Building Bright Futures In Morgan County

She’s been in the mayor’s chair, stared down tough budgets, and made decisions that cost her sleep. Now Shannon is putting that same leadership into something even more personal: making sure kids in Morgan County Indiana have a safe place to go after school and a real shot at a brighter future.

We talk about how Shannon ended up in Morgan County, what pulled her into public service, and how the I-69 era forced big change for Martinsville. Then the conversation turns honest and human: a breast cancer diagnosis while in office, stepping away to focus on healing, and the grief that reshaped her purpose after losing her son. That road leads her to the Boys and Girls Club of Morgan County, where the mission shows up every afternoon in snack time, homework help, movement in the gym, mentoring, and routines that keep kids steady.

Shannon also explains what most people don’t see behind the scenes of a nonprofit youth development organization: partnerships with Mooresville schools for transportation, support from organizations like Adult and Child, and donors who keep programs like STEM and field trips possible. We dig into the hard realities too, including enrollment pressure, staffing limits, and why the Club is implementing a monthly programming fee after decades of charging only $20 a year.

If you care about after-school programs, community partnerships, workforce development, and what it takes to invest in kids, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share it with a Morgan County friend, and leave a review to help more neighbors find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Snapshot

SPEAKER_02 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Tim Serber.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hey, welcome again, everybody, to the Good Neighbors Podcast. I'm Tim Serber, your your host. And this is the show that puts a spotlight on people, businesses, and stories that make Morgan County just a great place to live and work. And today's guest fits that description just perfectly. As everyone knows, uh it's a privilege to have people on here, but this woman just has a history with this with this city and everything. And I'm just excited she's on here. She used to be the mayor of Martinsville, the CEO now, currently uh and executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Morgan County. And just a few weeks ago, she became a new appointee for Governor Braun to serve at the state level. So, you know, she spent her career in service to our community, first to the city, now to the kids and families of this county, and now to the state of Ant, Indiana. So, Shannon, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Thank you. Thank you, Tim, for that gracious introduction. I'm really excited to talk to you. It's been a while since I've seen you.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Yeah, it has been, and I am excited to have you on here. I wish we would have got you on the cover of the magazine, but we never got that done.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

That's okay. Had some kind of personal things happen that I think I just wasn't ready to do that yet. So, but now things are good and good. And uh, they're better. So, yeah.

Putting Down Roots In Morgan County

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Well, you know, I I have a hard time imagining. There's not uh a lot of folks that don't know who you are, but why don't you tell us a little bit about you, where you grew up, how you ended up putting roots here in Morgan County.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Sure. Well, I originally moved here from Avon when I was nine. Um, and my family had bought some uh log cabin and some property out on Woe Road. So I grew up there until I was in high school, and then um I went to work for Dr. Tavill for a while, and then I had I was dating Brian, my husband, uh current husband now, my husband, Brian. Um, and we just decided that we were gonna get married and decided we wanted to stay in Martinsville. I was actually living in India at the time, and he had just got home from college and he was living in Vincennes. Um, so uh we decided that we would we wanted to raise our kids here. We both love Martinsville, and um I'm glad that we did. So we're still here. Uh and that's been gosh, we just celebrated our 37th anniversary. So it's been a while. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

That is awesome. I love hearing you don't hear long-term marriages much anymore.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

So it's it's not as common as it used to be, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

So that's for

From City Council To Mayor

SPEAKER_00 2:45

sure. Now you you have had one remarkable career, you know, from serving as mayor of Martinsville to your current role as the as the director and and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club. You know, what puts you towards this kind of work? What pulls you that way?

