Inspiring Good

Maggie Okponobi on Owls Club And The Loneliness Fix

• Community Foundation of Elkhart County • Episode 35

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 35:15

We sit down with Maggie Okponobi of Owls Club and get specific about how a senior community can fight loneliness with daily connection, learning, and a place to belong. We also trace Maggie’s path from teaching to Peace Corps service to nonprofit leadership, and why she believes our community is stronger when we truly notice older adults. 
• Owls Club’s mission for adults 55+ and why “active” matters 
• Loneliness after retirement and the loss of identity and routine 
• How the monthly calendar works and why “stay and linger” builds friends 
• Lifelong learning led by members and the value of curiosity 
• The founding story at Trinity and what fueled rapid growth 
• No membership fee model and how diversified nonprofit funding supports it 
• Volunteer power at scale and why it keeps costs low 
• Peace Corps service in Gambia and the long view of resilience 
• Senior barriers like grief, fear of showing up, and losing peer groups 
• Owls Connect, tech support, and reaching shut-ins with care 
You can go to Owls Club's website at owlsclub.org. You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 


Send us Fan Mail

This show is a production of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. It is powered by equipment from Sweetwater and recorded in The Riverbend building in Elkhart's River District. Editing is done by the award-winning communication students at Goshen College, home of one of the best college radio stations in the nation. Listen to Globe Radio at 91.1 FM. Learn more about the Community Foundation of Elkhart County at inspiringgood.org You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Music is provided by Sensational Sounds. Thanks for listening. We hope you are inspired and inspire good and your community.

Welcome And Meet Owls Club

Marshall King

Welcome to the Inspiring Good Podcast. This podcast is brought to you by the Community Foundation of Elkart County, which serves a vibrant community in northern Indiana, known for its generosity and strong network of nonprofit organizations. I'm Marshall King, your co-host with Kevin Deary, a veteran nonprofit CEO who now coaches others. And today our guest is Maggie Okponobi, Executive Director of Owls Club in Elkhart. Welcome, Maggie. Thank you, Marshall.

Kevin Deary

Maggie, it's so good to have you here. So tell us about the OWLS. Like, what's the mission of the owls and tell me what you do there?

Maggie Okponobi

Thank you, Kevin. So, OWLS, let's start with acronym. OWLS starts for older, wiser, life-loving seniors. We're a nonprofit located here in Elkhart, Indiana. We just hit our three-year mark and uh we serve people who are 55 and above in the community. You do not have to live in Elkart. You simply have to be able to get to our location and anyone that can manage themselves. So you just need to be able to be able to walk in the doors. Um, so hence that word active. We are created and run as a place for people to combat the national loneliness epidemic. We want people to come and make friends, laugh, interact, learn, play, even serve. You can even get back and volunteer all the things. It's the opportunity for our seniors. I know it's funny to think of a senior as 55 and above, but our seniors to get out of the house and feel

Loneliness After Retirement

Maggie Okponobi

valued and seen and find joy.

Kevin Deary

Tell us a little bit more about that this national epidemic of loneliness with seniors.

Maggie Okponobi

That's a great question. And we've seen this not only with seniors, just across across the globe. And I believe, and don't quote me on this, Kevin, but I believe this started around COVID time is when we were starting to recognize this more, is that all of us were stuck in the house and not getting out, not being social. And then for our seniors, we're often seeing that when they retire, you lose your identity. Around here in the United States, we're often seen as our identity. For the longest time, I was Maggie the teacher, or you're Maggie the mom, whatever it might be. And then you retire and you go, Well, who is Maggie? And we find that difficult. And then, of course, with technology, we're all guilty of oh, maybe watching our Netflix show or we could sleep in because we're retired and say our pajamas, and then days go on and we're not being social and we're not getting out of the house like we would when we normally have something to go to and to do.

Kevin Deary

Oh, I can relate to that COVID time. I was working from home and I needed people. Yes. Uh I was starting to talk to squirrels.

Maggie Okponobi

Oh no.

Kevin Deary

And sometimes not.

Marshall King

But Kevin, were they talking back?

Kevin Deary

Not if I had been a few more months, they went, they may have been. So I'm a proud owl member, and uh, you know, I couldn't wait to join. I'm looking forward to when things slow down where I could actually attend some of the programs. But Tuck, can you talk a little bit about first of all? I remember when I first met you, I was just starting at the community foundation after retired from Boys and Girls Clubs, and you had just been hired at the Owls. That's right. And there was a goal of like a hundred members. And within a year, you had how many?

