Fran Lowder
Fran is the appointed President of For Our Town Gilbert, an organization that brings together the leaders of government, education, faiths, businesses, charities and more to focus on the community social uplifting needs like domestic violence elimination, mental health awareness-improvement, hunger, shelter, and many more. While this organization existed before she was asked to lead, it rarely had an impact on the town. During the first year of service the group grew For Our Town quarterly breakfast to over 100 participants, a food drive that has collected over 500K lbs of food; and thousands of school supplies.
She and her sweetheart of 36 years have 4 children (1 girl and 3 boys) and she has taught them the value of service and giving. She has one grandson with a granddaughter on the the way.
Before leading For Our Town, Fran helped to bring the JustServe initiative to Arizona. JustServe is a website that connects volunteers with non-profits to bring help to the heroes that lead these charities. JustServe.com She focused on Gilbert, the east valley of Phoenix to start. The initiative and website had zero volunteers and zero non-profits, and this was one of the first 5 cities to implement JustServe. She plowed the ground for future success and when she handed over the reins of the website/app it had thousands of volunteers and almost every charity in the area using it as their default volunteer connection site. You can now find JustServe in almost every city in the USA and in many other countries.
You’d think she didn’t have time for anything else, but she also is the co-Director of the Arizona Light the World GIVING MACHINES with her husband Steve. What is a Giving Machine? Well, they are vending machines that allow you to give to those in need by buying items for charities that are loaded in the machines. She manages the city leaders for seven cities in Arizona (Glendale, Gilbert, Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott, Gila Valley, and Snowflake). Each city has a committee of around 20 to 30 volunteers. The machines support 30 charities this past year and raised $1.5 million for the charities and ALL the donations (yes, 100% went to the charity). She’s co-led this work for 7 years and raised over $6M dollars total.
Episode Transcription
Guiding Growth. Conversations with Community Leaders. In this podcast, we'll explore the human journey of leaders, their stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks and lessons learned. Come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, providing resources, connections and belonging for business professionals and modern moments, an event and meeting venue in the heart of Gilbert and at Gilbert Independent, your valley. net dedicated to serving readers with good community journalism. The Gilbert Independent is a nonpartisan newspaper, an online site that covers our town's institutions, development and events.
Subscribe and follow Your valley. net Daily to stay up to date with latest local news. All right, here we go. Today's guest has an inspiring journey that spans from sports to motherhood to community service. She's been married to her amazing husband, Steve for 2100 years and together they have four wonderful Children, each with their own incredible stories of mission work and education and two grandchildren, an accomplished athlete turned broadcast journalism graduate. She found her true passion and community service, leading impactful initiatives like juster. org and the light the world giving machines.
She has an amazing journey and I continue to be inspired by her dedication to family, faith and making a difference in the community. Please welcome my friend, the one and only Fran nonstop, nonstop, love it. Welcome. Thanks for having me. Thanks for being here. This is so fun. We're going to start with what we call rapid fire. Would you rather spend a day with your best friend or a party with everyone? You know, party with everyone? I know. Answer that one for you. Phone call or text message, phone call.
Favorite superhero Wonder woman. Dine in or delivery, dine in. What is the last book you read? That one's a hard 1003, gosh. Scrap it. Skip your hobby of choice. Playing with my grand babies. Would you ever ride a B Yes. In your teen years? What was your favorite song? Anything from Lionel Richie? One day with any person living or not? Who would it be? What? My mom? Yeah. Well, here we go. Last one glass, half full or half empty. I knew that before you. I think we might have broken a record tears during rapid fire.
We were out in the hot lobby talking and we were pumping it up a little bit already. So, I think so. Just saying, just saying, do you ever feel like your business is stuck? It's time to get traction and move it forward. Call, Chris Spear, your business coach and Certified E US? Implementer. He'll help you use the entrepreneurial operating system to get traction and achieve your vision. Call Chris today at 2100. That's 2100. Let's begin and start at the very beginning. Ok. What did life look like for you?
Where were you born? What did early childhood look like? It was a wonderful childhood and my dad was a soldier at Fort Bliss. And my mother was a single mom. Her husband and her oldest son were killed in an airplane accident and she was pregnant and had two little girls and she gave birth to that baby boy three months after she buried the two of them. And two years after that, she met this handsome soldier man. Um, my dad and they got married and then had me and my little sister and this all happened in El Paso, Texas.
