 Good evening. We're on the air once again with another edition of Pacious on the news. I Say this every time now. I don't know why because I'm so amazed that we've been doing this for 15 years and Many of you have been watching for 15 years. I appreciate it. You're my friends. Believe me. You're my friends So tonight we have a little bit of a different Guest I'd say different. He's a normal guy But his name is Greg Powell and he is chairman and CEO of the Alfon foundation and also of Dexter Enterprises, which is associated with the With the with the Alfon money that's going into main philanthropy. That's where the money comes from Greg is graduate of Wesleyan University the University of Main law school and then practiced at Main's largest firm Pierce Atwood for a period of years. He's a native of Waterville a graduate of Waterville high school and Harold Alfon enticed him to leave his law firm and run the Alfon Enterprises businesses and Foundation in Maine, which he has been doing now for almost 30 years 25 years Welcome Greg. Thank you. Pleasure to be here. We're delighted to be here. I want to say to the folks here that This is an interesting story and one that they'll find extremely interesting because this is a huge Foundation and Maine is a very small state this foundation philanthropic foundation in Maine dedicated to investing in Maine has a Capital of about 1.6 billion dollars What does that stack up in New England? Greg pretty close to the top. I think we're one of the largest foundations in New England and among the top hundred maybe in the country Among the top hundred in the country. Yeah here in our little old state It is an amazing story and philanthropy can make an enormous difference Particularly in a small state. Isn't that true? I mean because just we don't have that many people. That's right I mean, it's sort of like practicing law. You know that I mean you have to be able to help a lot of different people and do a lot of different things So we do a lot of different things and because the population is small we can probably make a Greater impact because of that So You're in charge of Making sure that The money is there that that that the money is invested properly And you're getting a return and you can sustain this operation, correct? Yeah, that's that's the job It's a privilege and an honor to have the opportunity to do something in the investment world But also to be able to share the investment returns with the people of Maine and the areas that we're interested in The areas that mr. Alfon was dedicated to We we we put it in simple terms that education health care and youth and community development are our areas of giving and Of recent in recent times we have focused on really three basic themes for investments building Maine's workforce Helping build out the quality of health care for rural parts of the state and all over the state really And then finally we've had special effort in the city of Waterville to Revitalize that city like so many Maine cities it suffered from globalization and the loss of jobs because of That client in the paper industry at the textile industry and whatnot So those are the three some thematic investments areas we've had and But education health care and youth and community development are what mr. Alfon asked us to do and what we try to do Talk a little bit about workforce and what your investment in building Maine's workforce Give us some examples of what you do. Well, I mean certainly there's crossover here before areas So in health care we made a lot of grants in that area to improve oncology care in the state to improve education opportunity for the production of health care workers with our investments that UNE and and the like so that's a that's an example of how The workforce that is educated workforce helps raise the quality of health care for Maine But on top of that I think we have noticed and I think we're not geniuses but I think it's fairly clear that the United States has a global advantage in the tech sectors of Of of the of the workplace and so growing talent in those areas and investing in educational institutions that give people training and background in The STEM areas of the economy has become a focus of ours and that's really true over the last five to seven years with 75 million dollar grant to the University of Maine to bring its engineering programs both here in Portland and up in Maine and elsewhere to all university students that's an example and a hundred million dollar commitment to the Rue Institute, which is very much focused on Masters education in STEM for those probably everybody knows what the Rue Institute is but David Rue another philanthropist with Maine roots Lewiston Has established the Rue Institute, which is You're going to be a graduate level Absolutely school right based in Portland it is and it it is following a direction in education Which is increasingly more prevalent and and helpful to you know to a modern economy and that is to Create learning experiences were which are built around the needs of employers So the Rue Institute and I think other of our grantees are increasingly asking the question with Rue at the forefront of this what is it that businesses need and Come and let work with us and let us help you solve those problems those needs and it's it's experientially based education led by a Philanthropist but a business person Dave Rue and the University North Northeastern University of course is the academic partner here and Joseph aeun Couldn't be a better person to be a partner with and so Joseph aeun going to be the head of the school Well, no Joseph is the president of Northeastern University as a whole yeah, and