Maggie Okponobi

I believe we had a close to a thousand.

Kevin Deary

Close to a thousand. You hit a nerve that is that loneliness nerve.

Maggie Okponobi

Yes.

Kevin Deary

And I believe you located at Trinity here on Jackson. Correct. Good large church, and what a what a gift that they gave the owls by allowing the facility to be used, which is just a tremendous blessing for the community. But a thousand people. And continues to grow.

Maggie Okponobi

Yes.

Kevin Deary

So tell me like how do they all come?

How Owls Club Runs Its Days

Kevin Deary

They they don't all come at once, but but tell me how you segment programs.

Maggie Okponobi

That's a great question. And this is something that is a little confusing sometimes to people what does that really mean? We often think of retirement, communities, green croft, and not understanding, again, that act of peace. So we like to say that Owls Club is much like a boys and girls club for our seniors. So each month we put out a calendar. Generally, Monday through Friday is our activities. And then on that calendar throughout the day are different activities. So let me give you an example. This morning we had pickleball. So members could come in at 8 a.m. and do pickleball. And then at 10 a.m., we might have a mahjong. And then maybe at the same time, we have a poetry class. Right now we have an author talk going on and an armchair traveler class. So throughout the day, you can look at the calendar and choose an activity that you would like to go to. It could be an art class, a physical fitness class, lifelong learning, having a cup of coffee. But what's really special, I think, about owls is it's not just come and go to pickleball and then leave. It's maybe you come for an eight o'clock pickleball in your next classes until 11. Feel free to grab a cup of coffee, sit down at the puzzle table, read a book, whatever it may be. This is a space where we want you to feel safe and welcome and relax and enjoy and spend the whole day if you'd like.

Kevin Deary

And you find your speakers for the classes often amongst the owls. Absolutely. Because they've lived life, they're experts in something in their life.

Maggie Okponobi

Absolutely.

Kevin Deary

And they bring their passion, their education. They also bring not only their storytelling, but they bring items, they bring things that people can touch and see.

Maggie Okponobi

Absolutely.

Kevin Deary

And tell us a little bit about some of the educational pieces.

Maggie Okponobi

One of my favorite classes was created by a member, and they call it Owl's League of Lifelong Learners. This is a mystery class. So once a month on Monday, you come into this class, you have no idea what the topic is. And different speakers come in. So for example, one of them that I went to and walked in blindly was all about geology. Before I went in, I probably would have never signed up to learn about rocks and geology. I left there excited with knowledge. And just as you said, the speaker had a bunch of rocks and knowledge. And so I was touching and asking questions. So it's this idea that sometimes we're closed-minded about what we think we like. And if we walk in ready to just learn and have an open mind with excitement, we're gonna have fun. And that was a perfect example of that. That's just one of the many examples of the lifelong learning classes that we have.

Marshall King

So, Maggie, you started your career as an educator. Correct. So, how what when you were an educator, where where and what did you teach? And then how did you make that transition to what you're doing now?

Maggie Okponobi

That's a great question, Marshall. I did growing up, that's what I thought I wanted to do is to teach. And I did up until about 10 years ago. I've been fortunate to have taught almost every grade all the way through college. Uh, certainly at the time when I was teaching, my favorite were the little bitties, you know, kindergarten first. They don't talk back to you. So I loved that arena. I still carry my teaching certification and actually have taught a few classes at Owl's Club. But that world is changing and growing. Um and it's just not a space that I was interested in much longer. And especially with branching out, I served as a US Peace Corps volunteer, started on some boards. I realized that my calling is more in the nonprofit world. I never knew it would be with seniors, though. I had not worked with the senior realm. It's not really much different. It's pretty exciting. I have so much love throughout my day, and I get to work with people who want to learn, which is really fun as an educator.

Kevin Deary

There's some correlation between seniors and kindergarten.

Maggie Okponobi

I like you say that, Kevin.

Kevin Deary

Because I'm a senior, so I can say that.

Marshall King

Well, I wondered if they grumble as much as junior high kids, but I don't know.

Maggie Okponobi

No, I would say they're easy, much easier. Those German, those junior high kids.