I was born on the army base there at Fort Bliss. And it was just that childhood. We played at the pool, there was a community pool and we were there every day. There was an ice cream truck that came through the neighborhood and you know, we would scrounge for loose change and run out to the ice cream truck. Um It was great. It was a great, we had drive ins and my mom and dad would bundle us up and we'd have blankets and pillows in the back of the station wagon.
And there was always a kids movie first and then there was an adult movie second and we had to go to sleep, go to bed. Now, go to bed. Your movie's over, you're out. And so fond memories, picnics at the park and feeding the ducks and camping. Camping was a big part. We didn't have a lot of money. Um, but I never knew that. Um, my mom took care of us. We had just as nice of clothes as anyone else. And then I got introduced to sports and, oh boy, that was exciting.
Started with swimming. I was in swim team. Loved it. Softball. Oh, my gosh. Every day is a softball practice. Is it softball? I didn't mind practice. I didn't care. Um, sports was something that just was in me. And then sixth grade, I fell in love with volleyball. Mrs Key was one of the teachers who inspired me. I had, had a very mean teacher the year before and she was my teacher the next year and she had to rebuild me in education because I withdrew and I acted out because of it because of this one teacher.
She was mean. She was so mean and she was not mean to me. She was mean to other kids. And Mrs Key stood up to her and for me and kind of took me under her wing. And so who that was good that I had someone in education to do that. And so grades came along. I was fine and especially when my mom said, can't do sports unless your grades are up. So I'm like, ok, I got this, I got this visual of Matilda, the movie Matilda in my head with the crunchable.
And you're in the choking and yes. Yes. And I love that movie. Yes. Were there other family members who also were engaged in sports or how did this just happen? So, my mom was not allowed to do sports where she grew up, she only had a few sports that women could play. But she would sneak behind the bar and she grew up down in Mexico and she would sneak behind the barn with her sisters and they would play everything. But she kind of instilled that I would watch her at family reunions, play softball, play tennis, you know, ride horseback.
She loved riding horseback. That was her favorite. And, um, she is the one that just pushed me. She found opportunities. I had an older brother who was a runner gag. No, thanks. He was not coordinate. So, but he could run. But, um, and then my sisters, there was a huge age gap. So they were nine and 2100 years older than me. My brother was seven years older than me. And so, no, it was, it was really my mom presenting opportunities for me to do sports. And then of course, pe teachers at my school, you know, helped that.
And then I walked into seventh grade and there was a flyer and I looked at it and there were volleyball tryouts that day. I had only played on the black top, you know, and, um, this coach was walking down the hall and she said, hey, you're tall, you should try out. And I said, well, I saw the flyer. She goes, I think you should try out. So I did and I made it on the seventh grade and that bug right there and then that led to basketball.
I was still doing swim team and I was still doing softball. So now I've added volleyball and basketball and it just came natural. You give me a ball, I can hit it, catch it. I even caught a fly ball at the Diamondbacks game protected my grandson. Yes, I did. And the guy behind me was trying to steal it from me. I'm like, back off, back off. So, yeah. So sports has just been always something and then I just started setting goals. My mom was a goal setter and she helped me and one of the goals that I had was all female athletes of the year by the time I was a senior and I played as a freshman on varsity for basketball and volleyball.
And then I started phasing out of swimming and softball and then really started just doing basketball and volleyball. Was your school a very large school like they are here. I think there was, I want to think there was 900 in our graduating class. So it was a good size there. And um I made it, I did that and I was inducted into the Hall of fame um with a Utah minor basketball coach player. He was on the first all black basketball team um there at UTE and that's who I was inducted into the Hall of fame with.
I know you shared with us um your mom's selflessness in terms of service to others. And I would love if you would share some of the examples of the ways that she also served her community and served other people in need. So my mom was also raised in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My dad was a convert, he was Catholic and the two of them were givers. She always had a pot of something on the stove and anyone at any time would come over eat, she would take it, you know, she'd just jingle her keys and my dad would get up and say, OK, where are we going?
