Tales from the Raccoon Road

It seems like every week someone on the Dekko Foundation staff is on the road!

We work in places where Mr. Chet Dekko, our founder, had an interest.  So, even though we all live in Indiana, we often find ourselves in Alabama, Iowa, Minnesota and, in the luckiest and rarest winter instances, Florida.

Since Mr. Dekko’s business model called for him to seek out small towns and rural areas, we work in some very remote places.  So, in honor of summer road trips, we thought we’d share some tales of travel across our grantmaking areas:

• Once, back in the days before every phone had GPS, we found ourselves reading a map (not well apparently) and ending up on Raccoon Road…an unpaved, uninhabited, and unplanned visit.  Thank goodness for a full gas tank!
• We love to hear the southern drawls of grantseekers from our Limestone County Alabama area.  We’ve eaten fried green tomatoes, to-die-for BBQ (the vinegar kind) and peach cobbler–mmm.
• When a bridge was out, and we had a grantseeker to see, we once took a road with a sign that said, “Minimum Access Road….do not travel between October and March.”  Don’t worry, we’re not THAT dumb.  It had grass down the middle…and that was the last sign in sight.
• Sometimes when we get home from Alabama, we find ourselves saying things like:  all’yall and jeatyet?
• One of the young people we know well from our Minnesota grantmaking area told us this cute story:  “We don’t worry here if our dog runs away.  It’s so flat here we’ll be able to see him for three days.”  He’s not exaggerating.  It’s big sky country there and they grow sugar beets…which are used to make sugar.  We know because we were naive enough to ask.

We could go on and on, but for your sake we won’t…only to say that the travel is all worthwhile because it takes us to some of the most wonderful and caring people imaginable.  People who want to make sure that children and young people in their communities have everything that they need to grow and thrive.

Dekko Foundation grantseekers, you’re so wonderful you’re worth a 10-hour O’Hare flight delay…well almost!