Kevin Deary

So this has been it

The Idea That Sparked Rapid Growth

Kevin Deary

has exploded. The owls has exploded.

Maggie Okponobi

Yes.

Kevin Deary

So tell me who had this brilliant genesis of a thought to start the owls.

Maggie Okponobi

I wish I could take credit, Kevin. I really do, but I can't. The Genesis was back in COVID. Six Trinity members were sitting around the table and a few names to drop, Frank Martin, Connie Fulmer, a few others were sitting around just as friends at the dinner table, talking about the loneliness epidemic, what it feels like to be retired and not have purpose. And also talking about all the tools that they have, their passion, emotional support, financial support. What could they do with those resources? And they pulled together this idea of what we now call Owl's Club. They worked really hard for a good two plus years before I was brought in of doing the research, seeing if this was something that Alcar County could use and would want to use. And through all of that diligence, they were able to put together now this incredibly beautiful program that I'm extremely privileged to be able to run.

Kevin Deary

So, what exactly about the OWLS attracted you from education into the nonprofit sector for seniors?

Maggie Okponobi

That's a great question. Going back to thinking about that teaching, I knew walking in that I would be able to use those skills of teaching, maybe just in a different way. I thought I would be teaching a lot more than I am, but I have that opportunity to bring that passion in. But it brings this organization brings so many skills that I have and also new skills that I'm growing with.

Kevin Deary

When it is such a human function to want to be and connect with other people. And I've met a few of your people who are present. I've got some great storytellers. Can you tell us a maybe tell us a story about some of the some of the members who are owls? Oh my god. Someone who sticks out. I know it's hard.

Maggie Okponobi

It is hard because there's so many. And it's fun to see the different personalities. Something I, and this was my own fault too. I didn't do this either, is we don't often value our seniors as many other cultures do. And taking a step back and recognizing the experiences, the knowledge that they carry, unbelievable. Uh, we hear stories all the time. I was talking to one of my members who was a pilot and telling me his story. Another member was talking about some of the horrors of going through a war and encampment when she was a child to one of our members as an auctioneer, you know, and you think you have no idea by just looking at him, greeting them in the hallway in their day-to-day. And then you sit down with them and you hear these stories and you're just blown away and want to keep talking to them.

Kevin Deary

So you've so obviously we're talking about all the fun stuff. Yes. But let's talk a little bit about what are some of the challenges that are facing the owls.

Maggie Okponobi

Great question. Just as any nonprofit, I would say, of course, we're all looking for money and we worry about that. How we're gonna, you know, be able to grow and continue. Another, I wouldn't say this is a super big concern, but certainly a concern is we're growing and we're growing fast. How do we keep up with the growth and making sure that we still keep that tightness that we have with our members, that love, that support, that value of them being seen? How do we keep that close to us? How do we keep our mission strong and make sure we're not following it and getting ahead of ourselves?

Marshall King

So along those lines, what like what is your economic structure? Are you fee-based? Are you, and what are the what are the costs? Like, how do you what I'm not sure how the budget is shaped?

Maggie Okponobi

Yes, that's a great question. Many senior centers that there are throughout the United States do charge a fee, which is certainly understandable. We and I'm sure there's others, but we do not charge a fee. That is extremely important to our founders, that we don't want to have those barriers where people are retired and maybe they are living paycheck to paycheck, be able to come in. So we, even though we call the people that come through our door our members and quotes, they are not paying a fee. Now there's a little caveat to that. We do offer trips, large trips, places like Shipshawana, Meyer Gardens will charge for that. But within reason, we try not to make money off that. We have occasional events such as chili cook-offs and things, might be a $5 charge. We really work hard to make sure that if we do have to charge something, that is something that most people will be able to afford. Now, going with your question, Marshall, on how does that look for our budget? We just like any nonprofit, we want to make sure that we have that diversified funding. We have a couple of angel donors that started us out that have helped greatly fund us for the first few years. The community foundation has been extremely generous and we received two matching grants in the past two years. Also, our members who are able to donate and feel that they want to do that also donate to us, whether it's monthly or per year. And then last but not least, we have some wonderful community partners who do sponsorships and things to help us out. Uh, we do run on a very tight budget. We're fortunate enough because part of what makes us successful, as Kevin alluded to, is our volunteers. We have over 200 volunteers, over 100 community partners. So that really makes it so our staffing and costs can be very low. And then on top of it, the use of the space at Trinity allows us also to have a very low cost.