And who are we taking it to? Um She was the relief society president um for quite a few years as I was growing up and she set up welfare opportunities for people to receive food, meals, mailboxes. Um And then probably the most selfless act I ever saw her do we were coming back from Juarez and that's the border town right across from El Paso and every Friday she would get her hair and her nails done. She got mad because they took it from $3.25 to 375. She was irate.
Um, but we had gone over there. I had gotten my perm, my brother got his hair cut and then my mom got her on the way back and listening to Lionel Ritchie in the station wagon and we were crossing the border and this was Christmas break and it was cold and windy and snowy. And yeah, it was awful out there and she puts the, puts the car in park and we're on the, we're actually on the border. So it's like a good, you know, incline, you're not supposed to stop your vehicles.
You know, this is like the eighties, but still not supposed to. But all along the border, there are people that are asking for handouts and things like that. And she saw her before I did and she jumped out of the car and there was a mother and she had a baby in a sling on the front, a toddler on the back, probably a five or six year old at her feet. And then she had two others that were, you know, asking for handouts and all she had on was a cotton dress, no shoes, no coat, nothing.
And my mom jumped out of the car took off her jacket and wrapped her around and she said something, whispered something in Spanish. My moms flew it and whispered something to her and then got back in the car. But that's just something that my mom that was who she was in everything she did until the day she died, she was serving others. Now, I expected to hear you would travel a lot because most military families are moving all over the place. But you, it doesn't sound like you did.
We didn't, he had retired there in El Paso. So he had retired. So that was, that was great that we didn't have to, we didn't have to move. When I met the love of my life, then we started moving and we moved all over the United States. And so what took you out of El Paso sports? Ok. Sports. Um, the volleyball team, I thought I was better than I was, but my coach, coach Bennett was one of those. She believed in me from the moment I hit the court and she was very intimidating at first.
And then all I figured out that if you worked hard and you owned up to mistakes and you tried to better yourself on the court, you had her utmost respect and you stayed out of trouble with her. And um I loved learning from this woman. I just, absolutely, she's still coaching to this day and she's probably 7879. Um But amazing. So she helped me as much as possible, but I did not get an offer right out of high school. So my brother called me and he said, hey, there's this little junior college up here in Utah and they have a volleyball team. Great.
He goes, and I got you a try out next weekend. So you better get up here. So, my mom and dad, this is how much, how incredible they were loaded up the station wagon, put the camper on the back, found a campsite. And I went and I tried out and coach Laurie Richards. Another, here's another one that she was fabulous with me. She says, I don't know where you've been all my life, but you are my Mexican jumping bean and you are on my team. I made it, I made it.
She gave me a special try out because she had already chosen her team. And she's like, I need you for some reason. I need you on my team and I needed Laurie Richards. She just, you know, there are people in your life that pull out the best of you and there are people in your life that pull out the worst in you. And she pulled out the best. If I could have had her coaching me throughout my entire life, who knows what I could have accomplished? But I got her for two years and that was enough.
And then she's the one that helped me get to Baton Rouge and a full ride at LSU for volleyball. Yeah. Um, so that's a change of pace, culturally, spiritually. I mean, you know, you go from your family home as that safety bubble and you're kind of riding on the coat tells of your parents' testimonies or beliefs or, you know, you're in that safety bubble. Then when you are on your own, you have to kind of figure that out on your own and I knew my beliefs. Um And so that was, that was good.
I knew who I was, but then I was in kind of Utah and protected and I was in another kind of a bubble. Then I get to LSU and it is just, it rocked my world and my dad was from the South Catholic. We had gone to Atlanta, we had stayed there, but it's different when you're on your own. You know, you've got to dig deep and figure out can I do this? And, um, luckily we had camps that we were helping with. So all the little summer camps, which was really fun.
And then my coach came to me and he said, hey, I really think you could try out for the national team. I think you're ready, ready. I think I've been in Baton Rouge for 21 days and I'm ready. And he goes, yeah, he says, I feel really good about you trying out for the national team. Ok. I call my parents on a pay phone. Hey, guess what? I'm going to Colorado with my coach and some other coaches and I'm gonna try out for the national team and I made it, I made it.
They chose about 50 girls and this was a nationwide tryout. And out of that tryout in Colorado, I made it and then we went to North Carolina for the opening ceremonies. It was a mini Olympics and we played against the north, the south, the east and the west and it was a blast. My parents were in the stands and we walked in and we walked around the track and they played the national anthem and, you know, it was, it was incredible. So at that point, you were as good as you thought you were.
