Empowering Communities and Fostering Cultural Understanding with Mike Rebich

Mike Rebich: 0:02

If someone is in trouble, if someone's tree falls down, they're not calling the company from a half hour away, like the neighborhood's coming together and let's take care of it, and that's really what we want to see. Like that drives a lot of what we do at the Mission Co, how we operate, And man, that's what I love to see is communities coming back together and helping each other and coming back to that idea of we can do it ourselves and we can help ourselves. ["trends?

Porter: 0:32

and Values"]. Alrighty folks, welcome back to Transacting Value, where we're encouraging dialogue from different perspectives to unite over shared values. Our theme for season four is intrinsic values what your character is doing when you look yourself in the mirror. Now, if you're new to the podcast, welcome, and if you're a continuing listener, welcome back. Today we're talking our June core values of abundance, adventure and prosperity with, well, at least half of the co-founding team of the Mission Company, which we'll get to here shortly, and I also want to say that part of what we're going to discuss here maybe a little bit outside the box, right, the majority of what we discuss tends to resonate a little bit more in the United States. This maybe won't. This covers a lot of nonprofit activity, central South America, africa and a few other places that you might be unfamiliar with. So, folks, without further ado, his name is Mike Rebich, out of Pennsylvania with the Mission Company. I'm Porter, i'm your host and this is Transacting Value. Mike, what's up, man? How you doing?

Mike Rebich: 1:33

Hey, what's up, porter? I'm doing well, man, good to be here with you.

Porter: 1:37

Yeah, i appreciate the opportunity, dude. I know it's a little bit later in the evening right now Here we're recording, but I appreciate it. I'm super stoked. I think there's a lot of cool stuff we can cover, so I appreciate the opportunity.

Mike Rebich: 1:47

Yeah, absolutely, man. I'm very excited. I love the whole idea behind your show, the whole idea of getting back into talking about character and values and just have an open discussion about it. I love the idea, so I'm really excited to be here.

Porter: 2:01

Sick, yeah, and there's a couple of things for everybody listening that Mike and I had discussed previously in a conversation that are really a unique perspective, mike, not just because you're you, but your life experiences are a little outside of the norm. So before we get to all those things, let's start with some relatability. So take a couple of minutes. The floor is yours. Who are you? Where are you from? What kinds of things have shaped your perspective?

Mike Rebich: 2:27

Yeah, sure. So, hey, my name is Mike. My wife and I and our one awesome son live here in Pittsburgh, pennsylvania, and we have an organization called the Mission Co. It's a nonprofit that we run. We work here in Pittsburgh and then we work internationally in Peru as well And we have a permanent project there. But, man, my wife and I we've got to work kind of all over the world. Like you were saying, we've been through Central and South America and places in the Caribbean like Haiti, in Africa, so we've kind of had the opportunity to work in many of those places of the world.

Porter: 3:01

That's insane, Like I mean not going to be wrong. I've deployed to a lot of countries around the world as well over the last handful of years, But it's a different sort of capacity, I mean, when you're talking sort of war and department at defense. it's not exactly nonprofit work, right. So what's your take on some of this man? Like there's a lot of differences that you've got to either attempt to assimilate to or appreciate culturally, and let alone language barriers, and how you communicate and the message you deliver. What does the mission co do to accomplish those things?

Mike Rebich: 3:31

Yeah. So I mean we certainly did not get it right the first couple of times around And I mean there's always something to be learned about that. But you're right, there is so many things culturally, just language barriers. Just being in a country where, like you can stand on a street corner and you don't understand anything that anyone's saying, it's just real different. And so we always make sure that, no matter where we are, we always want to employ locals as well as ourselves. So, like, one of our main goals is we never want to go in and quote, unquote, americanize where we are. Like we don't want to go in and be like, hey, you guys have to speak English because we're here, or you have to do this this way because we're here. The way we look at it is we're guests in their country And we're just simply there. Like one of the phrases that we use is we're there to give them a hand up. We don't use the phrase hand out, we're there to give them a hand up. We're there to work with them, to work alongside of them. So we assimilate to their culture. We do as much as we can to live by quote, unquote their rules. Like I'll always use a translator. I never expect them to speak English. I'll always have a translator so that our conversations are always well understood and there's nothing missed in those. So we work really hard when we're in those countries overseas to really show ourselves as a guest and that we're there to help them and work alongside of them, not to go in and take over.

