Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by PGTI University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor and I am your host.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: All right, so good afternoon. We are here on the Clear Impact Podcast and we are in Scottsdale this week doing some recordings of our CX event. And I have been wanting to podcast with this lady for months, and so her schedule is bananas, as is mine. And so we're finally here together and I've twisted her arm into coming over. So joining me today is Gwen Mallon. Welcome to the podcast.
[00:00:49] Speaker C: Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm super excited about this.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I'm excited too. And I feel like we are already like soul sisters in some of our programs, personalities and some of the roles that we served. But the reason that I specifically wanted to talk with you is about the Mitre Foundation. And I know Matt DeSoto. I've heard him say that one of the best things about being a successful company is when you're profitable, you have more to give. And that is what Mitre foundation is all about. And so before we get into some of the details about Mitre Foundation, I just want to get a little snippet of like your role and how long you've been with the company and maybe like where you live, about your, like, whatever you want to share.
[00:01:31] Speaker C: Sure. So I live in Millersburg, Pennsylvania. I've been with the company for 30 years.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Wow, 30 years. You started when you were like six?
[00:01:41] Speaker C: No, but a lot of people do say that. But yeah, I've seen a tremendous amount of change. The last acquisition was mind boggling for me because we doubled in size and I came when we were very, very small. So for me to not know everybody's first and last name is just bothering to me because I used to know everybody. But yes, I have five people in my family. My husband, John, a stepson, Bonus son Jake, who also works for Mitre Brands. And my daughter, Megan, she also works for Mitre Brands. And then our youngest, Jordan, she is in her senior year at Shippensburg University and she's going to be a schoolteacher. So they're all adults now. And now I focus on not just solely helping those three get through life, but helping as many people as possible. So it's the most reporting, rewarding part of my job.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: That's awesome. Yeah, it's amazing how much time you get back when they can fend for themselves.
[00:02:39] Speaker C: Yeah. And they're not in every sport known to man, all through fall, through spring.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: So, yeah, it's like, oh, you have a Saturday morning to yourself, like, wait, what? Yeah, yeah.
[00:02:52] Speaker C: What do I do?
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Yeah, enjoy that season, because when the grandkids come along, then you lose that again. Oh, he's in a soccer team. 8am on Saturdays. Yeah, I'll be there. Of course I will. Nice. Okay, so I did a little digging, and this may not be current because it was a little bit ago when I looked at this, but Mitre foundation officially has been around for about eight years is what I saw. And over $15 million raised for charities to date, and over 28,000 volunteer hours. That is amazing. And so I know a lot of that is around, like a big golf tournament. And so that was one of the reasons that we didn't get to podcast sooner is because you were involved in that. So tell me a little bit about the golf tournament this year.
[00:03:37] Speaker C: Actually, there's two. There's one on the east coast and there's one on the west coast. So that's a little bit even more so of why it was just a little crazy. So on the east coast, it was in held in Hershey, Pennsylvania. We had over 400 plus kids. Guess biggest one to date yet. We've been doing them for 20 plus years. But the foundation was officially formed in 2015. So we play with those numbers a lot. But we've been philanthropic for a really long time. And then we held one in Temecula, California in November, right after Veterans Day. It was November 12th, but combined the two raising over $5 million. So.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:04:18] Speaker C: And that continues to happen year after year. We continue to raise more. More still blows our minds every time because it's just, you can't understand how people are entrusting us with their money to do good. So that's incredibly humbling for all of us involved. But the more people that learn about it, the more people that want to get involved. And it's just crazy, the spin that it takes and how many lives we're able to touch while doing all of that.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: Wow. Okay. So I've helped with golf tournaments in the past, and 400 people. So they weren't all golfing.
[00:04:53] Speaker C: No. And that was two separate nights too. So we have a supplier night, and then they golf the following day. And then that night we go back and do it all again for our customer base. And then we try and like, make sure everybody has a golf accommodations. Like this year we had to use two different golf courses and finagle how to make sure that everybody knew where they were going, having the fun stuff on every course.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:20] Speaker C: And trying to work out all those fine details and executed it, but we're so large that we have to continue to figure out how to work through that.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: Wow. I mean, that's impressive.
[00:05:32] Speaker C: It takes a village. There's a whole team that does it. Amanda Klinger flawlessly executes that. And it just takes a village. But it's a lot of fun to get everybody together for one common purpose and most importantly is to help others.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: We are sharing our expertise around all topics relating to the window and door industry. Whether you are a customer selling our products or a homeowner doing research, the Clear Impact podcast provides helpful content that makes an impact. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: So what are the other avenues for funds to be raised? Is it primarily those two events or do you have. I mean, I'm sure people can just do an ongoing gift, right?
