot.

This is a pilot. Yeah. We're going to build it and see. But yes, we're going to be relying on. on track and some other programs in Gravenville County to really start looking at, you know, how is that working? I mean, it's do we have less, you know, referrals into the office? Has it affected absenteeism?

Is it affecting test scores? Yeah. You know, do I think that a fall festival is going to raise our test scores? No, that's not what I mean. But by having additional people in that classroom, additional support, a staff that feels appreciated, a student population that knows that there's another group of people that care about their success is huge. Yeah. Well, it's wonderful.

We'll get back to that in a minute. I'll talk about that all day. No, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Let me ask you a couple of important details. Okay. What's your favorite all-time book? That's a really hard question.

That's a really hard question. If I had to look for a book as a kid, I liked reading little women. My grandmother always had an abbreviated version of it on her shelf, and I was the only granddaughter. And so that was it. It was either that or you got like the round ball to throw outside. There was not a lot to do. So I always read that. As an adult, the help is one of my favorites.

And I know I should probably tell you a business book, but. What's the adult book? The help. The help. It was also made into a movie. Okay. I tend to gravitate to historical. fiction. Okay. Well, I hadn't really done one of those yet, but I'll put them on the list.

What about what about favorite band? Oh, I got to go with my boys from Hooty and the Blowfish. You know, it's, it's, I was there during a pivotal time before they made it big. They were playing around campus then. They were playing around campus. I knew all the guys. And so I thought it was pretty amazing when I graduated and I think they hit it big like a year and a half later. So. That's amazing. It's amazing.

And they were all super nice and still are. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I started following Mark on Instagram, I guess.

He's, he seemed very active, does a lot of stuff. He does a lot. He's got a new beverage company. I think he's been doing a lot with that. Oh, hi. Hi. Hi. I get it.

Yeah. I get it. He's a musician. He's a musician. Okay. Did you see them when they came through? I did. Yeah.

You did. Yeah. what a what a what a what a it seems to me that would be one heck of a fun summer at this age to kind of redo it it would be a it would be a ton of fun yeah yeah so sure um favorite word purpose purpose that is good purpose solves a lot of things doesn't it solves a lot of things yeah guide you personally professionally um yeah i think everybody needs a purpose yeah i agree Yeah, money does not give you a purpose. No, it doesn't.

All right. Let's give you a last chance to promote what you're doing and how maybe other people could chip in and help or follow what you're doing. 100%. So we would love to have partners come alongside, whether it's at Thomas Kearns or whether it's at the school that's local to wherever your area is. there are children that need a little extra help, and that could be through your company

or if you're not quite sure what to do, you could go to a mentoring organization like Mentor Upstate, and they could match you with the child just to make a difference. It's half an hour a week. Right. And everybody can find the time. So you can sign up to mentor a child, half an hour a week.

Yep. You can contact Wendy directly about partnering. 100%. Yeah. I had a lady the other day from SEI, electronics that I met at a different event and we're going to put together Thanksgiving baskets for the staff at that school and she goes I want to help. It's like okay do you want to take care of this piece? She goes yeah let me go get funding for that. I'm like terrific.

That's a windy. Thacker at scansource.com. Yeah sure is. I knew it. Yeah. Okay so contact Wendy directly for any ideas you have about working together on these kind of issues. But I am I am so happy that you were able to come today. We've had a long friendship. I've known you many, many years. We don't need to tell everybody how many. And your brother, your wonderful brother, Mike, worked for me for a while. And we've become friends subsequent to that.

And he's delightful. Yeah, he's probably sold you a car or two. All of them. Maybe not the million dollar one. Every car I buy ourselves. sell Mike does for me because I just I think I just don't want to deal with it. He does a much better job than me

and it also gives me a chance to interface with him. You know, it's like an excuse to play with Mike on something. Yeah, but I'm delighted you're here. I think what you're doing is wonderful. I want to hook you up with my sister Elizabeth. She does the same kind of thing

for a different organization so maybe all could do some stuff together. I would love that. Okay. It'd be awesome. But yeah, but thanks again. And maybe we'll maybe come back in a year and give us an update. Sounds terrific. You've just kind of gotten into this.

Just really getting started. Done a lot for just getting started. But we're just really getting started. Okay. Wendy, you're doing great stuff. You have a wonderful purpose. And we're glad you join us today. Awesome.

Thank you for the opportunity. Okay. Thank you. Yep.