SPEAKER_01 3:01

Well, I think when I was a when I was when I decided to run for mayor, I was on the city council. I had sold real estate before that for like 16 years, I think, was total. And and I also worked in the school system when my kids were growing up. And I just um I just loved, I just love this community. I just love the people here. I I just love that I got to raise my kids here and I just wanted to keep giving back and making my community a better place. So I decided to run for uh, well, I I got on city council and then I decided to run for mayor because I just felt like, you know, we just need a change. And I felt like change was coming with I-69, um, no matter what. So I knew that we needed to get the best we could out of that. And so it worked out because um I ended up having really good relationships uh with the state level at the time. So Martinsville came out pretty well with that, but it was mostly just because I wanted to do more for my community. And I felt like, you know, I really didn't feel like I could complain about anything if I didn't want to try to fix it. So that's how I became mayor.

Cancer, Loss, And A New Mission

SPEAKER_01 4:16

And um here at the Boys and Girls Club, you know, I kind of had been through a rough few years. I got breast cancer when I was actually in office, um, opted out of running for mayor because I had a couple of reasons. Um, one, I didn't, when you find out you have cancer, you don't know um what your stage is for several weeks. And I had just found out at the end of January, first of February, in between that, and I just remember thinking, I don't want to be a mayor that has to step down because she's too sick. And I feel like the city, the city deserves to choose their mayor. And if I would leave term, it would be they would be caucused in. So I just decided that the best thing for myself was to get well, and for the city was to let them continue, you know, with the work we were doing and just and kind of let it go. And and I had I had confidence that, you know, the things that we had put in place and planned for would continue after I had left. We had already gotten all 69 was basically finished. So the only thing was was the construction. So um, but I just I love serving. And then when, you know, my son, I know you probably know my son passed away two and a half years ago, and I was going through a really hard time then because my sister had also two weeks later moved to Japan. So I just remember thinking I didn't want Zach's life to be in vain, and it wasn't, but I wanted it to matter, even though to us it did, I wanted something good. So because of him, I decided to look into the Boys and Girls Club after my friend Shane had talked to me a little bit about it. And so now I just I really want to see these kids grow up and I want to see um I want to see them succeed. I don't want I don't want I want to put them on the right path to where they will be able to get a job and support themselves. And we are absolutely making bright futures here for kids, and I just feel like it's still it is still serving. And um, I love that about about that because it's just it's really it's really cool to see the kids um oh yeah a year later or two years later, you know. I mean it's just it's amazing how much they change and it's really filled my heart since you know that happened. I feel like my heart is full again. So it's I just love it here.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

So kids can really give you purpose, can't they?

SPEAKER_01 6:49

They do, they do, and you know, and another thing too, it's like it's up to us to make sure that these kids have the chance to have a good future and to have live in a country that is, you know, uh uh prosperous, for them to be able to have a good living and be um contributing members of society. So yeah.

What Kids Experience After School

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Well, you know, for our listeners who've never been inside of the club, you know, walk us through what a typical day looks like for a child who walks through the door, what happens between when they arrive and when they go home.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Okay. So when they first get here, they they check in at the front desk. We have a really good security system that, you know, they check in and we actually keep, you know, we keep track of who picks them up. We they have to show ID and stuff. So it's very safe here for the kids. Um, when they first get here, they go to their group and we have three groups. One is the littles, which is um kindergarten through third grade, the middles are fourth grade um through sixth, and then the teens are seventh grade on up to freshmen or I mean up to 18. So we have three groups and we keep them busy. So they walk in, they come in and they get a snack and they go sit with their group. And um we do a triple play, which is mind, body, and soul. So we actually have um time where they they get like to to exercise. So we have a full half gym for them to play and we have games all scheduled for them. So they're moving the whole time. They're not just they don't just come in here and sit down and do nothing. I mean, we keep them busy. We also uh provide homework help. So we have a licensed teacher on staff that helps the kids with homework. And some of the great things about the club is, you know, the outcomes of that. We have um uh, you know, BGCA, Boys and Girls Club of America, they heavily are into education. They want to keep these kids to where their mind is, it doesn't stop. Like, you know, we have a summer program, they worry about the summer slide. We have, we keep them, we have summer brain game. We we just keep that going because you know, it's just so hard. And and I think it's like 92% of the kids that come to the club actually end up passing or graduating because of our scholars program, which is our our homework help and all of that. So um we really invest a lot in the kids. So we do homework help, we do uh exercise of body, we provide them every day with a healthy snack. Um, and we also do some um team ment, some team mentoring with them. So we, you know, we also do some crafts and things like that. But it's here, we they get here about 3, 15, and we close at 7. So it is a quick four hours that go, it just goes by so quickly.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

So um, so we're really blessed to have the staff that we have that you know makes these things happen for our kiddos.