Porter: 5:03

That takes a fair amount of humility. I mean not just because it's sort of the American stigmatized norm, i suppose, but just to go in and try to take control and make it more ours, so to speak. But the mutual respect that has to be there counts for a lot And for that matter that's a lot about what we discuss here on transacting value. But those points aside, being able to have civility and mutual respect and communicate with people in ways that they're more able or willing to understand, that's what makes humans humans taking care of each other, helping each other out.

Mike Rebich: 5:34

Yeah, and honestly, the cultural part is what makes us beautiful as humans. Like if everyone was just like us man, the world would be boring. Now, like, i love visiting other countries, i love getting to know their cultures And you know it does take a certain amount of humility. But at the same time, again, we didn't get this right. You know, the first time around, like what we realized is, if you go in and again I'll use the phrase if you try to Americanize it when you leave, chances are they're not going to keep doing that because it's not their culture, it's not what they understand, it's not what they do. So if you can go in and work alongside of them and come up with a process, a program, whatever it is, that works in their culture but it moves everything forward, we found that's the best way to do it And that's the best results that we can get.

Porter: 6:21

I'm not shocked to hear you say that at all. I mean, when it comes to business, i'm a little bit ignorant, but you know, when it comes to well, hearts and minds over the last 20 years, that was the whole point. Right, that was the premise. Try to find ways to relate to people in their home turf, where we're the visiting team, not creating it that way around, and so values really do tend to resonate And, in my experience, become the commonality that you can stand on. Right, everybody's maybe different, but the fact that people have some exists everywhere, and so I'm curious, let's start with you then. Like I said, you're sort of half of the founding team, but, all things considered, you're the spokesperson in the moment. So the founder sort of sets the culture for the company or the corporation or the operation, in my case, or whatever applies, before it takes root and takes hold. So this is a segment of the show called developing character Developing character. And this is two questions right, and you can answer as openly or vulnerably as you want. If you decide that maybe you don't know the answer, you hadn't really considered it too much, that's totally cool too, we'll talk through it. This first question when you were growing up, what were some of your values?

Mike Rebich: 7:31

Yeah, i would say, as that relates to how our organization was fed. There's two very distinct values growing up that have really shaped who I am and then shaped our organization. One of them was so my childhood was a little bit different, i would say, than most people. My dad worked for Federal Express. He worked his way up the ladder there, so he was gone a lot during the days. And then my mom was a nurse And so she worked shift work at the hospital. She worked in the emergency room, and I was the only kid at home for most of my life, and so a lot of times after school I got dropped off at the hospital where my mom was, so I'd grab my backpack, i'd go into the emergency room, into the nurse's break room, and that's where I spent my afternoons, was in the emergency room there. And so, man, i grew up around this great community of nurses that I mean their whole life was about serving other people, right, like their whole being. Everything that they did was about helping people and serving people in whatever way that they could, literally to save lives. I mean my mom was in the emergency room her whole life. There was one year she tried to work just as a regular floor nurse and she hated it. She said it was boring And so she went back to the emergency room. So I grew up around this great community of nurses that that was their values, was serving people and helping people. So that was one of them that certainly shaped where we are now. And the other was kind of where we grew up here in Pittsburgh. I don't know if you know a lot about Pittsburgh, but there's a lot of nationalities here. As much as America is kind of the melting pot, this area. There's a lot of nationality here. And so on my mom's side, her mother, my grandma, came over from Hungary when she was a little kid. We actually found like my grandma's signature in the Ellis Island records like really cool. And then on my dad's side, his grandfather. So my great grandfather was one of five brothers that came over from Serbia and settled in this area. So growing up our sense of family and our sense of community was very strong. Like my dad was very proud of where he grew up, we, a family, was everything to us. You know it was the typical, you know like immigrant family scenes where you'd go in and aunts and uncles and cousins and everyone's there and it's loud and there's food everywhere, and that was just how I grew up was family and community was everything to us, and so those two values, like those, were probably the strongest. You know, the biggest memories of my childhood were, you know, spending time in an emergency room like it was nothing. I mean, that was normal to me, and then that sense of community and family being something that we focused on very, very heavily.