Kevin Deary

So let's learn about Maggie. So tell us where you're from. Tell us a little bit about your journey.

Maggie Okponobi

Thank you, Kevin. Yes, many of you know me as Maggie. I'm originally from East Lansing, Michigan. I now reside here in Goshen with my amazing husband, Michael, and my 16-year-old stepson. What else about me? As I mentioned, I'm a former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer serving overseas that plays a very large role in who I am today. Service, a service mindset is important to me. Giving back is important to me. And it's something that was instilled in me at a young age and something that I value, giving back how I can, because so many people give back to me. My free time, if you know me, you know I love to bake. So I do enjoy feeding people, baking, cooking, sharing food with others. Like I admire Marshall because he always gets to go to the good spots. That's a big part in being outside. I enjoy riding my bike, being active, and

Peace Corps Service And Hard Lessons

Speaker

of course, traveling. So you'll find me doing one of those things on my free time.

Kevin Deary

So tell us about your Peace Corps journey. Where did it take you? What was the preparation for that? Because it's a multi-two-year commitment.

Maggie Okponobi

Two and a half year commitment.

Kevin Deary

Tell us about that.

Maggie Okponobi

Many people don't even know what the Peace Corps is, or they've just heard of the name. It started 60 years ago as a way for people in the United States to give back to other cultures and then learn about their culture and bring it back here. Everyone's service is different, just as any organization, it grows. It's federally funded. Um, at the time when I served, I had a year and a half application process, extremely rigorous, which is funny because you think you're volunteering. Why wouldn't I be able to get in? And at the time, they chose where you go. I did not have that option. So it's fun, you get this envelope in the mail and it tells you where you're going, and it said the Gambia. And I had this look on my face, like, where in the world is that? Even as a teacher, I wasn't quite sure. So that is a small country in West Africa in the middle of Senegal. And I had your typical stereotypical Peace Corps service where no running water, no electricity, living in a mud hut in a village. And I used my teaching skills to work with the community over there.

Kevin Deary

What was that like? Tell me about the village and the culture of that rural. It's very, I'm gonna guess it's very rural.

Maggie Okponobi

Very rural. The country is 95% Muslim, but known as the most religiously tolerant country in the world. Very accepting people, humble, humble people. I was always incredibly impressed by being an American and people knew, you know, they could look at me and know and think that I have money, and they have hardly anything. And they would take their last cup of coffee, their last piece of meat, and make sure that I had it and offered it to me. Just accepting incredibly hardworking individuals. It's a hard life. And don't get me wrong, it was hard to be there without those American pieces. What got me through was thinking, people do this for their entire lives. And if I can't do it for two and a half years, shame on me. That was my own personal mentality. With that mindset, that helped me get through the tough times and making those lasting relationships and seeing those different cultures and learning. I try to remember that every day and everything that I do here and how fortunate we are.

Kevin Deary

So really, you had a chance to live a small part of Mother Teresa's life.

Maggie Okponobi

Very small.

Kevin Deary

Um just just being for the people with the people. Absolutely. And you were a teacher there.

Maggie Okponobi

Absolutely, yes.

Kevin Deary

For two and a half years.

Maggie Okponobi

Two and a half years.

Kevin Deary

Yeah. Any stories from that? Oh my goodness.

Maggie Okponobi

The stories I could tell you.

Kevin Deary

Pick one.

