Giving to Our Community

How a community foundation gives modest givers strength in numbers and major givers on-the-ground expertise

It all started with what Mike Workman describes as "the most demoralizing thing that happened in my business life." He had been president of a furniture manufacturing company employing 160 people in Morgan County, a rural community of 15,000. His company was owned by an investment-banking group that decided to sell all of its assets to a larger bank in Cincinnati.

"As it turned out, the regional bank was not interested in manufacturing, or any other assets of the purchase, except for the investment-banking group’s seat on the New York Stock Exchange," he says. Workman’s company was liquidated. "I had no idea how painful rejection could be, and worse, how fearful my employees would be for their futures. I felt personally responsible for the loss of jobs and security in my community, and I was determined to do something about it."

Manufacturing in the United States was once a global behemoth. "After the Second World War, American industry was really the only one that was intact," said John Molinaro, CEO of the Appalachian Partnership. In recent decades, though, the usual story told about manufacturing has been one of steady decline — particularly in the country’s rural heartlands.

But the tale of woe might be exaggerated. Across America, manufacturers are finding ways to thrive amidst intense global competition. And innovation isn’t confined to high-tech hubs in major cities. Rural manufacturers are proving just as dynamic as their urban peers.

Some local residents are "blooming where they’re planted" drawing from local resources to grow in rural communities. One of such initiative-driven local is Mike Workman - a successful entrepreneur in McConnelsville, Morgan County. Workman owns Contraxx Furniture on 67 East Main Street and employs six in serving Morgan County residents who were all born and raised in McConellsville. Mike’s business impacts 400 manufacturing and administrative jobs across Ohio.

At 69, Workman and his wife have lived in McConnelsville since 1970, nearly 50 years of Workman’s life. He started his company in 1996.

America’s Rural Opportunity is a six-part series of panel conversations that invites policymakers, economic and community development practitioners, and business and philanthropic leaders to engage in real dialogue around advancing a rural opportunity agenda. Rural America was front and center in the 2016 national election. Media headlines focused attention on our nation’s acute rural challenges – the decline of critical sectors like mining and manufacturing, technology-driven worker dislocation in those industries and agriculture, inadequate job opportunities for dislocated workers, infrastructure challenges, community health crises, and more.

Contraxx is a dedicated supporter of the Morgan Community Fund. The Fund provides support for community improvement by helping other organizations with resources to make a difference.

The Morgan Community Fund is pleased to announce its Fortuna Grant Program. The Fund will be awarding up to $10,000 in grants to community organizations for use in calendar year 2019.

Guided by his long-held love for Morgan County, Mike Workman shares his time and passion with his community in many ways, including his commitment to the mission of the Morgan Community Fund. Mike has always been a strong believer that children are the next generation of entrepreneurs, leaders, and workers and are vital to the community’s growth, prosperity, and well-being. Because of that, he is part of the local fund committee focused on helping more people give back to Morgan. And now, he and his wife, Pam, have found a new way to make a big difference, by leaving their home as a gift in their wills.

A three-hour drive north from South Point’s industrial park is McConnelsville. The town of 1,784 people is set on the north shore of the Muskingum River and surrounded by hills that are either forest or farmland. It has three stoplights and a downtown of beautiful, if worn, brick buildings. It’s the county seat for Morgan County, which has been held up as a model for developing and implementing plans for a long-term economic recovery. An Appalachian Regional Commission-sponsored report notes, "Their willingness to break with the past and embrace youth and learning as the focus of their efforts is remarkable and should serve as a model for other distressed communities."

Led by Jen Wright and Ashley Jones (third from left), the Honduras Mission is actually the result of several years of hard work and dedication, and building relationships in the poverty-stricken country of Honduras.

According to Jones, Wright first traveled to Honduras in 2004, as part of Torch Ministries. When Torch Ministries opened an orphanage, in Honduras, they asked Wright if she would be interested in running it. After a time, Wright left the orphanage and created her own ministry named "Called and Compelled." Though she returned to the states about five years ago, Wright continues to travel to Honduras regularly to cultivate relationships and minister to those in need.

Contraxx Furniture, a custom hospitality furniture design and manufacturing firm located in McConnelsville, recently donated $1,000 to aid Hurricane Harvey victims in Houston, TX. Organized by Carol Humphreys, Director of Muskingum County Business Incubator, in Zanesville, three trailer-loads of relief supplies were shipped on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, and were distributed to those affected by the storms.

Mike Workman, owner of Contraxx Furniture, said his company was directly affected by the hurricane as he has a sales representative, Charlotte Roberts, in Houston, whose house was hit by the storm. Workman said Roberts lost everything in the flooding, from her furniture and clothing and even her makeup. Contraxx sent Roberts money to help her replace some needed items, but Workman and his staff felt they could do more.