Porter: 10:35

Yeah, i mean you didn't almost, it sounds like, have much of a choice but to work with other people and help other people.

Mike Rebich: 10:42

Right. I mean, it's like it's what we did, you know, like growing up It's just that was, that was just part of our life, That's what we did.

Porter: 10:49

Man, what a cool opportunity, though You know, most people, most people dread spending the afternoon in the ER and you're like, well, it's actually a Tuesday, so it's cool, you know right, Exactly.

Mike Rebich: 11:02

I mean, I was in there with my backpack doing homework and you know, there's someone that you know has a knife wound coming in, and that's just a normal afternoon for us, you know. It was really, really interesting, Yeah.

Porter: 11:15

Yeah, to say the least. Well, so let me ask you this then You alluded a little bit to how those values from when you were growing up have helped form and shape. Obviously the mission code now, and sort of its direction and some principles What about, for you? My second question what are some of your values now then?

Mike Rebich: 11:33

Yeah. So I mean obviously, i mean we run a nonprofit. You know that's what we do. So obviously that idea of helping people, that's obviously a big part of our life, right, i mean my wife and I do that. My wife is a teacher and then she helps run the mission code. I do this full time And so obviously serving people, working with people, helping them, that's just a big part of our life. But then that idea of family is something that's never gone away And we try to instill that in our son. You know it's a little bit different because you know, as we get farther away from those generations that quote unquote came over on the boat. You know, i think that tendency is to lose some of that And so we still try to instill that on our son. You know we still go to the big family gatherings as much as we can. We take him with us, like our family. They celebrate Serbian Christmas, so they go by the Orthodox calendar, which Serbian Christmas is January 7th. So our entire, that side of my dad's side of the family, as much of us as we can, we all get together for Serbian Christmas And it's the typical scene again It's loud, there's people I don't even remember There's food And it's just that great family time that I feel like we're kind of starting to lose that a little bit. So you know those values, they've not gone away And we try to instill that in our son as well, that that's just how our family is.

Porter: 12:56

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Mike Rebich: 13:59

Those values. They've not gone away, and we try to instill that in our son as well. That that's just how our family is.

Porter: 14:07

Well, i mean, it's sort of the, even extended through the mission code, right, and all those influences. It's like the family you choose, not the family you're born into type analogy. You can cultivate that sort of a community and that's sort of an aspect with a bunch of people. Well, for example, you said January 7th, serbian Christmas. Now this is a totally foreign concept to me because, well, for one, i don't have any Serbian ethnic ties or whatever, let alone a knowledge base and familiarity. But January 7th isn't Christmas, december 25th is Christmas, you know what I mean. And Thanksgiving, that Thursday or the respective day per federal holiday is always what it is, or at weekend or whatever. But I got to assume to a certain degree here introducing different days for these holidays has to sort of maybe desensitize or destigmatize you towards when you celebrate holidays or what's important around holidays or how you qualify these things. What does that do for you?

Mike Rebich: 15:03

Well, yeah, that's interesting, they bring that up Holidays is actually very different in our family, and so growing up with a mom who was a nurse and I'm sure people that are listening some of them can relate to this If you're in the medical field or in different fields nurses, doctors, hospitals they don't get holidays off, they don't get to say, hey, it's Thanksgiving, hospitals closed. Today They're open 24, 7, 365, there's somebody there. And so one of the things that I just remember this so clearly growing up, as I got older and was able to understand this concept, my mom would actually purposefully volunteer to work on holidays. So she would volunteer to work on Thanksgiving, she would volunteer to work on Christmas, and her reasoning was and she was always very clear in explaining this to me she said there are younger nurses who have little kids that don't understand that a holiday is not about the day, it's about being with your family. And she said I volunteer so that those younger nurses can be home with their little kids, so that they can enjoy the holiday together until they get older. And so much of my adolescent life, as I grew up, we celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday, or Christmas was either the day before or the day after, when my mom had off, birthdays were hey, it's your birthday, we'll celebrate two days from now because that's my day off, and so holidays really became it really ingrained in me. Holidays aren't about the day Thanksgiving. That Thursday holds no intrinsic value in it. The idea behind it is that you're with your family, that you are being thankful for things. It's not about the Thursday that we celebrated on. So it totally changed my whole course of thinking about birthdays, holidays, celebrations There is about family and the reason for the holiday. It's not about the day that it's on.