[00:06:17] Speaker C: Yes. And we have a summer concert, but that's locally based out of Pennsylvania in an open amphitheater. So we've done that for 10 years. That's a lot of fun. We had a team member band Spotlight this year because it was 10 years, so we thought we'd just do something different. And they had a fantastic time. I twisted their arm a little tiny bit, but it was very successful and so much fun that we're hoping to bring that back. But that's about it as far as fundraising, outreach committees across all of our locations and they're able to do their own fundraising as well. The local Pennsylvania outreach committees also do a golf outing as well, and they raise a ton of funds too.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: So we'll have to figure out what the Florida base looks like as far as fundraising.
[00:07:02] Speaker C: I'm so excited to bring on the Florida base and all the PGT locations. They're very excited about it and that is most fascinating to me. So I'm really looking forward to meeting everybody and rolling that out to be able to help the PGT team and their family, the communities that you guys are living in each and every day. So yeah, I'm excited for that. 2025 is going to be a lot of fun.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: Yeah, well. And PGT has been super philanthropic as our legacy as well. And so that's one of the components and we'll talk about that in a second. So how are the funds distributed? So there's four different arms of the foundation that are focused, right.
[00:07:42] Speaker C: Children's well being, Heroes Support. Heroes meaning veterans, Veterans, active military, first responders, cancer support, and community outreach.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: Community outreach. So that would be up to the individual locations, how they want to Support. So if there's a charity that's just known to your area, just because they're not connected to Harrisburg, they can still receive funds?
[00:08:05] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: And each location gets to kind of decide how they want to do that.
[00:08:09] Speaker C: They have a budget. The foundations run just like a business. There's a budget approval process. So they each get a set amount per year on how they're able to contribute, but the funds are given to them. So in case there's a team member in their location that's having a hard time with anything, medical, fire, children, like, there's just so much family of the team members and then the community that they live in and in addition to organizations where they are.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: That's amazing.
[00:08:42] Speaker C: It is. It's a lot of fun.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: I love that. And so how do people get involved with serving opportunities? Like, do they have to be employed by MITRE in order to be a part of it? Or, like, how would we know, like, what's happening? Or is that just really up to the local areas?
[00:09:00] Speaker C: A lot of that's given the ability to the local outreach committees. So they're able to volunteer. Any team member is able to volunteer. We have 40 volunteer hours given for each team member.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: What? Wait, okay, 40.
[00:09:15] Speaker C: 40 hours?
[00:09:16] Speaker A: 40 hours a year?
[00:09:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:18] Speaker A: To volunteer?
[00:09:18] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: That's paid?
[00:09:20] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Wow. Okay.
[00:09:21] Speaker C: I mean, there's criteria to it, obviously, but yes.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: Okay. We have eight hours. I thought that was amazing. So 40. Woohoo.
[00:09:29] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:30] Speaker C: Right.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: That's awesome. Because there's a lot that you can do.
[00:09:33] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: And then. Yeah. I mean, one of the. I had a conversation with somebody who sits on a board for a nonprofit in Sarasota, and he said, our area, philanthropy is the industry. There are more nonprofits in Sarasota county, there's like 1100, 501 C3s.
[00:09:50] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: In Sarasota County, I was like, okay, it's kind of crazy. There's a help everywhere, but there's a lot of retirees in that space and a lot of people who have been very successful. And so now they're here and they're like, okay, what's next? I need to be giving back. And so it's right with those kinds of folks, which is an amazing community to live in. Right?
[00:10:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: And so it's really comforting to know that that part isn't changing for us. With pgt, we were very much aligned in that mission and giving back and having volunteer time. Not to that level of generosity, but it's nice to know that that continues. And so is there anything else you want to share about the foundation.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: If you need to know more about it or you're interested, feel free to reach out. There's so much more to it than I could even say in just this little bit. But very, very anxious to learn more about what the PGTI locations have done so we can learn more, to be able to give back more and touch more lives. At the end of the day, that's really all. That's the most important part.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: So for people who are wanting more information, where can they go to find out more?
[00:10:56] Speaker C: Mitrefoundation.org okay, awesome.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: So thank you, Gwen, for your time. I know you have a lot of responsibility this week at the CX event, and you've got a lot of things going on, so I won't keep you. But I'm so glad that I finally get to meet you in person. Yes.
[00:11:08] Speaker C: That's epic.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: And that you can check this off of your list. I did the podcast. I'm still breathing. Wasn't that painful? No, it was very good. Awesome.
[00:11:18] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: Have a great day.
[00:11:19] Speaker C: Yeah, you too.
[00:11:20] Speaker A: All right, bye.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: The Clear Impact podcast is brought to you by PGTI University. We are a part of Mitre Brands, a family of leading window and door brands united by our passion for quality and relentless pursuit of 100%. One of the missions of Mitre Brands is to unite and deliver the finest customer experience possible across the nation. Our window and door brands deliver regionalized expertise and products. Backed by a national company. PGTI University is here to educate you, our listener, so that you can be a more informed consumer of window and door products.