so Northeastern has campuses throughout the United States and in foreign countries as well And it has one of its outposts here in Portland And this is going to be a very significant contributor to Maine's economy We're certainly hopeful of that and how let's contribute to Maine's economy well the design of this is to encourage foster and to provide educational experiential education in a way that Improves the way of businesses or new ideas can be introduced to the market So the idea is to attract people to come to Maine to work on their business problems to help solve business problems for Businesses that are in Maine both large and small so everything from Maine Medical Center down to small entrepreneurs with a new idea can work with Rue and computational science and Engineering and AI artificial intelligence and whatnot to improve the way they do business or to develop an idea to bring to market and This model is never I don't think been tried anywhere by Northeastern quite as aggressively as we're doing it here But the hope is and I believe there's some evidence that this will foster the development of new business Same time University of Maine system and its engineering programs have always been really really top quality It's one of the gems of the university system. So again, we're trying to encourage the development of education opportunity in these STEM Area programs to help foster business development and prosperity in the state And how does University of Southern Maine our local University fit into that? Well, they they fit in in multiple ways first Most academic institutions in the state are now collaborating with Rue Many of them already are collaborating with the University of Maine and our 75 million dollar grant to the school of engineering computational science and whatnot is by design to bring the engineering program and the computer science programs of the University of Southern Maine together with the R&O Engineering programs so that we have a statewide enterprise devoted to educating students all over the state including R&O Chias You name it and to make Accessible to students from all over the state engineering programs STEM programs in general Let's go back for a minute to Healthcare you mentioned oncology tell us about Focus on oncology and in rural areas and how that would give us an example of Something relating to oncology and a rural area. Well a couple of ideas there first of all When mr. Alfon was with us he suffered from cancer And he thought it was really important to have his cancer treated close to home and since he lived in Maine for a good chunk of His years he wanted to have high quality cancer care in Maine So it started way back in the late 1990s going into the 2000s that we built a Center for Cancer here in Augusta tried to attract high quality doctors Best of equipment whatnot. This is a new building. Yes It's not so new anymore, but yeah, so so that was Cancer care in the start of it since then we funded two grants to the Jackson laboratories and then we've also funded a ten million dollar grant to a partnership between Maine Health and Maine General two large health care systems in the state one the largest another maybe the third and All of these are about teamwork in bringing the highest quality of cancer care to people wherever they are in the state and Jack's case it started out with the idea that Knowing the genetics of a cancer patient was very important to linking that patient to the best possible treatment to the most promising clinical trials and so we We supported jackson their development of bringing their genomic brilliance, okay More quickly to the cancer Population itself to get them in touch with better care faster So that program has grown enormously and we've just made another I think it was about 11 million dollar grant To them and then as I say we have a ten million dollar grant in place with Maine Health and Maine General Creating a network so that cancer patients have navigators to get them to the right place That collaborates with Jackson labs and the idea is that wherever you live in the state You should have access to high-quality care. I understand the science Being conducted at Jackson labs benefits the world But does it have a specific benefit that in Maine that's different than its worldwide impact? No Not not not eventually right now There is a special benefit for Maine people because they have access to the genetic testing and then to the marrying of their Genetic profile and cancer to the best drugs and the best clinical trials And the idea is if we can develop the model in Maine to do this, okay? It will be transferable throughout the country. So if I'm a doctor or doctors in Portland Let's say treating a cancer patient. Somehow I can access this intelligence at at Jackson labs, I think it's fair to say virtually every practicing oncologist in the state is Participant in this program in one form or another Interesting very interesting what about What about Rural health care them that that helps rural care because you said every doctor in the state if they're in Dover far scruff They can access it. Well, yeah, and I think the idea is do they have to go to Boston for this testing or not? and I think increasingly you see this not just with our programs, but elsewhere there's a huge effort on the part of oncology to spread its wings to bring the Innovations the clinical trials the drugs to the attention of people in remote areas as well as in the big cities It used to be that a very very small percentage of the oncology population Lived within miles of the major cancer centers in Boston the Dana-Farber for example The idea here is to allow that expertise