Porter: 17:13

Dude, you've got the perfect alibi for getting your anniversary.

Mike Rebich: 17:19

You're like oh honey, it's not about the day. Maybe it's not about the day. It's about us being together.

Porter: 17:27

But as a kid, or let's just say for you growing up, i'm sure that took some adjusting. Oh 100%, oh, absolutely it did. And so now the flip side, sort of counterpoint of that, is, as you travel around to, let's say, peru, for example or I think you had told me before too, you were, did you work in Mexico?

Mike Rebich: 17:47

Did some time in Mexico. Yeah, man, we've been Mexico all through Central and South America, peru, haiti, kind of all over.

Porter: 17:54

Yeah, okay. So, as you've been through Central and parts of South America and the Caribbean, and you're not only traveling when you're available to like, you're missing holidays, you're missing all these things, and then you're not always together with your wife or son, and so I'm sure even still, you're embodying that importance of family whenever you're able. But how do you do it when you're long distance? What works for you?

Mike Rebich: 18:16

Yeah, honestly, technology is the greatest thing that ever happened to that. You know, i mean we started traveling before we had things like FaceTime and Zoom. I mean I remember being in Peru and I would have to go down to the little corner store and buy a calling card and you had to call the number on the calling card and you have 37 minutes left and you could call home for 37 minutes and then the calling card ran out. So, honestly, man, technology is the greatest thing that has happened for that. That allows us to stay in touch and stay together as much as feasibly possible.

Porter: 18:54

Well, what about connectivity, though, Because I'm sure in a lot of these places you go I don't know if a third world country is the right term here What did you call it? developing countries, yeah, developing countries. Yeah, so if developing countries aren't meeting a connectivity threshold that allows you to have, i don't know, wireless access or whatever, reliable communication, what then?

Mike Rebich: 19:14

Honestly, it's just again. This is not normal. But like my wife and my son, i'll just be like, hey guys, like I'm headed out into the Amazon for five days, like I'm probably not gonna have cell service or Wi-Fi, like I'll call you when I get back. Well, and it's just. I mean that's just a way of life, you know. I mean it's just part of the job, it's part of doing it, and you just kind of get used to it.

Porter: 19:38

Alrighty folks, stay tight, we'll be right back on Transacting Value. Alrighty folks, here at Transacting Value, we write and produce all the material for our podcast in-house Game perspective alongside you, our listeners, and exchange vulnerability and dialogue with our contributors every Monday morning. But for distribution, bustbrot's a platform to use. You wanna know how popular you are in Europe or how Apple is a preferred platform to stream your interviews? BustBrot can do that. You wanna stream on multiple players through an RSS or custom feed, or even have references and resources to take your podcast professionalism, authenticity and presence to a wider audience. BustBrot can do that too. Here's how. Start with some gear that you already have in a quiet space. If you wanna upgrade, bustbrot has tons of guides to help you find the right equipment at the right price. BustBrot gets your show listed in every major podcast platform. You'll get a great looking podcast website, audio players that you can drop into other websites, detailed analytics to see how people are listening, tools to promote your episodes and more. Podcasting isn't hard when you have the right partners. The team at BustBrot is passionate about helping you succeed. Join over a hundred thousand podcasters already using BustBrot to get their message out to the world Plus following the link in the show notes. let's BustBrot know we sent you. Gets you a $20 credit if you sign up for a paid plan and helps support our show. You want more value for your values. BustBrot can do that too.

Mike Rebich: 21:11

That's just the way of life, you know. I mean, it's just part of the job, it's part of doing it, and you just kinda get used to it.

Porter: 21:17

Okay, well, from your perspective, I guess, and obviously you and your wife as a couple from your perspective, yeah, but you do this full time. So do you ever stay home and your wife goes out on these trips, since you guys have gotten married or been together?

Mike Rebich: 21:32

No, that typically does not happen. Usually I'm the one going or we go together.