I had kind of gotten there. Yeah, I had kind of gotten there. Um, like I said, Laurie Richards pulled everything out of me. I was one of the first jump servers in Utah. And so I had that in my toolbox. So that was really fun. What did you study at LSU? Broadcast journalism? Yeah, I wanted to be the first female broadcaster out there and you start on the very low but you know, podcast. Do you remember the first? Did you cover anything? Do you remember the first, the first, the Alligator farm?
Alligator farm? They covered an alligator farm and it was Hebert's Hebe RT he Bears and they sent me out with a photographer and the cameraman and all I was to do was to ask the questions. The camera was never on me. And that was exciting. That was pretty fun. We got to see these huge alligators and then I even got to go into the hatchery and I hatched an alligator. Did they publish your recording? She didn't hatch it. Oh, thanks for clarifying. Because if it was Sarah, we would know it would be different, right?
I just didn't know if he was understanding. Thank you. I'm so glad you elaborated that. Yes. Yes. So it was fun. It was fun. Um I can't remember if that one saw the light of day. It was a fluff piece and they just kind of had it and then they started realizing that really where my niche was at Wbrz Baton Rouge is in the sports department. So I was surprise. Yes, surprise, surprise. Weekend, Dick Vitale was one of my best friends. I loved him and every time he would come in, Lupo in that voice.
That was fun. I got to work with ABC CBS ESPN, all of the crews that would come in to LSU, whether it be football, basketball, whatever it was, I would take them to the best places on campus to get all the B roll. Um And that included my Mike. So Mike the Tiger was the real mascot. He's real Bingo Tiger. And LSU has had a real mascot since the beginning. And this particular tiger had arthritis in his back legs. And the habitat that he was in was very small and the pads of his feet and the way he was walking it was really, really tough.
So he wasn't in as mascot for very long. Well, that's when all the rest of the universities were getting rid of live mascots, animal rights and things like that. And so the plan was that they were going to retire him to the Baton Rouge Zoo. And that would be, that would be it. I got a call, I don't know, it was probably the summer of my junior year, I got a call and it was Dr Bevan and he was the professor over big animals and he said, hey, I've got something for you come here and any time ESPN or CBS would come in, he would send me, um, the guys, you know, his students that would come over and unlock the cage, there was an outer cage and then they could zoom in and the holes in the cage were a little bit bigger and they would also make Mike growl and, you know, kind of perform a little bit.
And so I always gave him the hats, the garb, the merch. So they loved me anyway. He calls me and I come around the corner in his office and he's like, hey, we're in the back. And so I went in the back, he hands me a bingo tiger cub. I said, what is this? And he said someone has donated this tiger cub to the university and we're going to build a bigger habitat and we are going to have another live mascot. And I said, ok, and he goes, and you have a job.
And I said, what's that? And he goes, you need to be this cat's surrogate mother for about 1003 to 8 weeks. Interesting. I mean, hatched an alligator, I hatched an alligator. Why not a bingo tiger? That I was sworn to secrecy. I couldn't tell my volleyball players, I couldn't tell Steve, I couldn't tell my coaches. It was, it was, it was. And I would have to go out to his office and in the back of his office was a huge gate. They would bring large animals from the Baton Rouge Zoo that he would take care of and other zoos and other places would bring their big animals.
And this was a study at LSU, I mean, animal health and because it's an agricultural and farming animals, but this wasn't your specialty. It wasn't broadcast tural but caring for others is her specialty. So that makes sense. And Mike and I bonded, that's all they wanted because the other students that Dr Bevan worked with, they were poking and prodding and making sure that he was healthy, right? And they just wanted another set of hands on this cub to help him know that he was ok. He was young, he was really young to be taken from his mother.
So, yeah, we bottle fed him. I taught him how to get in a little swimming pool. I taught him how to rip up the mascots of the other schools that vital, vital. He tore apart elephants and gators and all the S ECs, all the S ECs and Dr Beman said, get ready. We're going to um introduce him at center court at one of the men's basketball games. What? And he goes, so you're going to have to start getting him used to a leash. So I did, I had like three days to get him ready and we took him to center court and I just remember at half time, the other team coming down the tunnel and I was standing there with Dr Bevan and Mike was on a leash at my feet and he's coming down these players and they're not really paying attention, you know, they're focused.