to spread out throughout the country And Maine being a somewhat rural state is a great place to try to build the model very very interesting You said Workforce and that's connected with education of course workforce training Can you give us some examples of how you're trying to? Elevate the training of workforce necessary to our future economy Well, we have some really wonderful higher education institutions in the state and some of the programs we support are designed to attract the best and the brightest of people but when we look at the population in the country and we see that 60% of them have had very little or no higher education exposure at all and That there are many folks in our economy with globalization that have lost Their anchor to success to a great job and Do not have the skills that they need In a global economy to really prosper We have come to focus and be very excited about how the community college system can reach out to underemployed and unemployed folks bring them in for higher education in very very short increments in other words micro credentials as they're called where For a very short period of time a learner can go to school Learn a trade understand an area be employable Get a raise get a job and have the skills that are needed in You know an economy that's increasingly stem oriented and so Last year we announced a 16 or 17 million dollar grant to the community college I'll really in concert with the governor's award of COVID money that will help build out the opportunity for Underemployed unemployed persons and we feel like this is so important because when you look at the divisiveness in our country right now There's a serious issue about wealth gap and income gap and the folks that are left behind That's not that's not fair in a country that promises Economic opportunity like ours does and should and so we want to make sure those folks have a part of our country's success And one way of doing this is by offering a form of education that's doable for them Isn't like signing up for four years or two years. It's not unduly expensive and the best of all The courses these micro credentials that are being offered to underemployed and unemployed people are Designed by employers themselves. There's a hundred and seventy Employers that have memorandum of understandings with the community college system to provide the community college system With information about what they need for their workers and their workforce. What's the deal? They help pay for it when they can They help design the course where they can and they agree to employ or to Give a raise or an elevation and and the job status of the employees who attend and this is short term People who are in their 20s and they're in their 30s have families or whatever Signing up for two years or a traditional four-year higher education degree ain't gonna cut it for them This kind of opportunity this kind of education gives people a chance to improve their lot so So you invest money You give money to the community college system and what do they do it do do with it? They establish courses that provide this micro credential right exactly. What's an example of a micro credential well You could learn you don't have to go to Four years at Harvard to learn how to weld Okay, no already you have to go four years of college at Harvard to be a phlebotomist and draw draw blood But isn't that what the community colleges have been doing for since they've been around Teaching people how to well fix automobiles be plumbers electricians a couple of things about it first not enough and and then secondly Not in concert or as a partner with business as much as needs to happen in today's world Classical education has its place and it's very very important and some people really thrive at it a lot better But teaching the skills that are needed teaching how to use a computer Teaching computer science is important Though those skills need to be taught to be an auto mechanic today. You have to know how to run a computer So when you give the money to the community college system you say here's what we want to happen with it Absolutely, we these are contracts Harold. What do they do with the money you give them? They have to work higher teachers to teach these courses or that they give teachers the money They need to develop them, you know to teach nursing. It's expensive. You got to have the equipment to do it You got to have I don't know what they call them dummies to work on or it's expensive So you provide money for these things we do and the other thing that In the early we've done two grants on this now one was about three and a half million the next one's 16 but the first one what the community college did which was really terrific is they built out the Information systems needed to gather the information from employers. What do you need? What kind of skill sets do you need? You know and and how do we track? The people that come into our system and take our courses they've built this system out. It's ready. It's operating right now It's really terrific So that's that's continued talking about education stuff because obviously that's a very important Objective for the foundation We know you've given a lot of money to the University of Maine in Arno. Yes How much? Over the lifetime of the foundation. Let's talk about the lifetime first. Well, I mean our latest grant commitment is 240 million so you want to take probably I don't know another hundred and fifty on top of that anyway, so Almost a half a billion right to the to Arno Yes, not to Arno to the system as a whole to the system as a whole right It's very important because Or an always our land grant University