Maggie Okponobi

Yeah. I I'm trying to think which one did to tell you. So my very favorite story is there was someone who called the Acalo, which was the head of the village. Think of your mayor. And he called me down one day. And I'm thinking, oh my goodness, what did I do wrong? I'm getting called to the principal's office. And it's this little sweet old man. And through translation, he said, I want a school in this village. Well, I had been living there for a year, riding my beautiful truck bike that the Peace Corps had provided to me to a different village to teach the village I was living in did not have a school. And I was excited because what a great opportunity, but I didn't know what to do. I didn't have money. I didn't have resources. We did it. He donated a building with my village. They came out. We put a wall up in the building and put made it to be two classrooms. But Kevin, we're talking making mud bricks by hand. We're talking building a pit latrine with a shovel in 110 degree weather. The village came out and they did it with me. My counterpart and I rode his motorcycle around town and took a census. I went to the government and pleaded for money and pleaded for this to be a school. We didn't know if it was going to work. We just kept moving forward. One day, the sweet man walks up to me and he's got this piece of paper and he looked all starry-eyed and he goes, Dobankunda, Lower Basic School. And it took me a second, and the village I lived in was in Dobankunda. And without telling me, the country had decided to make us an official school. We didn't even have the school built yet. And he was ready to teach. A few months later, uh, UNICEF contacted me and said they have an ability to build a school, an actual official building. Villagers came together and donated their land. Now we're talking third world country where people can barely eat. And they donated their land to me and we put the school on it, and now it's still up and running after 10 years.

Kevin Deary

Man, what a what a legacy. You should present at the owls.

Maggie Okponobi

They keep telling me that. They keep telling me that.

Senior Challenges And Staying Connected

Kevin Deary

When you let's go back to out of Gambian and obviously the the you've got some challenges, but what happens when you outgrow Trinity? Where do you go?

Maggie Okponobi

That is a great question. And a lot of people are asking this question. When we're growing so quickly, what does that look like? Thankfully, right now with the size of the building, three classrooms, a big what we call youth room, and other spaces, if we're strategic enough in our planning, we could have a lot of classes going on at once. And if a class is an hour, we're we're doing pretty good. We're also so lucky to have this community that we have that opens up their doors and allows us to have off-campus classes. So everything from we just did archery at Elkhart Parks at Expo recently, we walk at Wellfield, we do all kinds of different things. So then that allows us then again to expand outside of our doors without having to grow.

Marshall King

So we've asked other guests on this podcast, you know, what are the challenges facing this community of people with which you work? Whether that's folks with mental health challenges or hunger. As you're working alongside all of these older folks from our community, what are what are you seeing their challenge them facing as challenges?

Maggie Okponobi

Great question, Marshall. It can be as simple as losing a spouse. That's incredibly hard. Oftentimes, this generation have been married 50, 60 years. They don't know life without their spouse. That can be that's a huge challenge. Uh certainly not everybody's Maggie. I'm very extroverted. Not everybody's that way. It can be scary to put your pants on and get that gumption to get out of the house and walk into this building for the first time that you don't know. That can be scary. That can be a barrier. We had someone, and I'll completely keep their name out of here, who came in the other day and said, they don't have any friends. I happen to be standing up there talking to the host, and the host and I just almost went white. This poor person does not have any friends. And my host said, Give me their name and their address. I'm gonna send them a card right now. Because the host was just crushed. That that could be many, so many, many barriers of what is happening and why people need or come to Owl's Club.

Kevin Deary

And that just feeds right back to the loneliness.

Maggie Okponobi

Absolutely.

Kevin Deary

So not only losing a spouse, but losing your peer group. Yes. Because we're all getting older. And but how wonderful that you have a place to go where they can connect. It's funny the correlation to boys and girls could you talk about because you know children. Children will often say, I don't know anybody, I'm new to the community. Yes. I come from a different country. And I don't maybe I don't speak the language. Yes. And they're trying to connect. And so it doesn't matter whether you're a senior or whether you're young in elementary school or even in high school, you know, loneliness and feeling isolated is is a challenge for all. And having those centers, you know, this is something that even Marshall and I briefly talked about today at a meeting about how wonderful AI is, but without compassion and human touch, it it can be and it can be empty. So it's a great tool to be used, but it it can't hug you.

Maggie Okponobi

Exactly.

Kevin Deary

So it can't make it can't give you that the human touch. So it got me thinking is listening to you talk about how do the owls reach out to shut-ins who can't get there. How do you is there any thoughts on strategies to reach out to shut-ins?

Maggie Okponobi

That is a great question and something we're working on right now. I have two answers for that. The first one is an incredible program that just started called Owls Connect. This is a program started by volunteers and run by volunteers. The idea is to think of it as like a tree or a meal train. If someone, one of our members gets sick, for example, they'll call that member and check on them. They might send a card, drop off a meal. But that goes also with our shut-ins. Maybe someone is in rehab now or they have an injury, maybe some whatever the life skill, maybe they don't have a car and they're at home. Owls Connect will do what they can to maybe visit, stop by and play a game of rummy, drop off a meal, a cup of coffee. So that's one way. The other way is that is part of my goal right now is to we're thinking about and looking at this idea of using that technology you were talking about and offering some of online classes. Whether that's a class that we just put, you know, a Zoom camera in the classroom, or a teacher wants to teach an online class. It could be something as simple as, you know, giving someone a Zoom login or even having it live streamed. That's something we're looking at and thinking about those people who have those barriers and we still need to try to meet them halfway.