Partnerships That Power The Programs

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Yeah, and and you built partnerships with the organizations like the apartment, uh like the adult and child care uh or health, uh newbie memorial elementary. Yes. I don't know where that one is, and the Kendrick Foundation. So talk to us about the role partnerships play and what the club is able to deliver to the Morgan County kids and families.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Well, so Kendrick Foundation has been with us since I pretty much the beginning. So um we rely on them for some funding for our programs um to be able to afford some of the programs um that we get them, give them. We do a lot of STEM work and things like that. So SARA programs, it's not cheap to do that stuff. So any little bit helps and they they do help us with that. Um we also uh work with adult and child because we have uh we always have someone from there here on staff um just to help the kids if they're having a bad day or if they're like there's some family issues that you know maybe we need to be aware of that might explain maybe a behavior. So um they are really good partners with us as well. And then we have Newbie Elementary is like that's one of the Mooresville schools. We have such a great partnership with Mooresville schools. Um, Dr. Allen has been so good to us. Um, we have the assistant principal or assistant superintendent uh Patrick Biggers staff also sits on our board. So they also provide transportation from the school. We we give transportation as well, but for the schools, they send a couple buses here full of kids every day. And that's a wonderful partnership for us to have. So we've been really lucky in in that aspect of having good partnerships. We also have partnershipped a little bit more with the parks, park and uh parks and recreation up here. Um, so it's really neat because like when we have a field trip or we need something, we have somebody that we can call, you know, and make plans with or to help us, you know, figure out a way to make it happen if it's if it doesn't seem like it's gonna happen. And it always ends up happening. So um we're really blessed with the partnerships that we have and just the community in general, and and not just Mooresville, but you know, Morgan County. There's a lot of people that just live in Morgan County all over that are very helpful to us that we could not make this happen if we didn't have those partnerships. So we're very blessed, very fortunate.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Well,

Demand, Enrollment Limits, And Pricing

SPEAKER_00 12:25

that is awesome. And and how many kids come there on a daily basis, would you say?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

So we have that come through our doors about a hundred kids, and we have about 300 members on our record. Um, we're doing a couple things a little bit different next year during the school year, but um, we actually um we have quite a few, and we've had so many that we really have had to stop our enrollment because we can't afford to hire more staff for them at this moment. But so, and that's a good problem to have, but it's a problem nonetheless because we don't want to turn kids away. We want them to be able to come here, but you know, sometimes we just have to, you know, yeah, make those sacrifices.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Well, and is there a is there a cost for the kids to be there?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Well, for the last 20 years, we have been blessed to only charge them $20 for the whole year. But with the cost of inflation, um, you know, we just can't afford that anymore. So we're implementing a um costs for um a programming fee we're implementing in this coming next school year, not the summer, but the school year, where it'll be $20 a month for each kid. But if you have two kids, then it'd be $40 a month. But if you have three kids, it's only $40 a month. It doesn't go up higher than $40 a month. But those things um will help us like pay for for our operations, also um our facility we did buy our building in 2024. So now we have that added. So um, I mean, it's not that much. We hated to do it, but we just couldn't see how we could keep going without doing it.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yeah, yeah. And that covers the snack and everything, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah, oh yeah, everything. And even the field trips that we provide, most of those are free. Um, we do all kinds of things with the kids. We do teen dinners, all of that's free. Um, we do rewards for the kids in the scholars' room for like donuts. If you get like if you're up there 10 times, you get donuts. You get pizza if you're up there like 25 times. I mean, it's just we just incentivize the kids and um you know, we want to we have to have money to do that. So um we're just to that point. So so we're we're excited and hope hoping that that allows us to be able to accept more kids because we'll have the money to pay more staff. So it's um we're really hopeful that that that is gonna be where we end up.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