and it's where the highest enrollment occurs, but the institutions across the state are really They're not important gateways. They are important to the rural and local populations and the University down here in Portland is an extraordinarily fine Institution and what we're trying to do more than anything is bring them together to get them to work together There's no reason an internet Society okay that people can't work together. We've actually proven that haven't we since we all know that Internet or Web X meetings are the way of doing business these days, so so we can do it And that's part of our our teamwork Our teamwork adage and you try to you told me this before we started The foundation Tries to channel help and financial assistance in areas that were of interest to mr. Alfon sports is one of them Yeah, so I Know and I'm probably many people watching know that sports facilities at the University of Maine Are the product of investment from the Alfon Foundation? Also Colby college, huh? Absolutely. So tell us what you did at the University of Maine just recently I know you've done many things there, but in recent years and about In the sports field and also about at Colby sure well, I'll start with Colby Yeah, Colby has probably the finest athletic center of a Division 3 school in the country. Maybe the world it is absolutely fabulous. So you got to take a tour Personally, I would love to and and so we were Colby by the way is the the place where mr. Alfon made his very very first large Philatropic gift he built the ice right there that ended up being so important to the community and the college shared that with the community in a meaningful way such that one of all high one Championships in the whole town got behind hockey and skating and all the rest well Consistent with that legacy. We decided that it was time for a for a new facility and so The latest ones been built and that is a I think a two hundred million dollar complex It's absolutely gorgeous and at the University of Maine Maine's only division one school Grants for the football stadium for the hockey rink for fitness facilities Have been given over the years and we are now in a phase where we are going to major league like Up up upgrade all of the facilities Achieve some gender equity along the way and give the students up there the kind of facilities they deserve you know people can look at The money that goes into athletic facilities here in Maine and say that's a lot of money But compared to other state Universities and other states. It's really quite modest and despite that our division one teams Compete very very well and they they do a good job and so they deserve Better than what they got and we intend to fix that and it's not just limited to Kobe and the University of Maine I went down to the University of New England last fall Turing around and there and this the stadium is the elf I think the Alphonse Stadium and then I went into the hockey and basketball building and I think you produce that too Yeah, well the Athletic facilities at the Bitterford campus are we're done with a gift from us and and other donors another part of our teamwork ad is of course is that we always want to try to have fundraising for these Projects be a joint project with others in the community helping out Yeah, so far we've got some great partners Yeah, your idea is to to be a catalyst and to get other people to invest as well Yeah, which wouldn't happen in the absence of your investment. Well, it's it's funny how this works because if you're in a business deal You got to ask yourself the question would I rather be in a business deal? Where my partners putting up money along with me or would you rather just put all the money up and let your partner ride on your shoulders? We've always looked at philanthropy from a business standpoint, which is we want Partners with skin in the game and once you have that skin in the game the motivation to succeed I think arises considerably to the benefit of the the outcome. I Wanted to ask you some more questions about specific projects and investments and money that you're investing in Maine and Particularly about Waterville. I want to talk about Waterville, but just So we get context for all of this How big is the foundation how much would you start? I think I said 1.6 billion correct and How much did you give in the state of Maine last year? About 75 million Dollars right in Maine. Yes. No, well pretty much pretty much most of it in in Maine And do you maybe you don't have this figure over the course of the life of the foundation? How much money have you? Given away to Maine organizations probably about Certainly in my tenure about 455 million almost a half a billion dollars of philanthropy in Maine Yes, now we've never had anything like that in the history of Maine. I don't think I'm pretty sure well I'm pretty sure the new are so you go. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Yeah. No, no nothing close. There's nothing close now, right? I believe we are the largest Foundation in the state. Yes. Well, you're good. You're the Second largest in New England or something that pretty close bound to be the largest in in Maine You don't know if New Hampshire doesn't have a foundation Giving away A half a billion dollars in New Hampshire. Yeah, I don't I think you're right. Yes. No, I think it's it's it's it's It's pretty pretty unique and now for instance last year if you can remember how many different Maine organizations do you think is? where the recipients of Your munis of municipants sure probably about Somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 to 40 and of those Concentrated in maybe 15 to 18 major league grantees so We we we don't want to do And we don't want to replace the efforts of so many other charitable Institutions or the donors to those institutions We want to try to do things where we can have The greatest impact and the greatest return on our investment and also do things that require really large slugs of capital Bigger is better for us And we try to focus on that we also try to focus on things that reflect the values of mr. Alfon Which include helping the little guy. That's why this community college effort is so important so important to I would say the You know to preserve to providing cultural Economic and just life prosperity and opportunity to all all all people in our state Do you still give some money to every new baby born in Maine? We do that's our signature program I believe every baby born in Maine gets a five hundred dollar higher education account set up for them and This is a Program that Includes skin in the game because we ask parents to set up a companion account to help save as well And it reflects our belief that every child no matter Where they're from what they look like what town they're from that they all have the sort of this seed of Capital for their higher education and one more thing. It's important This can be used not just for a Harvard education, but it can be used for microcredential type skills in the community college system and At Colby or Bowdoin as well So how does it how do you you don't keep track of every baby born in Maine? I mean I do You when somebody's born in Maine that kid is born in Maine Medical Center You somehow have a record of that and and you set up an account. That's right So you have us have thousands of accounts about a hundred and thirty thousand a hundred and thirty thousand of these accounts And that money you You're invested in you're trying to grow that money too. Well, we are but this is When you say you I want to be clear about this. We're all about teamwork. So we have some phenomenal Partners our players on the team. We have the finance authority of Maine, which administers Maine's 529 plan and they do a terrific job And what's your 529 plan? They don't know that. Oh, that's right. Okay. Well, you know a 529 plan is a an account that can be set up for College education where all the investment earnings as long as they are used to pay for higher education grow tax-free so the finance authority of Maine with With financial partners runs this program. We give them the money and they account for all children born in Maine by Statistics that are on burst records that are filed with the state Bureau of Vital Statistics So how do the kids parents when the time comes for the kid to go to a community college or a regular car? How do they access the money to help pay the tuition? Well, just the way they would in accessing their 529 account they would connect with the finance authority of Maine and the financial institutions that Hold the money and they would request a payment to a higher education institution for our program It's only been up and running since 2008. So we haven't had the first group go on to higher ed We're looking forward to it. Yeah, so so they're about 14 of 15 years old the first group Little younger than that. Yeah, we have maybe 13. Yeah, and so another Four or five years before they need to access the money, but it'll be more than $500 It will be our funds right now With their market value or something over 120 million. We put about 60 million in so it's doubled That's about doubled and then on top of that. There's the parental savings Which is another hundred and forty or hundred and fifty and then the finance authority Has chipped in as well with its center programs to get families to open up their own accounts. So there's probably well over $380 million in savings for higher education opportunity for Maine kids now, okay, so If they're ten kids born this week at a Maine hospital only Only two or three of them are going to go on to higher education if we use today's statistics Maybe it'll be different when they're older. That's exactly the point. Okay, that's exactly why I'm talking about the community college I'm talking about trade schools. I'm talking about microcredentials and aren't the traditional higher ed form now Hey, I'm all for higher ed whether it's an associates degree at the community college or another institution or a full Degree at Colby Bates or Bowdoin. That's fine. The money could be used anywhere you want But it's very important that the money is there to help upskill Every child and it has to be used for education right so Yes, I If I was a born in the last few years in Maine I would be be the beneficiary of such an account But if I said I want nothing to do with higher education, you know I'm going in the Marines and that's it Then that that money allocated for me would be stay in the fund and be used for other students. That's right. That's the way it works When funds are forfeited I mean children do pass on and when they do the money comes back and is redeployed for The benefit of more children Talk about Waterville because I know that that's a focus of the Alfon foundation What first of all why you focus on Waterville? Well, I like Waterville incidentally, so I'm glad you're focused I do too. I grew up there and so did the Alfon family mr. Alfon and his wife, Bibi regarded it as their home and we also remember a time when the textile industry and the paper industry were thriving and there were middle-class and lower middle-class jobs available to Enhance the vibrancy of a community that were in Main Street was filled with great shops and Places to eat and whatnot and so the idea here is that this This