But this one player, he's like, oh my gosh, that's not a dog. What is that? It was the funniest thing ever. And so then they got him. Yes, it's a tiger, a bingo tiger. And so they announced, ladies and gentlemen, here is our next Mike. And so I took him to center court Bivens like he gave me a look. Bivin wasn't even out there with me. He made me walk out there while he went to the scoreboard to the score table and I threw, we were playing Alabama and I threw the elephant and I unleashed him and he, you know, with his paws on the ground and he went and ripped into that elephant and the crowd went wild, he got it.
And so he froze. I'm like, if he pees, I'm not getting that all I could think of. He better, not better, not got to do this one. So in this period of training, the new mic. OK, so Steve is in the picture. So we'll have to get to you. How did Steve get in the picture? But also poor Steven, what was he thinking as you were out, Steve got attacked by him. He had been down to fix something. Dr Bevan gave me permission to bring Steve in and um yeah, he had Mike launched from the corner onto Steve's back as he was fixing something.
I'm like, don't turn around, don't turn your back on him, but he was just playing. So Steve got a rude awakening. That's actually he got a rude awakening. Steve did meeting Shaquille o'neal. So that was pretty fun. But Steve louder came into my life when I was still in Utah and I was getting ready to choose. I had um 67 offers. I had seven offers for universities to play volleyball and I was going on the recruiting trips to all of these universities and I met Steve and it's funny, I called my mom and I said I met the man I'm going to marry.
She's like, what? I didn't even know you were dating. I'm like, I'm not, but I met this guy and he's amazing. And that was the start, that was the start. And he had just moved to Utah and I'm like, check it out. See you. I'm going to Louisiana and he had just moved there from Alabama. So we had a long distance relationship. And my dad had asked this incredible man. Um Can you allow my daughter to finish playing volleyball under the Lupo name? You will have her for eternity.
Can I just have that? And Steve said, absolutely loved my father and respected him so much. And so I did and as soon as volleyball was over that season, I got married. Yeah. So we were married. So Steve was a big part of Mike and the training and everything. Um The one thing that I fell in love with Steve about is his kindness. There is not a day that goes by that, that man is just not kind, he's kind hearted, he serves, he loves God more than anything and it's in everything that he does and how he treats his family, his employees.
Um Me, he's just an incredible man and I'm very blessed. You're saying you made a good choice, great choice. My mom fell in love with him. She goes, listen, if this doesn't work out, you are out, he is in. There you go. So what brought you and Steve to Arizona? So we had traveled, his job, took him all over the United States. We were in Washington DC, Colorado, New Mexico. And um we were in New Mexico and we had built the house of our dreams and um his job just, the company just decided they were going to relocate to Japan.
So Steve and I had to make a decision to Japan or not. And there really wasn't anything. He was working remotely already and he just traveled all the time and he said, I don't feel like Japan is where it's at. And I said, all right. So he started looking for work and found a great company here in Arizona and I didn't want to move to Arizona. It's just too hot. I told him no, no, no. Anywhere else anywhere, I'll take the humidity over, over the heat. Do you still feel that way?
I love Arizona and what Arizona has done and how Arizona has blessed our lives and the lives of our kids. This is the place to raise a family and the family values and the friends and the teachers that have inspired my kids to do their very best. It is true. It takes a village and this village was a very powerful village with my family and I would go to bat for each and every one of them because of how they blessed our lives. So Yeah, Arizona was a great move for our family.
Well, I want to touch a little bit on the work that you and Steve have done over the last decade of your life and how, um, that service has impacted our community and our state. Um, why don't you share a little bit about, um, just serve and the, uh, like the world giving machines? Sure. Um, just serve was a website, um, that we got put in charge of bringing to the valley a 13 years ago. And I remember Kayla Koehler and she was at the museum at the time and she goes, it's a what?
And I said, it's an opportunity to put your needs, your service needs because you had to be a 501 C three in order to put your service needs on just serve. Still do. And I said you can put your needs on this website. And then we're going to help you get volunteers. Now, what? And so I explained it, it was, it was very, it was very new, a very new concept for these charities to actually be able to identify their needs. Plus, where are these volunteers going to come from?
