The former CEO of Kuni Automotive Greg Goodwin met his wife, Michele, in 1978 when he was working as a sales rep at a credit bureau and she was an X-ray technician in Salinas, Calif.
“This is a true story. I called her up and I said, ‘So, I’m feeling optimistic today,’ and I asked her to go out with me. … She said yes,” he said. “When we started, we didn’t have much, but what we did have was an almost irrational optimistic view of the future.”
On Tuesday, the Goodwins were recognized as the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington’s 2017 Philanthropists of the Year during a luncheon at the Hilton Vancouver Washington. The couple described themselves as “optimistic philanthropists” who hold a positive view of humanity and believe that good things are always possible.
“Even in the face of extreme poverty or hopelessness, creative, generous people — like all of you sitting in this room — can pool resources and bring about positive change,” Greg Goodwin said, referring to the crowd gathered in the hotel’s ballroom. More than 600 people attended the event.
Greg Goodwin is an honorary adviser for the Wayne D. Kuni and Joan E. Kuni Foundation, one of Southwest Washington’s largest private charitable foundations, that recently created a $50 million fund for cancer and other medical research and to enhance the lives of developmentally disabled adults. The foundation was the largest shareholder of Kuni Automotive.
“I feel as if we’re sharing this award with Wayne and Joan because without them and their amazing generosity we wouldn’t be standing here,” Greg Goodwin said.
When he took over as CEO, the company grew and its success bolstered the foundation, said Laura Carlisle, who was the chief financial officer for Kuni Automotive. After the company was acquired by Holman Automotive a year ago, 50 percent of the sale went into the foundation. Greg Goodwin is now executive vice president and senior adviser for Holman.
“Greg and Michele Goodwin are, in a word, thoughtful. This word encompasses both their knack for being strategic and also their genuine care for others,” said Carlisle, Holman Automotive’s CFO. “They know what is needed, when it’s needed and especially how to get others on board.”
Michele Goodwin helps with a weekly horticulture therapy program at Stephen’s Place, an assisted-living facility for people with developmental disabilities. She can also be found helping out at the Unity Center for Behavioral Health or Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center, or mentoring a child through Friends of the Children.
Michele Goodwin said that the Community Foundation asked them to talk about why they give.
“The more we thought about it, the more I began to conceive of philanthropy not so much in terms of what a person does but more in terms of where a person’s heart is. But what is it that fuels that impulse towards giving? Where does it come from?” she said.
For the Goodwins, inspiration comes from the examples set by people they’ve met since moving to this area 18 years ago, such as the Kunis. It also has to do with gratitude, Michele Goodwin said.
Giving Out Loud
The Community Foundation recently launched a project called Giving Out Loud, through which they’re collecting stories of philanthropy. Some were shared at the luncheon.
In a video, Blake Scott talked about printing out jokes and leaving them on a joke board at a Ronald McDonald House in Portland, where families stay while their child is in the hospital.
“These families, they’re going through such horrible things that it’s just a bright spot in their day I guess to come down and see the joke board,” Scott said.
He said a little girl staying there wrote and put up her own jokes that made “absolutely no sense.” (What do you call a tiger with glasses? A scientist tiger.)
“It was great to see she liked the joke board enough to put up her own jokes,” Scott said.
In another video, Tyler Close talked about the example set by his grandfather, who thought a community was only as good as the people in it. Years after his grandfather passed away, Close got a job at the state Department of Social and Health Services and then began volunteering at Share. His grandfather used to be a board member. Close said he gets a natural high from helping others.
Rafik Fouad, who volunteers with YWCA’s Independent Living Skills Program, said at the luncheon that his parents set a good example for him by helping families whenever they could, and his parents were relentlessly supportive.
“My parents would constantly tell me I could achieve whatever I wanted,” Fouad said. “This privilege, this blessing, this luck — whatever you want to call it — is something I did not earn. It’s something I was born into, and I am so grateful for that. What breaks my heart is that it turns out not everybody is given this permission to dream.”
That unfairness is what inspired him to help children in the foster care system, and make sure their dreams aren’t diminished. He said he’s seen youth transform when given opportunity and support.
“By doing good for others, I know good things happen for me. So, it’s really a selfish selflessness,” Fouad said.
Grace Andrews talked about after-school programs she took part in as a child and how they got her interested in technology and coding. Throughout her young adulthood, she said, she doubted whether she was good at anything having to do with science, technology or mathematics. She’s now a board member with iUrban Teen and volunteers with Women Who Code, nonprofits that inspire people to pursue careers in technology.
“I think it’s vital for people to see folks who look like them doing things that they’ve been told they could never do,” Andrews said.
The Community Foundation continues accepting submissions for Giving Out Loud, which can come from people on the giving or receiving end of philanthropy.
The Columbian is a media sponsor of the Community Foundation’s luncheon.