decline has been suffered throughout Maine and in many towns and this is the town where Mr. and Mrs. Alfon and their children and regarded there to be their home and so we are making a special effort to see what we can Do to help this town? Re-emerge and so how part of it is a Teaming up with Kobe College right so can you I think people would be interested if I was in Waterville Not long ago and I've seen the transformation in downtown Waterville downtown Waterville No longer looks the way it looked 30 years ago. Well, the downtown is going to look even better. Give me about a year Yeah, I should say give us about a year There's a new center for the arts that is being Constructed it's under construction right now right on the corner of Castonga Way Square and in Main Street it is will be the home of the Waterville Opera House's offices and Practice areas it will be the home of the Common Street Arts, which is a graphic arts type Organization in the city it'll be the home of the Maine Film Institute And it will be where Colby will show off contemporary art if you are getting a theme here You'd be right. This is about teamwork is about pulling people together To build something that no one of them on their own could really do in a high quality excellent fashion So that's happening right on Main Street In addition to that the college has decided it's really important for its students to be part of a community So it has built with help from Harold's son Bill and daughter-in-law Joan a Residential complex with retail operations on the first floor You mean for Colby students Colby students and professors. Yeah, and then on the lower end of Main Street Colleges built a really nice hotel. We we helped fund that And then across the street from that there is an art studio Building that the Lunder family has helped to build so those are the philanthropic Contributions to Main Street, but along Main Street businesses are opening up new operations The existing businesses are seeing a level of economic activity and profit. I don't think they ever have and finally the the We expect the change to be so great that it's actually going to become a two-way street again instead of a through way to get Over across the Winslow Bridge Oh, yeah So it's being changed to a two-way street to sort of give it a more main street Yeah, the state of Maine has a couple and a new bridge a couple of Projects that are enhancing the downtown. Yes, so My wife likes art She's she's worked in galleries and she goes to museums all the time and She had a friend visiting from out of state And they go to museums together a lot and she said, you know to the lady you got to go to the Colby Museum So they went to the Colby Art Museum. I went with them and Uh That's a national class museum now I mean people from all over the country who are into art are very aware of the Colby Museum And it seems to me what you're doing is you're making Waterville over into a cultural center. Well, uh Cultural assets not you alone, but I understand I was going to just point out that peter and paula lunders gift of a huge american art collection is Just a hundred million dollars, isn't it? Yeah, and then some and then some yeah, but but you're right But you know communities that offer cultural benefits are communities which are welcoming to people Of all stripes including uh folks in the stem economy A company by the name of cgi has established a business on main street and this this firm Does information systems creation and models for businesses all over the world And uh, we're very hopeful to attract more businesses at thomas college And uh through trade groups in the city There are efforts underway to attract entrepreneurs and give them the support that they need to build their businesses in water So that's going on As well. So this is a new and restored waterville main, right? And uh significant Change and and development in waterville life urge people to you know drive up that particularly if you like art Drive up to waterville and see the the changes Downtown. Yeah, well we we uh, we sure hope so and right now the signs are very very positive about a resurgence in waterville and its economic promise how much do you think you've given to if you combine colby and thomas and waterville how much Alfonne money have you pumped into that greater community there? Maybe that's a hard question because you don't have your computer with you, but right well, I would I would Yes, it's probably somewhere in the range of 180 million something like almost 200 million dollars. Yeah, and in Waterville main. Yeah, I think 200 would be a good guess wow and Most of the people watch it. This this this is seen in the greater portland cable system But most people watching this are familiar with the Stevens Avenue campus and in portland of UNE and the Healthcare training that's going on there. You're involved out there, too. Yes Uh Our early grants to UNE Built an athletic center and the health science center in bideford But recognizing how unique the university is in educating All manner of healthcare workers from physicians To nurses to dentists to pharmacists You name it and the importance of educating them using interprofessional education Curriculum meaning working together as a team. We decided to make a grant of 30 million dollars toward a new Home for the medical school of UNE But this home for the medical school also be the point where all of the professions can gather And can learn interprofessional education skills So We're really excited about this project I think the president of the university is hard at it raising matching funds as we require Uh, he's just secured a couple of really great