Latest / Newsradio WGAN / Chrissi Moody- Segment 3

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Chrissi Moody- Segment 3 · Newsradio WGAN

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Welcome back everyone to Inside Main.
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I'm your host, Sean Moody, and I'm actually welcomed here with
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join here, I should say, with my wife Chrissy.
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And it's awesome to see you behind that microphone, ready to
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talk about Maineboo caller? Yes, yes.
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Good morning, everybody. I'm going to just start us out a
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little bit of back story for the listeners, although they've,
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they've, I think they're pretty tuned in.
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But the Maineboo Caller Scholarship Foundation began
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really with just a $500 scholarship down the benefit ice
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arena back in like the 2000s. And I was just, I don't even
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know how to describe the reaction from the student that
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received it and the parents and the, and the student body was
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just electric. I mean, they just didn't expect
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it. And this was an underdog kid
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that was going into the trades. That is the, you know, his
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students love the guy. And and yeah, I thought you
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we're on to something here. So that evolved into, you know,
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giving the the kind of annual book called a scholarship.
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And then the Risbera family kind of got wind of what we were
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doing. And to honor their dad, both
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Billy Rock Rocky and Mark the the, the boys there had a
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vehicle at a car that he had had and he didn't really know what
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to do with it. So they actually sold his car
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and, and donated like $75,000 to Maine will call a scholarship
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foundation really enabled us to expand and, and take this
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initiative statewide, which is pretty extraordinary on their
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part. And that really is was what
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began the statewide initiative and that was I think in 2017.
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So I'm going to turn this over to the executive director, big
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on titles, but executive director of Maine Bucola
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Scholarship Foundation, Chrissy Moody.
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Thanks. And yes, that was a big jump for
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us. And the original four really
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were was Bear Brothers, Moody's, Gilman Electric and Roe Ford and
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Westbrook. And we kind of built from there.
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As Sean said, the first year that we were in the actual main
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Blue Collar Scholarship Foundation was 2017.
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And we were pretty excited. We gave out 32 scholarships each
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at 1500, I mean each at $500. And we were patting ourselves on
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the back thinking wow, that's great.
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We we really started something special.
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So we jump forward to 2026 and this year we awarded 145
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scholarships for $250,000. Pretty exciting.
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And this was the big year for us.
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We crested the $1 million mark that we've given for
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scholarships since 2017 throughout the state of Maine.
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Yeah. That's, and you know, we, we
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really benefit. I, I'm probably, probably more
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than myself because you guys are on the committee and you can
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talk more about that. But just the fact that we're
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able to go and present like just this week alone, right?
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You went to Skowhegan, Waterville.
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I was in Bath, Bath tech, I was up to Oxford Hills.
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And so we got it. We've got 147 presentations.
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We don't do them all in persons because some schools are
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formatted differently, but we have a whole host of presenters
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or just Christie and I that travel throughout the state and
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they are impactful, you know, leaders within their
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communities. They're well known, reputable
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people standing up for this initiative.
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Right. We didn't, we had somebody in
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Westbrook and we have people that are up north that have do
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the DOE, the presentations. And I think doing the
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presentations, once you've done one, yes, it can be nerve
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racking. You're up standing up in front
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of, you know, 3-4 hundred people.
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But like Sean said, when you see the recipients, they come up and
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they accept their letter, their scholarship letter and then the
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thank you notes we get afterwards.
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It's they're very appreciative, they're very excited.
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They they know that this is something that is going to be
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beneficial and help them as they pursue their career in the
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trade. Just knowing that somebody that
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believes in them, you know, in their future, you know, I, I
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know that's what charges our batteries on those long nights
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driving home or whatever, you know, collecting donations and
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doing the good committee work. Speaking of the committee, can
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you run down the roster of? OK.
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Yeah, sure. So we have on on our board our
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daughter Danielle Moody and Danielle was really the one in
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2017. I wasn't even involved.
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She was the one that set it all up, got it going, got us our
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five O 1. C. 3C3 So then also we have
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Maria Rosbera and that's Rocky's daughter and she's been with us
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from the very beginning. Amy Marston, she was, she's now
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has her own marketing company and she was with CMP and CMP is
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a big donor of ours and Amy was the prominent one that got CMP
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involved with us. Lisa, just start, Bob Whiting is
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from Roe Ford and he's been very strong supporter and he actually
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is planning a golf tournament in September and all that proceeds
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will go to Maine Blue Collar Scholarship Foundation.