And I said our goal is to get our volunteers to come from the community, high schoolers, you know, stay at home moms businesses. That's where we're going to find, you know, your volunteers. And I remember that the missionaries were volunteering for Kayla and helping her there at the museum. And I said there'll be a big part too. And so we took a lot of flak at the very beginning. People were like, this is not really an easy. I may have been part of one of those meetings.
Made bed, no name calling, but the vision caught on and I was determined there's that sport, you know that there is something that is in me and it is very competitive. My kids know that I will throw a ball as hard as I can at you. I'm sorry. But there's no fluff. I knocked my grandson down because I can just imagine a dodgeball game at your house. He'll know that he needs to catch it, catch it. Um, but I think that, that that was instilled in me and I'm like, I'm not going to let this fail on my watch.
No way. No how and Steve was a partner also. So in the church they call you sometimes to be by yourself and you do these callings these assignments in our church. Sometimes they call you as husband and wife or a pair. And that's what we got called to do. And I just saw the benefits of both the volunteer and the organization and I just thought, no, this is exactly what I had been trained to do, working with interfaith, working with these charities, working side by side with Steve.
The potential was there. And I just thought Gilbert will be truly blessed if this can catch on. And so I worked really hard to make sure that we had the right people in and the opportunities were there. And it is still strong today. Juster. org is, it's nationwide. It's actually worldwide. It's in probably 20 probably 30 countries now. And it is just by the way that these charities function by getting these volunteers well, and what I love about it is even from my own perspective, community members or businesses enquire regularly about how they can give back.
And it really is a match in both directions. So those nonprofits can say specifically what they need and then those volunteers can find exactly what experience they're looking for. It's amazing. Yeah, because some want to do it on, you know, every week somebody wants to be a one and done and that's what juster. org does. It is, it fits to whatever that need is. So that, that was a huge blessing. So, and what that did is that introduced me to for our town and for our town was such a fun way to get into the community.
And, you know, I volunteer at the schools. I did it in the elementary, so Ashland Ranch, South Valley and then Campo and I truly believe that you need to know where your kids are and the schools and the teachers, those that are going to be with them for 789 hours a day. Um And so I did volunteer there, but this opened up a whole new world to me and I loved being able to get into the inner workings of the town and meet incredible people. That's where I met you.
That was our first meeting. Was that incredible? It was she qualified. It, she said, and that's where I met you. I heard that I heard and share a little bit about what for our town, Gilbert is and what they do for our town is a great organization and it helps bridge gaps and bridge um the community to the faith interfaith businesses, schools. It gives us an opportunity to take a look at issues that are happening in our community and it allows for us to help support what's already there.
You know, the task force that Cathy Tilki chaired. Incredible. I was a little sad that I wasn't on that task force, but another day, um but that task force identified some real issues in our community and for our town really picked up to try and figure out what the best way for us was to support. And it really stream it, streamlines initiatives and messaging. So even in its simplest form, instead of of having everybody doing separate back to school drives or supply drives, we can centralize it into one community effort and it just makes better use of all of our resources and time.
We have a quarterly breakfast and our next one is August 1st and that quarterly breakfast brings in topics, hot topics that our community is facing and we bring in specialists and we network and we have over 100 guests that come to our breakfast. And it's just a wonderful thing. You have invested community partners at those breakfasts. So it's open to the whole community, but it also incorporates all of those partners in the community who have a stake in that conversation. Um And it's not about just talking at you.
It's about collaborating in that conversation. And thank you so much Chamber of Commerce is one of those partners that we couldn't do it without you guys. I mean, this is just when we talk about key influencers in that, we've got the town, we've got the chamber, we've got some of the churches that are attended that attend these meetings regularly. Businesses. We've got so many great businesses here in Gilbert and we have quite a few that support our efforts and we are grateful school districts, our school districts truly about the whole community.
It is, it wouldn't have happened without your vision to bring the structure to it. So thank you for your leadership on that. You're welcome. I love it. I'm a little sad that I'm stepping down. My term is over, but I think it's time. I think we'll find something for you to do. I shouldn't have told her that I shouldn't have told her that you're not called for nonstop louder. For nothing louder. I love that. So then you just working in the community, right along the same time we were doing just serve is when the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints came out with this wild idea about a vending machine.