grants. So I believe they'll be breaking ground sometime this fall and uh, so You know, if somebody drives out in Stevens Avenue, I haven't been out past that As a school in several years, but you drive out Stevens Avenue You're going to see a lot of changes on that campus and you have you'll see it even now because there have been New projects build out, uh, you know, uh, there for some number of years now You remember this came out of a merger again an example of where When main institutions get together and and become partners It's amazing what they can achieve because the westbrook college Merged with un e back in about 1997 or so So that campus used to be what's known as westbrook college It retains a lot of its identity a lot of the alumni are still excited about being a part of un e But again, uh, mr. Alphonse foundation loves to support Uh teamwork and collaborations and un e is another example Speaking of teamwork, you mentioned when we talked about waterville and philanthropic investment In the city of waterville. You mentioned the name peter lunder Yes, now I I just want to talk briefly about that because Peter and paula lunder are among my favorite people. They're absolutely wonderful human beings and I like them so much and It's not as famous as harrell alfon But he's done enormous things and he has a connection with the alfon family So why don't you talk just briefly even though we're here to talk about the alfon foundation Talk briefly about peter and paula and what they've done in main and who they are Well, sure. Um, I would say that they are Uh, if they were here, they would be saying craig Keep your mouth closed. Yeah, okay. Well, you can tell us what What you think they wouldn't object to well, I think It's a historical fact that peter is harrell's nephew And he was a driving force in the success of dexter shoe company That peter and paula are very close to all of harrell's children that they I think they would credit some of their philanthropic motivations and and actions today to What harrell taught them what harrell and bibby harrell's wife taught them and so They have followed and harrell and bibby's footsteps and I know they intend to continue to do that So that's great. And they and as you pointed out the colby museum is a great example of Of what the lenders have done. Absolutely. Absolutely. They're very chairably minded as as as part of and important part of the alfon family We've got a few minutes left Are there things that we haven't talked about that That you're particularly proud of the things that That the foundation is doing that That you think are pretty exciting that we may not have talked about Well, I could talk about the foundation all day long I think something that would be worth talking about would be this moment in time And where the state that harrell alfon really cared about and loved Is it a moment when it has a great opportunity to Deal with a lot of the challenges it has for decades and decades There are several factors behind that that are pretty important One of which is that The stem economy Has really advantaged large urban centers for decades and there was a brookings study done on this Showing that those large cities which have you know stem technology based kind of businesses have Done very very well and so With covet what has happened I am hypothesizing okay Is that living in urban environments has become a little less attractive And building your home in a state like main Which has many of the same cultural attributes as large cities in cities like portland But all had so has the beauty and The less crowdedness of of rural main it's become a more Attractive place to live And there are 10,000 new People new citizens of main on a net a net increase in the population of 10,000 people in this past year Is that the first time in a long time? It's been a long time The birth rate Is much lower than the death rate in main so without people coming to main We're probably not Improving our prosperity as much so that factor together with the fact that remote work has been proven to work means that That when you take that together with The investments we've made that the governor's Plan has made In the stem economy that we have a chance right now To grow the state's prosperity Enhanced its promise For a better life for our citizens than than than ever before so so Life is manageable in main And what you're saying, I guess is that if we do some of the things that you're doing and investing in Uh Combined with the fact that people can work remotely now. They don't all have to be in new york or philadelphia chicago That main is an attractive place to build a business to invest and build a business So long as you can get the talent to work there right the need for More skilled workers and to upskill our existing population Has always been there. Okay, and right now we are making some progress on that front I think skilled workers are moving to main if they Aren't we hope that they will we'll try to encourage it We have a student debt reduction program that we offer where if you if you're in a stem occupation You stay employed for three years in main will pay half your student debt off It's just an example of a way to attract Another factor that I didn't mention is that there are inklings of small businesses efforts to Innovate and encourage innovators and entrepreneurs to come to main. It's being done at the university of southern main It's being done at waterville. It's being done at you main at orno with their engineering programs. These are all there it's a matter of catalyzing them to grow And we already talked about the rue institute and the hopes there that that will Add prosperity