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Roe Ford is doing that and Bob Whiting is handling that.
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We've got Kevin Kazeman. Sherri Johnston is from ABC
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Associated Builders Contractors, and they're a strong supporter.
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Let's see Chelsea Pelota, she's with Maine Properties, another
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strong supporter that has donated to us, Rocky Rosbera.
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Steve Ladd is from Steel Pro in the Rockland area, and he has
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been with us. So probably at least 10 year,
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eight years. So Evan Chambers from Gilman
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Electric, Steve Berg, Monique Coombs, Charlie Slovinski and
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Larry Grondin round out the committee.
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Yeah, and I think it's notable too when you mentioned Evan and
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he's representing like a Rooster County area.
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So, you know, we've got people literally, excuse me, Washington
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County, right in Hancock County. He's he's in Ellsworth now, but
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he was up in Aroostook County. He was in the Millinocket area.
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Yeah, so we've got, you know, we've got representation and
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again, giving, giving scholarships this 27 career tech
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Ed schools in in Maine that receive these students, you
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know, a lot of them go on to Community College or right into
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the workforce. And you know, we we've been
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fortunate to be able to attend the student success banquet,
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which is up in student of the year.
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I'm sorry, you, I stand corrected Student of the year
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last. That's why we weren't hosting
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inside Main on May 6. We were up there in Bangor
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again. Actually last year Jeremy did a
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remote broadcast up there with Tony's help.
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And it was pretty crazy. It was it went, it went really
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well. I didn't have the heart to ask
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you guys again. I really didn't.
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It was a lot of work and but we do appreciate.
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You it was fun dissipation. I will say it was fun.
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So yeah, so last year at the Student of the Year luncheon, we
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gave each of the 27 CTE Students of the year $1000 scholarship.
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And this year MEMIC matched us and provided extra money so that
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we could give them each a $1500 scholarship.
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So on top of the $250,000 that we gave to individuals that
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apply for our scholarships, we gave another $40,000 out in
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scholarships to the CTE Students of the Year.
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And one thing I I will say, I do an annual report each year.
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And so in that I always tried to do a story of impact.
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And the one that I did this past year for 2025 was Brandon Karen.
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And he is local, the Buxton area and he was a big hockey player
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and he was all set to go to college for hockey and that was
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his path. Well, he had a concussion and he
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could no longer play hockey and he applied for one of our
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scholarships and he ended up going over to M Tech or MIMA,
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depending on how you call that. It's the main Energy Market
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Association technical Education Center.
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Charlie Summers. Yep, that they have in Brunswick
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and I interviewed him and one of his his quotes I want to read
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because it's kind of impactful and it just shows you think, oh,
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1000 dollars, $1500, it's not that much, but it can make a
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difference in the life of somebody who is suddenly OK.
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He had to change on a dime as he said his future plans.
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And he said after having my life flipped upside down, being told
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I could no longer pursue hockey on my way to a college career,
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this scholarship did more than put me through school.
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It helped me build a business and discover a new chapter in my
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life that I never saw coming. And he has since started his own
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business, Backyards Burner Service.
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And so it just shows the impact. And I mean, you read that and
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you think about that, it kind of gives you chills because we did
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that for over 140 students this year.
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But over the years, we've done 885 scholarship recipients
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throughout the state since 2017. And not everyone maybe was as
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impacted as that, but we made we making a difference.
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And like Sean said, it's not just the money, it's the the
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belief and the celebrating of who they are and their choice to
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stay in Maine, work in Maine and pursue a career in the trades.
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That's great. You know, I, I, we raised up
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four children all growing up now, but going, we remember
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going to the award ceremonies and it was all the valedictorian
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salivatorian getting academic awards and scholarships, which
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is great. They worked hard and they
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deserve them. But there was a very a big void
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in the fact that the, that book collar trades were not equally
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celebrated or recognized. And I, I was saying to Chrissy
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earlier today, maybe I was just getting a little full of full of
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ourselves. Maybe I don't know.
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But I just said to us, you know, who can say honestly that with
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the help and I do want you to list off, you know, we can't get
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them all, but some of our primary sponsor wouldn't be
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possible without them and our donors that they're the ones
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that are really driving this. But honestly, I, I think we can
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at this point say we've actually broken a stigma.