Porter: 21:37

Okay. so we have similar circumstances to that point, specifically where in the military for anybody listening, i don't think it's too far of a stretch to say this is not a foreign concept but there's single members of a household that deploy for seven to 12 months, depending on the US branch at least, and Department of Defense, and then somebody else stays home, takes care of the kids and whatever, whoever that is, and those roles are relative. But there's an adjustment period when we get back right For the people that leave, mind you, a little bit more extended period of time, but an adjustment period for the people that come back because you get used to maybe a certain stress level or tolerance even, that you build up or the way you view the world relative to where you're at, out of necessity usually, and then vice versa, the anxiety, the stress, the not knowing what's going on, the worry and concern or any other number of things from whoever's back home, and then you've got to reintegrate. Have you run into some of these types of issues too?

Mike Rebich: 22:33

100%, like it even kicks in before I leave. My wife knows she'll always say I can tell you're leaving in a couple of days because you're on edge. It's that anticipation of like man, i'm going, i've got this to do, i'm gonna be here, this is what we need. And it's true, like it's a couple of days before I go, that anxiety, all that you talked about, begins to kick in. And then when I get back, it probably takes three, four, five days, and I'm not gone six to eight months at a time like a deployment. So it's not to that extent, but it's still man. It takes me three to five days to get to the point where I can sleep normal at night, like I'm relaxed. There's just a realistic adjustment time of coming back from being in a different culture Like I haven't heard English spoken except for my translator, you know And it's just a real adjustment coming back from that.

Porter: 23:26

Sure, well, i mean, the amount of time you're gone is relative, like I don't want to diminish that right, but whether it's a couple of days or a couple of months, the things that you've got to adjust back to whatever they are still exist, though, like I was in Afghanistan a couple of years ago well, longer than a couple, but it's not important. The point being, i was in Afghanistan and we were there for that I don't know seven months or so, on edge, at least I was. You know, the people that I was there with didn't seem quite to be as stressed as I was. Maybe they hit it better, i don't know, but I was on edge the whole time. And, coming back, i didn't want to go to the grocery store. I don't know if I could or couldn't That might be a little hyperbolic but I didn't want to go to the grocery store. I didn't want to be in crowds, i didn't want to drive, i didn't want to be on the road, i didn't want to be anywhere outside of a closed door with windows closed. For probably a week And then anytime, i tried to sleep. I don't remember too well, but I couldn't. I couldn't stay asleep, i would twitch as I fell asleep and I was jumpy and I was easily startled awake And I couldn't necessarily get comfortable, but I couldn't move either, because I was so used to being in this cocoon of a sleeping bag and not being able to for months, and so finding ways to communicate through that and I don't know it's taken me till now. I guess I never really talked about it And it's just something that seems so normal, because everybody you're there with, like you said, the people that you work with, even this permanent station you've got in Peru, for example, it's the norm, it's the culture, it's the custom of the environment, and so it becomes normal. But have you found that maybe sometimes you, i don't know, this may be not too much of a stretch, but that you bring your work home with you? Oh, 100% Sometimes it overlaps or interferes, anything like that.

Mike Rebich: 25:07

It does. And the beautiful thing about that is like my wife has traveled with me a lot in those areas in Peru, so she's very familiar with it, and so what helps is when I bring those things home, it's very easy for her to say like, hey, stop it. You know. And so when I try to bring that not even try to bring the work home it's just part of it, right, like you're somewhere for a month or six weeks at a time, it just becomes part of your daily routine. At that point, yeah, yeah, like you're saying, it takes the adjustment time, but luckily she's traveled enough with me that she knows, hey, like you're bringing that home with you, let's stop that. And so she really kind of helps me work through that stuff and work through kind of getting out of that mode of being overseas working and kind of get back to a little bit of a normal daily life.

Porter: 25:57

Well, i mean that's huge right. Having for one, a partner or somebody that you can work with in any capacity to help adjust through that process is huge. But I think it also helps that she's got similar experience and interests and it's part of her lifestyle as well, which helps out a lot. Yeah, one of the things that you mentioned though was sort of as a vision for the mission code last time we spoke was initiating a resurgence of community within a culture, because I'm pretty sure close to the words that you used Yeah, a resurgence of community within a culture. Have you found in your experience over the last however many decades of essentially doing this that it really disappears or dissipates, that it requires a resurgence, or is it just increasing awareness and it takes hold on its own?

Mike Rebich: 26:42

I think it's a little bit of both of those And this is just me. Like, again, my upbringing plays a lot into this, but, like, community was a big part of my upbringing. Community family, like I said, my dad was very proud of the little community that he grew up in. Like we went, i would go to breakfast with him in the morning. he had his normal breakfast spot.

