In 2006, I was invited to join the Tree House Board of Directors. Tree House supports the mission of providing housing and other essential needs to kids in crisis in our community.
I joined their Board President, Brett Thompson, along with Tree House Founder June Strauss, Bri Smith, Beth Desloge and Cliff Mayhall to lead the organization into the future. We met at St. John’s Church, which was cool for me as that’s my childhood church. It really felt like the stars were lining up for us to do something special with that group.
That year we were on the cusp of creating the first large gathering for Tree House, an event which we called: Fast Cars and Mason Jars. Little did we know that we would be launching something that would stand the test of time.
Now, 19 years later, Fast Cars and Mason Jars is one of the most fun, popular, and well-organized events in North Florida, attended by over 500 people each year. It is put together by an event planning committee as well as the Board of Directors of Tree House and they have it down to a science.
There is a long list of committee members and planners that helped make it happen from that first event to last month’s event, from Brett and Brady Thompson to Andy Fink to Josie Gustafson to Slater Bayliss, Stacy Smith, to Sarah Grant to Allison Harrell, and this year’s committee chair Molly Bader and dozens of others. The world of Tree House owes you a thank you.
Tree House is a children’s home that provides a safe place for kids to stay during a crisis. Once admitted a young person is given everything they need. Meals, clothes, a bed, a backpack, and a teddy bear and they keep going to the same school and the same events as the Tree House team makes sure the children have everything they need.
This year I had the honor of watching our COO at Aegis, Louis Poskey, not only serve as Board Chair but tackle one of the most challenging public speaking engagements around, which is addressing the 500 attendees in the barn at the Phipps Farm. Louis continues a wonderful family legacy as his great-aunt June Strauss, founded Tree House in 1986. He also continues our company legacy, as collectively Aegis has been serving Tree House for 20 years as a sponsor and way back when I served as Board Chair.
One of the guests this year at Fast Cars and Mason Jars told Louis that they were a resident at Tree House when they were younger. It is truly a noble local charitable organization that supports this community that we all call home. The impact and need of Tree House is vast.
When I was the President of the Tree House Board I monitored the email for the organization. One day I received an email from a young lady who had just graduated from nursing school, and she shared her story that without Tree House she would not have made it to high school and college. Her email was to reach out and tell someone at Tree House thank you for being there for her. That was one of the greatest emails I have ever received.
Around the same time at Christmas I took our family out to Tree House to set up a gaming station we got for the house. My stepson, Reid, took the lead in setting it up and showing all the kids how to play the games we picked out.
My father-in-law was also with us and one of the young ladies in the house was staring at him our visit. He asked her if she was doing OK, and she said she wasn’t staring at him, she was staring at his jacket. She in fact said she loved his jacket as she had never had one before. He gave her the jacket off his back, and I have never seen someone smile so much at a gesture.
The community of Tree House is about giving, whether you are giving the jacket off your back, a check, or an auction item, it takes a village to keep Tree House moving for almost 40 years. So, my thanks to all the hundreds of volunteers, committee members, staff, board members, sponsors, vendors, elected officials and former residents all coming together to support this mission.
That mission is to be there when a young person gets knocked down in life; so, when they knock on the door at Tree House, they have a place to call home.
This column is dedicated to the memory of Tree House founder June Strauss, and the legacy that her great nephew, Louis Poskey continues as Tree House Board Chair.
Blake Dowling is CEO of Aegis Biz Tech and the host of the Biz & Tech Podcast.
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