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And now think about that. How, how many, how many
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individuals you know, can say that you've actually
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participated in an organization, in an effort, in an, in an
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issue, in a movement that's broken a stigma in society here
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in the state of Maine That that is, I think that's noteworthy.
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And I, I came from a generation where, you know, it didn't
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matter what you were going to do as long as you were busy and you
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had something going. Everybody helped everybody out.
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And it was like a mantra where if you weren't working somebody,
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how come you're not working now? I could someone sells looking
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for somebody. And now it's kind of evolved
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into like, what are you doing working?
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You know, it's like, hey, that's how far I was and, and plug in
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that everybody's got to go to college.
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And it just really is fueled, I think this ambition.
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And it's not just our efforts, it's the timing, the timing of
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AI coming in, student loan crisis.
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I mean, there's so many things that are basically converging
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here, intersecting to create a different public perception to
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say, hey, somebody like Brandon like is going to go start his
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own business, you know, through the pathway of a trade.
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That's that's what America was built on.
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Yes, I've definitely seen from back in 2018, nineteen reaching
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out to the schools the the attitude that you sometimes
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received to the attitude that we're receiving now.
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Schools reach out to us with asking us information about our
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scholarship, how they can, you know, what students can apply,
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that sort of thing. And they're encouraging people
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to go into the trades. We're finding now that some of
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the CTE schools in southern Maine especially of filling up
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that they're having to turn kids away, whereas before they were
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sort of looking for more students.
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And I will say another thing that happened that I thought was
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pretty interesting. So I've been delivering these
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scholarships presenting for, I don't know, eight years.
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So the other night I was presenting in Waterville at Mid
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Maine Tack, and for the first time I heard somebody standing
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up there and talking. They were giving out a
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scholarship in memory of their father who had started this
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business. And I kind of chuckled, they
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said. And then this money can also be
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used for tool ships. Well, we started that
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terminology tool ships and it was unique to to our scholarship
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for many years that they could use their money not just for
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education costs, but also for the tools, whether they're going
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to school or whether they're going straight into the
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workforce. So again.
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That's the ultimate form of flattery, right?
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Exactly, exactly. Other people are seeing that
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entering the trades. It's expensive to buy tools.
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And so you know the timing of that too.
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Honey, can I call you honey on the radio?
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No, please. Don't.
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Is that appropriate, Jeremy? I don't know.
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So. Might as well I mean.
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So I think the other thing that's that's notable is the
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Community College, you know, when the shift of, you know,
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tuition was a big part of the the cost that students were
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experiencing that were going on to Community College that
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ultimately became free. SO2 shifts really that that was
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so unique, but that just like validated like, OK, we're going
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to continue our work because they're not, it's not for
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tuition. It can be, but not exclusively,
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right. So I know the time goes by fast.
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Can you take a couple minutes and just maybe Scroll down
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through some of our, you know, primary sponsors that recognize
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them? Yes.
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So as far as sponsorship, you can donate to to Maine Blue
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Collar. If you donate $2500 or more, you
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have your logo on our website and on our certificates.
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If you give $5000 or more, you can have a scholarship in your
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name. So some more name for someone
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special, like if you want to honor somebody in your family,
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which just happens a lot. Yes, we have a couple that have
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done that. So some of the largest donate
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donors are Rizbarra Brothers, Gilman and Roman, excuse me, Row
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Ford Steel Pro, Shaw Brothers jumped on board a couple years
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ago and have been very generous with us.
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Sergeant has been with us for a number of years.
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Central Main Power, Alpha Management, Grondin's jumped on
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board, has been a huge, huge sponsor, Auto Works, Southwest
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Collins, up in Caribou, Machias Savings Bank, Maine Community
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Bank, Troiano Waste. So that's just a few that I
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could list more if we had more time.
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Yeah, no, thank you and thank, thank you for coming in.
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And it's it, it's, it's fun to to work with you and Danielle
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and then in the committee and, and just.
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Main bluecollar.com info@mainbluecollar.com Reach
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out We'd love to partner with more businesses.
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Well, sad on time, Jeremy. Can you imagine that?
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She's good. She's better on keeping on
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schedule than I am. We'll be right back with you on
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the inside main. Thank you very much, honey.