to the main economy and in the rue institute, which is a very very important new development in greater Portland You're on their team. I mean you have you've teamed up with them. Well, we made an investment of a hundred million dollars into the new institute We have terrific partners with dave rue and joseph aeun barber rue dave's wife You can't think of a better entrepreneur somebody who co-founded silver lake probably one of the largest technology companies in the world Private equity technology course. So great partners are important Mr. Rue lewiston high school Our guest waterville high school Something to be said about me We're almost out of time, but Yeah, I hear all that you've done in the last 25 or 30 years and I say Well, wait a minute. That's a lot of money, you know a half a billion dollars What's left now? All day long your fielding Calls are all week long fielding calls getting letters people with ideas of where you can invest The alpha and money to make mean a better place Don't ever run out of it then people don't ever run out of ideas. Well, they don't and there's so many great ideas I feel like One of the challenges we have is that you know, sometimes we feel like we don't have enough money For all of the worthy causes that exist. So we have to pick That's that's hard to do and then once we've picked We want to hold our grantees accountable. We want them to perform Harold would expect nothing less That must be fun to think if you love main and you really this is your home state and to think of To see ideas all the time coming across your desk how to make main a better and more prosperous state That's what happens during your week, right people with ideas you with ideas about how to improve Our state and how to improve the lives of people living here That's a fact that that's fun. Absolutely. It's um, but it's in keeping with the philosophy of Harold Alfon that he loved to find good partners good leadership great ideas And then go and build them Not too different than the way dexter shoe Worked there's an old story about him going to disney world and somebody watching him and All he was doing was looking down. He wasn't looking up. He didn't see mickey or mini or any of the castles He was looking at shoes What are people wearing? And he got to decide which ones he was going to make Yeah, that's that that a bit we we didn't cover this but there were people people would be interested in Where this fortune came from we just have two or three minutes, but uh, Mr. Alfon was in the shoe business dexter shoe and he was very successful in the shoe business And uh, and then what happened? Well, it's better start before that because it'll maybe give some promise and hope to a lot of other people One day He was working at kesslin shoe company when he was just in his early 20s in kenny bunk kenny bunk being paid 15 cents an hour He took his girlfriend or they intended to go to the scow hegan fair And he picked up a hitchhiker on the way to the scow hegan fair and the hitchhiker told him that there was an old abandoned shoe factory for sale in norwich walk So he went to the factory instead of And instead of the fair And I can't tell you what happened with the girlfriend But I can tell you that he bought the factory and built the first shoe company ever built Sold it for a million bucks to shoe corp of america and then took those proceeds and Built dexter shoe company and built it Reinvested his capital didn't take too much out enjoyed life and built Highly successful manufacturer of literally millions of shoes every year and then 1993 he Sold the company to warren buffett of berkshire hathaway and took back stock Stock in berkshire hathaway. Yes. And what year was that 1993 1993 I have a Rhetorical question for our audience Any of you have any idea of what happened to the value of berkshire hathaway stock Since 1993 Think about it after this program is over. This is not A small foundation and it's not It wasn't a small fortune, but here's a man Who wanted to give it away? To make The lives of people in main better how that sounds trite and it's kind of superficial But it's a fact that he wanted to give it away, right? Absolutely There are lots of stories about harold, but one of my favorites is uh, he would Bemoan the fact that he had too many pairs of pants because he could only wear one at a time So why not give it away to somebody else? So he would just He was a philanthropic guy. That just was his character. He was and so is his family They are as well. They are followed in his footsteps Yeah, I saw I went to the Red Sox opening day game and I Saw bill at the at the game. He's there a lot at the Red Sox. They have great Red Sox fans And they're part owners of the Red Sox, right? That's right. Yeah well, this has been fascinating to Hear what goes on at the foundation and There'll be many people Some people may contact you as a result of the show. I have an idea but one of the things you said Just we can cool a few jets is You like big things rather than small things This is not a place to come and say we need a ten thousand dollar contribution because we're having a fundraising dance Right, is that correct? Yeah, not to uh In any way discredit the value of But but we can make larger grants and we're larger slugs of capital are needed to You know do something big with a big impact. That's what we like to focus on We still do give a hundred and fifty dollars every year to the little league in waterville. So There's some traditions that won't die. That's great. Uh, we we've really enjoyed this. This has been So thank you me too and thanks very much very kind. We do appreciate I I could I have a million questions about