Gordon Toedman (Kansas) has done a lot of international travel in his lifetime.
After graduating from the University of Kansas and traveling as an auditor for several years, he decided international travel needed to be a part of his career. So he attended the Thunderbird American Graduate School of International Management and was subsequently hired at Pfizer. He spent the next 15 years--including several years living in Tokyo and Sydney--doing auditing all over the world.
Pfizer's stock prices skyrocketed while he was with the company and by 2002, Toedman had decided to retire to, among other things, travel on his own terms. That’s when he discovered Cross Cultural Solutions.
Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS) is a nonprofit |
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Gordon Toedman |
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organization that coordinates international volunteer trips in Africa,
Asia, Latin
America, and Eastern Europe for people of all ages. Toedman immediately signed on to take a trip. "The first one was to Thailand," he recalls. "I chose it because a lot of the other options seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and I just wasn't sure I was ready for that. I thought, as long as I was in a big city, I could survive." Toedman taught English during the three week project and really enjoyed his experience. He's an avid golfer, so afterwards he stayed another three weeks for a golf tour of the country.
He obviously survived Thailand and grew to appreciate much about the country, including its friendly people, good food, and nice weather. He enjoyed it so much that he began to make more time to go back, at first, one month per year, then two months per year. When he had the chance to visit some of the more rural areas, he witnessed alarming poverty, but in spending time with the people he saw that they were happy. "They have nothing but a strong family structure. That's when you realize that money doesn't buy happiness," he says.
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Local merchant
in Thailand
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It was after another CCS volunteer assignment in China that he decided he wanted to find a way to share it with others. "I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if guys in the fraternity had a chance to do something similar?’" That’s when Toedman came up with a unique way to give back to Sigma Nu. (He’s been faithful to support the Sigma Nu Educational Foundation as well as provide gifts directly to his chapter for housing improvements in the past, but this time he wanted to do something different.)
The idea is relatively simple. Toedman created a Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund--which is essentially a personal foundation administered by Fidelity--through which he made a gift to Cross Cultural Solutions. That gift came with the agreement that each year for ten years one student from Nu Chapter would participate in the CCS program of his choice. The student would have to pay his own airfare, but Toedman’s donation would cover the $3,000 cost of the volunteer experience. He developed a formal application process and declared two other |
requirements of the scholarship winner: he must send Toedman a postcard from his trip and give a presentation to the chapter about his experiences.
"It not only benefits the person who gets to have an international experience, but also, by sharing that experience with other guys in the house, it benefits them as well," says Toedman. On top of that, he knows that the stories will generate enthusiasm about the opportunity, which also turns out to be a great
recruitment tool to be able to say that one brother gets to go overseas each summer.
Toedman says he wanted to give back because he truly feels that his Sigma Nu experience provided him with the foundation that got him where he is today. "I attribute a lot of my success to being in the Fraternity," he says. "The ideals and just living in that type of atmosphere taught me how to get along with people and how to compromise, and that has helped me out in the real world," Toedman says, noting that he gained great leadership and public speaking experience as well as great friends.
He says just like the volunteering experiences with CCS, at Sigma Nu you get back more than you give. "I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing today if it weren’t for the experiences I had back at KU and Sigma Nu," Toedman says. "I always tell people I’m lucky, that I was in the right place at right time. Boy, was I lucky."
But Toedman acknowledges there was something lacking from his college
experience. "The one thing I realized was missing once I got out in the real |
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La Basilica in Cartago, Costa Rica |
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world was diversity. In the chapter, we were almost all Caucasian, from similar economic backgrounds, and we had a lot of things in common, which is nice, but the diversity part was missing for me. As I’ve had the chance to go around the world and volunteer, I have found that in getting to know other cultures not only are they interesting and fascinating but you also realize the value of being different and seeing things in different ways," he says.
That is what Toedman truly hopes to offer the brothers of Nu Chapter through the scholarship he established. "Between the exposure to diversity and the experience of being a volunteer and doing something to help other people, it made this program seem like a great opportunity for them," he says. His goal, after all, is to help students experience life outside of Lawrence, Kansas, and see all the world has to offer.
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The colorful people of Peru |
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Past participants have assured Toedman that he is achieving his goal. "Their reactions are a lot like what I would expect," he says. "A lot of them are having life changing experiences, and they are really appreciative of the opportunity to go overseas."
One student wrote to Toedman after a trip to Cartago, Costa Rica, where he volunteered in a home that cared for
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27 children who had either been abused or were difficult to place with foster parents. He spent his days playing with the children and helping with chores around the home. In a letter to Toedman, he calls it the best part of his trip and wrote, "In my room in Lawrence I keep the drawings that three of the younger girls drew for me. The drawings remind me of how wonderful the kids were and how happy people can be despite the major problems and complications that may influence their life."
The program, which Toedman started in 2004, has provided eight students with international volunteer experiences thus far and it will continue for at least four more years. "So far everything has gone perfectly. It's been a good thing for everyone. Hopefully I'll be able to fund it longer and we'll be able to continue it," Toedman says.
| In the meantime, Toedman continues to enjoy the world around him. He is currently living in Thailand in a home he built on a mango plantation in what he describes as a "beautiful spot" between large hills about four kilometers from the ocean. He returns to the U.S. about twice a year--for tax season and March Madness and then again for an annual meeting at the California winery where he is part owner. While abroad he plays a lot of golf, is taking piano lessons, and getting to know his new Labrador Retriever puppy. "Right now I’m just enjoying things," he says. |
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Matt Gasper (Kansas) in Peru -
Summer 2009 (L - R): Jean Paul, Armando, Silvana, Matt, and Eva |
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And thanks to Toedman's dedication to the Fraternity, Sigma Nu brothers are getting to enjoy and experience international things, too.
To find out more about Cross Cultural Solutions visit http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/.
And to learn more about setting up a Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund visit: http://www.charitablegift.org/.
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Matt Gasper at Machu Picchu |
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