Kevin Deary

Technology and seniors. Oh, that's a question. We joke a lot about here. I am probably the least technology savvy here. I get by. But think about the the seniors who struggle with I mean, AI is just just must be overwhelming. But just the fact of learning how to use computers, how to access banking, and they're so used to going to the bank. And how has technology and seniors, how do you find that's integrated?

Maggie Okponobi

That is a great question, Kevin, and tricky. We find that we have to be flexible and diverse. We have members like my board chair who knows technology better than I do. Incredible, incredible. And then you have people who don't even have a cell phone. So you have to meet the members where they are. So we have everything from an online program where members can register for classes and check in. So if you know some technology, you can use that. But the members who struggle with that or that may give them anxiety, we print off our calendars, we print off a lot of our materials, and then we even have what we call a registration hotline. So they just pick up the phone, call and leave a message and say, I would like you to please sign me up for card making on Thursday. Here's my name. So it is always a balance of making sure that we're hitting all the different levels of technology. And then in addition, we offer classes. We've offered some classes around AI. And then twice a month, we offer a tech support class where members can come in and say, I help. I don't understand this app or help me with my email. Um, so however we can diversify and support those needs, we do the best we can.

Marshall King

I've often joked that I I kind of want to start an IT support company for and market it to you for your parents. Yes. Because offering that IT support for family members is valuable, but also hard.

Maggie Okponobi

Absolutely.

Marshall King

So, and there's a local internet service provider that one of their staff members is at Greencroft. His job is to serve the Greencroft residents. Love it on the technology front as part of their business model.

Maggie Okponobi

Love

Volunteers Leadership And How To Join

Speaker 1

it.

Marshall King

You've mentioned the teachers a couple of times teaching these classes and others. Are are do you are they volunteers? Do you pay them? Where you mentioned some of their topics. Where all do they come from?

Maggie Okponobi

Yes. And let's talk about that as we hit upon our volunteers. Is what another piece that makes OWLS unique is our volunteers. We have our youngest volunteer, 15 years old, my oldest volunteer in their 90s. Anybody can volunteer. We can always find something for someone to do. But that's a piece that we're finding with our seniors is that value that they can bring. Everybody has something to share. Everyone has a talent. Everybody can give back. People find value in volunteering, but there's multiple reasons why they do it. Some people feel like they need to do that. Some people love to do it. Maybe they're a former teacher. Whatever, whatever the reason we're so thankful. Some people do it because they say I can't afford to, you know, pay a membership fee, but because it's free, that's my way of giving back and thanking you for that. Our volunteers do everything from walking in for a half an hour and helping me clean out a closet to coming up with lesson plans and teaching and everything in between. Some of the classes that our members teach, oh my goodness, from line dancing to history classes, art classes, mahjong is a very popular one right now, poetry. I don't know that I've ever said no to a member that has come in and said, I want to teach this. I often laugh that some of my members will say, Okay, I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try this one class. And then they teach it and they say, Okay, I'm good. I'm good. And then a week later, they're going, okay, wait, I got another idea. And so I love that they felt comfortable, they felt that success, and they want to come back and share more.

Kevin Deary

You know, Maggie, the community foundation, we host uh CEO roundtables. Yes. You you when you first came in, you joined one of our roundtables, and you have quickly become one of the favorites of the round table, your round table, which is pretty you have a fun round table.

Maggie Okponobi

I do have a fun round table.

Kevin Deary

You guys have a lot of fun, but you also rely on each other, you learn from each other. And can you talk a little bit about what what you've taken away from the round tables and because you're you know you're in your year three now, right? Going to year four. So you're you're still learning. Oh, absolutely. So tell me what you've learned and then what how has the CEO roundtable helped you?