And they were given the task of how do you get service opportunities to more people in a very easy way. Um A very quick way um that can benefit these charities. And the giving machine was born. So they took out all the candy and the sodas out of a vending machine and they replaced them with cards for nonprofits. And the dollar amount can range anywhere from a couple of dollars all the way up to like $500. And you just go up and you look at the charity, the charity's name is on the card as well as the item.
And then there's a little description of what that is and then you swipe your card, you choose your, your card and they drop and that's the giving machine. And Fran and Steve led the first giving machine in Arizona. It was right here in Gilbert, right here in Gilbert. And now how much have you raised? And where are giving machines located? Oh, my goodness. Millions and millions of dollars have been raised by these giving machines. It's just amazing that, you know, five years ago, I would have thought even COVID coming back from COV ID, I would have thought they're not going to do these again.
Oh, no, they are. Now, we're in over 100 locations worldwide. And we went from one location here in Arizona to seven. We're the only state. Even Texas. Texas is catching up to us, but even Texas doesn't have seven locations. So this is pretty unique. We have the East Valley that's located here in Gilbert. Then we have a west route and the west route goes from the West Valley to Prescott to um what's the one up north now? I'm not thinking up in the mountains. Um Flagstaff. Thank you.
I was just like no press kit because I was getting confused with Snowflake because that's the east route. So we have Tucson, Gila Valley and then Snowflake. I was going to switch those two and I'm like, no, that's not. Right. Yeah. So we have an east route and a west route and it is just amazing that the dollars 100% because the church picks up all the overhead and they get a 100% of the proceeds. Now we're starting to see the impact videos and those are exciting from here here in the valley.
Just the impact that is coming through of these donations is just amazing. So, well, you are a force. You do incredible work in our community and across the state. I'm curious what the next five years looks like for you. What are your five years from now? Where are you? And what are you doing? Oh, I hope I've got my sons married all of them. This is a public service announcement. If you do have to interview, we have some really handsome louder boys. Um, and grandkids, more grandkids.
That would be fun. Um, Steve and I are serving a mission right now. So they took the giving machine responsibility that we had for the state of Arizona and then they asked us to be area managers now for the light, the world giving machines. And so he and I are over the UK and they'll have three locations in London, Birmingham and Manchester. And then there will be one in Helsinki, Finland and then we will have all of Texas, all of Idaho and all of Arizona. So that will probably be what my vision is there.
Um will still be here in Arizona. I know that. So that's kind of exciting. And then just doing what we've done, you know, I love being in the community. I love it. No politics. No, I don't think I have the skin for it. Well, you might not have the skin for it, but you have the heart for Gilbert. And so thank you for being such a blessing to so many and for your vision and commitment. You do amazing work and it's an honor to be amongst you in so many different capacities.
And I'm just going to say if you can raise a tiger you probably could do politics. But that's just my opinion. But that was only six weeks. Can I have a six week term? If I could have a weeks? We might get a lot done. I don't know. We could, Sarah, you and I together in six weeks it could be really good or not great either way. So fun. So fun. No, there's so many incredible leaders here in Gilbert that I have had. Um just, it's been a blessing to be able to work shoulder to shoulder with these incredible nonprofits in our school districts.
We've talked about that but the individuals that I have grown to love and respect and the past mayors that we've worked with um town council members, I mean, it has been truly an honor and I look forward to doing more of that, maybe in a new way. Who knows a new way would be great. Awesome. Well, thank you for being here today. I know that you've enjoyed this episode. We certainly have. So if you want more of these in your inbox, join our tribe, subscribe and we'll send them to you.
Thanks for listening, guiding growth, conversations with community leaders. Ben, let me ask you a question. How do you see other community members being involved in this podcast? This is going to be a great opportunity for so many people in the community to have a chance to be heard if they want to tell their story or if they just want to be part of this journey with us and help sponsor in a way that helps bring more people to the table with us. So I think there's many opportunities at hand whether you want to again be on the show, reach out to us, let us know what your story is and how you think you could be part of it.
We'd love to hear from you. Reach out, let us know and we'll see if we can make that connection.