And you know, I I assume you have uh quite a bit of local business that helps you if you want to shout out their names now and give them a do that.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Yeah, yeah. We do actually. Um Capital Adhesives is a really good partner with us. Um Sunco Construction is a really they've helped us when we've had problems. Um uh all I can't really think of of them off the top of my head. I just wasn't thinking about this today, but you know, um just the restaurants around here, they're really good to give us things for the kids. I'm we just it there's just so many. Um, Toa has been really good to us. We're getting a relationship built back with them. Um just and we have we have wonderful people, maybe just not even connected to a business, but wonderful people who will just come in and say, Hey, I had some extra money, I want to donate it to the club. And we're just like, that is awesome. So yeah, there are a lot of people like that, and we're very grateful to them because we couldn't, we wouldn't be here without our donors. We depend on donations because grants are far and few between. So our donations, we really we really appreciate and count on. So um, if anybody ever wants to give to the club or just come in and see the club, just let me know. I'll take you through it. Um, I can give you more information if you are interested in volunteering at the club. We can definitely find a place for you there as well. So nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Well,

Leadership Lessons Across Two Worlds

SPEAKER_00 16:31

I I hate to leave this subject, but we're gonna go to your leadership and mayor of uh and to CEO. So uh you've had a really cool uh background and and path. You led at the city level as mayor and now not-for-profit as CEO. What's the difference between leading a mission-driven organization compared to leading a city and what stays the same?

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Um, I actually think it's it's a lot of the same. Like I was telling somebody the other day, um, I probably wouldn't have been able to come in here and do the things that were needed when I first got here without having the knowledge that I learned from running the city and doing budgets and you know, making budget cuts and you know, being able to grow cash, grow um knowing how to do that. I I if I if I didn't have that experience, I don't think I would have been as successful so far here. Um, because in my role, we had a budget here, but it was like one page, six lines. Well, I I re rewrote the whole budget. It's like 30 pages now, but it details every single thing that we have spent money on in the year prior. So that helps us see like, okay, what can we not spend? Um, so that, and then we've had to do some restructuring because of uh grants that are that are no longer available to us that paid for positions. And so I was able to do that. I did the same thing at the city because we had too many employees and um not enough money coming in. So all of that kind of uh reiterated what I learned there as played a really important role here. I've already had to make a couple of really tough decisions. I had to make numerous tough decisions when I was in office, some that I felt like were just unfair, but nevertheless, they had to be made and they weren't easy. And I lost a lot of sleep. I cried a lot of nights. Same thing here. I mean, we it's it's really not that much different. It's smaller, my budget's smaller. Um, and I used to I tease Brian and I tell Brian all the time, I said, one of these days I'm gonna get a job where I just walk in and they say, You have a plethora of money, you can do whatever you want. That's what I keep thinking is gonna happen someday. Yeah, but you know, so I'm I feel like my strong suit really is fixing problems, especially fine finances-wise, and just knowing the ins and outs of how things affect people, you know, take that into consideration. Um, so I feel like that's really been like they've kind of all worked together. When I sold real estate, I couldn't believe when I became on city council mayor how much real estate knowledge added to that job and helped with that job. And then now this I feel the same thing. You know, this is like I feel it kind of works the same. And we're still serving. I mean, I I just feel I love serving people. I have a servant's heart. I feel like that is what I have, and and I'm really grateful. I'm so grateful that I've had the opportunities that I've had in life. And if it wasn't for the people in my community, I probably wouldn't have those.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