Maggie Okponobi

If anyone listening on this podcast is a CEO and not on a round table, please get on one. They're incredible. CEO roundtapers are, as you mentioned, Kevin, a group of CEOs and EDs in the area that get together once a month, and it's the same cohort, same group. These people become your family. They become your safety net. They become your sounding board. It's a place where we can come in and share laughs, but we can share struggles, we can share embarrassments, and we can ask for advice from each other and feel and know that this is a safe place to share and learn. My particular round table has people who have been in this role for 20 years and have so much experience to share with us, and I just soak it up. And then beyond that, I take the time to go out to a cup of coffee or lunch with each one of them as I can, just to build and continue to build that community and soak up all of their knowledge that I can take and grow from.

Kevin Deary

One of the things I've been impressed with is because of the round table, you've also joined a board and became a mentor to even a younger or newer, I should say newer executive director. And tell me how that has been being on the board side and how it's helped you with the being your own executive director.

Maggie Okponobi

Yes, something that I find sitting on. When I first started sitting on boards, I had not been an executive director. I didn't have anybody who taught me how to be on a board. Uh so I would just go to meetings and give my input and leave and kind of flailing. Now being an executive director and being in the CEO roundtable has taught me so much so that I can be a strong board member and give that back. You are correct. I have had such a pleasure of mentoring a young girl who started her own nonprofit. What a blessing to be a part of her journey, to take my knowledge that I'm learning and share it with her. And what's really exciting is to seeing her growth. When I take something I've learned and implemented it, and then I share it with her and I see her doing it and being successful and seeing that joy in her is incredible. That I've learned from a mentor, and now I get to be a mentor and share that.

Kevin Deary

And so over your lifetime, who have been your mentors?

Maggie Okponobi

That's a great question, Kevin. And I've been thinking a lot about this, and I have been beyond lucky. I could list off a hundred people who have been a mentor to me. I'm lucky that in life that people have taken me under their wing throughout. And probably some of it's because I've seek mentors, I seek support, and I seek those. I'm looking at one of my mentors right now, Kevin. Kevin is an incredible mentor. My Owls Club board has been so wonderful to me and mentoring me, especially at the beginning when I really needed that support. Cheesy but true, my husband. He is my rock and my better half. I could just continue. I would say if I looked back at every one of my jobs, there was someone who helped me along the way.

Marshall King

Who what's one of the biggest lessons that you've learned from one of the older folks in this in this Al's network that you're enmeshed in?

Maggie Okponobi

Grace, kindness, and just don't sweat the small stuff. Just enjoy everybody for what they are, finding joy in each person that you meet along the way and give them that time. Take a few minutes and know that they have something to offer you.

Kevin Deary

If somebody wanted to join, if they're listening now, they wanted to join the owls, they could do that by they could do it online. Correct. And what's the site that they would connect with?

Maggie Okponobi

Yep, you can go to our owls club website at owlsclub.org. And there is a membership section on that page. Very quick little information. You can do that. Or if you don't feel comfortable with technology, feel free to come into Trinity on Jackson. You're gonna go to the back door to door number 12. When you're let in, you just let the host know and they can give you a simple paper application.

Kevin Deary

And is that Monday through Friday?

Maggie Okponobi

Great question. Monday through Friday. I'm gonna say generally nine to three are our open hours. Owls is a lockdown facility, so we have to make sure that we buzz you to let you in.

Kevin Deary

Okay. And there's no evening classes.

Speaker

Good question. On Mondays and Thursdays, we do now offer some evening classes. We're trying to meet those people who are still working. Yeah, see, you can come in and do some activities. And then often on Fridays, we do larger events such as a murder mystery we've done, a tea. I mentioned the chili cook-off, things like that.

Kevin Deary

Good. Well, it has been a pleasure having you on today. Marshall always has the privilege of asking the last question. It's one of my favorites. So thank you for being here today.

Marshall King

Thank you, Kevin. Maggie, thanks for the good work you're doing in our community with the older folks among us. It's been delightful to have you.

Maggie Okponobi

Thank you.

Marshall King

What gives you hope?

Maggie Okponobi

You know, Marshall, I'm laughing because every time I listen to your podcast and I hear that question, I'm amazed by people's responses. I was stressed about what my answer was going to be. But my hope is the Owls Club is showing our community that our seniors exist and are worth paying attention to.org.

Marshall King

You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We hope you're inspired and inspire good in your community.