Don Millage makes a difference

Greg Giles, Executive Director/CEO,  Fond du Lac Family YMCA

“You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you” – John Bunyan

HISTORY

Well over 30 years ago when this Michigan graduate and his wife picked up their life and moved it to Fond du Lac, our community changed forever.  As a member of the Y and a volunteer flag football coach for his son, Don Millage’s involvement with the Y was just on the surface until the day he decided to leave big corporate America in order to “make a bigger difference in a smaller organization” as he so eloquently put it.  At that point the Fond du Lac Family YMCA’s fate would change forever.  Don started work at the Y around 9 months prior to my arrival in 2003, and very quietly laid the framework for how one man with a servant leader’s heart would change the community.  Being green to the role of CEO I came in with energy and wild ideas , in need of someone to help me harness that energy and point it in the right direction.  Don and I began a friendship that did just that.  Don said, “I have no desire to lead the cheers, but I will dot the “i’s”and cross the “t’s” so together we can help the Y make a difference in this community once again.”

STRATEGY

For several years Don would carefully remind me that every company needs a Strategic Plan and our’s is fixing this building and setting the course for this organization.  After a few years the Y finally had the vision for what was needed to transform itself and set that new direction.  All we had to do was raise $13 million dollars and design a new building.

VISION

Don carefully did things like tracking campaign dollars and pouring over building designs into the late hours of each night.  Don never left a stone unturned during the process and started to establish a new standard of accountability for the Y.  A great example of this is when Don brought the idea of moving the teen center into the location of the old swimming pool, which is now where the teen center at the Boys and Girls Club is located.  Ideas like that are sprinkled throughout this facility.

CHARACTER VALUES

Through Don’s work the Y was able to re-establish character development principles and values that would inform the community of what we stood for and how we would conduct business.  Values like CARING, HONESTY, RESPECT and RESPONSIBILITY began to stand out again for the Y, and the community started to regain hope and trust in the Y.  The new collaborative vision for the Y, in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club, started to take shape.

BRIGHTER FUTURE

The Y started to attract community leaders to serve on the board of directors , who had the ability to get things done.  Y annual budgets no longer looked red in appearance, and things were definitely starting to change.  Then, in 2010, the Y opened the doors to a new facility and the best we could do was try to hang on.  Don went from talking about Strategic Plans to executing one page business plans in order to keep the Y focused.  His promise was to get the Y on solid ground before he would retire, and he did more than that.  Simple yet honest things shined through from Don’s leadership style.  Don replenished hope for a brighter future for the Y by investing his whole heart into the work he did every day.

FAMILY

We know as a staff we will dearly miss working with Don day in and day out.  Working at the Y you get to know everyone’s extended family and become closely connected with everything going on in their lives.  During Don’s time at the Y we grieved with him as he first lost his father in 2003, and then again when he lost his mother several years later.  We got to watch with joy as his wife Barb retired from Marian University only to ask her to become involved at the Y as a volunteer.  We watched Don and Barb’s son Mike get engaged, attended the wedding, and several years after that got to watch Don and Barb become grandparents several times over.  From the beginning to the end of Don’s employment with the Y, he shared his entire life with us.  Don gave the best he had to the Y with no regrets, and the community is at a better place because of it.  He knows how to analyze things and work a spreadsheet, but more importantly Don figured out how to make a difference for others.  Eventually we all will ride off into the sunset and be able to look back and ask ourselves, “Did I live a good life, did I do good for others, did I make a difference the way the Lord would have expected me to make a difference?  Can I rest my heading knowing that the world is a better place because of the things I contributed to it?”  In Don’s case the answer is simple.  Yes you did.