So it kind of all passion for it.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Yes, I love I love this. I I do. I I love it. It's just very rewarding and very when you can see the difference that you're making. And you know, the funny thing is you don't have to be a high elected official to make a big impact, is what I've learned this year. Yeah, you know, there it's almost I almost think you can make a better impact when you're in a position like mine after the fact. So um yeah, I just and I know I'm very fortunate and I'm very grateful for that. I don't ever take any of that for granted. I know I'm lucky and it was a privilege to serve as mayor. I still feel that way. Um, I feel the same way here. It's a privilege to be here, and it it may not always be here, so I want to do what I can while I'm here.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

So well, you're doing an awesome job, and you and you know, I've I don't mean it this way, but you know, I've seen you grow up in in in this community in a sense with your positions and your leadership. Thank you. And uh I think you've done a great job everywhere you went. So this really next question is kind of gonna kind of fit exactly with

Five Year Hopes, Fears, And How To Help

SPEAKER_00 20:53

that. You know, when you look out at the next three to five years for the club, for the kids you serve for Morgan County, you know, more broadly, what are you excited about and what are you most concerned about?

SPEAKER_01 21:06

I think my most concern is, and this is this is serious, what I think every day, not probably not every day, that's probably exaggeration, but what I think about that I worry about is what kind of world this our kids are that I have now are gonna be in in five years. You know, the with the temperature and the hatred that I see out there, um I worry that that's not gonna get any better. I'm hopeful that it is. I worry about that. I worry that, you know, they're not. I feel like when we were growing up, we were taught you work hard, you get things in life, you work for what you have. And I just remember that's just always been instilled in me. And I feel like that is probably not as instilled anymore because everybody just feels entitled. So my hope is that, you know, with the workforce development things and stuff that we do, that that turns that around for them. What I'm most excited about is I I I love seeing, I even still look and see some of my kids that I had in school. Um, I see where they're at. I love seeing where they go from here. Um, so that's exciting. Um I and I hope in five years we have a bigger place where we can get more kids and we are funded a little bit better than we are right now, but we're working on that. So that's what I'm that's my hope. That's in and my excitement, my fear all in one.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

So yeah, well, I tell you, that's awesome. And and how how do the um how do people get in touch with you? Where where's the boys girls and boys club at?

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Uh we're in Mooresville. Um, we are on 31 Indianapolis Road. I don't know if you know are familiar with where Lowe's is in Mooresville. If you turn like you're going to Lowe's and you just keep going and you come to the T, there's a stoplight and there's the Casey's gas station. You turn left and follow that road. We are right on the left right before you come around and get to the curve, right before you get to the curve. So we're right there. You're welcome to come in. Um, most of the time we are here from about we get here about 10. And um we actually um have a few hours before kids until the the week after next, then we're gonna have kids all day. But yeah, you can come, you can uh get on our website, you can call me at 765-341-0967 or text me. I'll be happy to give you a tour of our club. So, and you'll be amazed because I didn't realize all of the stuff the Boys and Girls Club did until I actually worked here, and it is unbelievable the amount of things that we do here. So you will be pleasantly surprised.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Well, I tell you what, uh, for them to have you as uh the CEO, and I think uh they're going to do very well under your leadership.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Thank you, Tim. That means a lot. I really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

So we we we're you're a shining light in the in the uh, if you will, of the Martinsville people. So thank you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Shannon, I want to thank you and honestly, the work you do for the club, what it means to this county, and for taking time to share with us today.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

So anytime. Yeah, always happy.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Good.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Well, thank you for letting us mean share what we do. So I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Well, I got some ideas and I'll be in touch with you. I guess maybe to help some more. So no problem.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

I'll be here.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

I'll be here. Everyone listening, if anything Shannon said today landed with you, head over there to the bgcmorgan.org, I believe is your website. Yes, learn more, give if you can. And if you're a Morgan County business owner, partnership matters. You heard her say yes, it does really thank you. So that's gonna do it for our episode today, folks, on Good Neighbors Podcast. Thanks for spending time with us. Thanks for caring about Morgan County. And we'll see you next time right here on the Good Neighbors Podcast, Morgan County. Take care, Morgan County.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to gnpmorgancounty.com. That's gnpmorgancounty.com or call three one seven seven four three two two eight five eight.