Porter: 27:03

All right, if folks stay tight, we'll be right back on Transacting Value. Did you know that hundreds of millions of dollars each year per each state alone go unclaimed and recycled back into a state-sponsored Treasury fund? Did you know that compounding only a few of those dollars over time can create a massive impact for a community in need? And did you know that, of all the money in those funds, many initiatives and missions to help address causes like hunger or even education still go underfunded? Where's the missing link? The Mission Co out of Pittsburgh, pennsylvania, aims to weld the chain and directly connect suppliers and donors of food, education materials and funds with underprivileged communities who need them to thrive. As a mission-driven and US-based 501C3 nonprofit company, the Mission Co seeks to maintain a positive impact on these social issues while staying committed to their values of transparency, integrity and excellence, alongside a collective family of generous donors To feel more empowered, encouraged and fulfilled, while providing life-changing resources to people and communities locally, nationally and globally. Visit the Mission Coorg today.

Mike Rebich: 28:12

Like I said, my dad was very proud of the little community that he grew up in. We went I would go to breakfast with him in the morning. He had his normal breakfast spot. They brought him his coffee. They knew him by name. We went to the little grocery store that was ran by the family in the town. It's that idea of community. It hurts my heart a little bit to see we'll drive a half hour to Walmart now. We've lost that idea of that feeling of community Even from when I started going to Peru. They are very much a close-knit country, very family-oriented, community-oriented. You can come out of wherever you're staying and guaranteed within a block or so there's a little corner store or something that you can go to to get stuff from. I think we begin to see this worldwide as the world becomes westernized and they think that what we have in America is great and fantastic. It is. I truly believe we live in the best country in the world. I don't downplay that. What makes me sad is to see those countries lose some of that culture, some of what makes them them, Even here in the United States, losing that idea of community, helping your neighbor, that you know, all the people on your block If someone is in trouble, if someone's tree falls down, they're not calling a company from a half hour away. The neighborhood's coming together and let's take care of it. That's really what we want to see. That drives a lot of what we do at the Mission Co, How we operate. That's what I love to see is communities coming back together and helping each other and coming back to that idea of we can do it ourselves and we can help ourselves.

Porter: 30:03

Okay. Well then, how do you foster that sense of community? Because you can't just walk into a neighborhood and say, hey guys, come help each other and expect people to do it. What does that even?

Mike Rebich: 30:12

take A lot of the way that we operate as a nonprofit. We operate a little bit differently. When you think of the idea of a nonprofit, you think it's this organization that focuses on something and they go and they solve that problem Big ones, maybe. It's like a charity water. They focus on bringing clean water to everyone. That's what they focus on. I love that idea. But again, because of our upbringing in this idea of community, we have what we call a community focused model. What we do is we go in and we specifically work with communities and we'll meet and we'll get together with community leaders and we'll say what are the biggest problems in your community? Naturally, that looks different in every community. We'll work with those community leaders and we'll say, okay, this is the problem you've identified to us. This is what you're saying you need help on. Let's solve it. Maybe in Pittsburgh, for instance, in some areas it's food insecurity. There are some areas that have still a high immigrant population. There English is a second language. Or maybe it's citizenship testing. They need help getting ready for their citizenship test. We'll work with those community leaders and we set up programs in those communities to specifically help what problems they have. As a community. We encourage those people to come out and let's solve this together. We try to foster that idea of community. Yes, your community struggles with food insecurity. Here's how we can work against that. Here's how we can work to solve that problem. We very much try to do it on the community level, that they can do this themselves. We just try to give them the tools and the ability to do that.

Porter: 32:02

Dude, there's a lot of communities, though. There's a lot of neighborhoods, there's a lot of cities, there's a lot of counties, states, countries, whatever applies, you just pick.

Mike Rebich: 32:11

Honestly right now, yeah, right, if we would look at it across the United States, it would be insurmountable. Right now we focus on where we are. We focus on the section of Pittsburgh where my wife and I live and grew up. They call it the West Hills area of Pittsburgh. We focus on the area that we have there in Peru As we grow and as we have others. My vision for that is not the mission code based here in Pittsburgh solves the problems of the whole United States. You got to have people who are passionate, who are living in that community, that know that community. I don't know Chicago, i don't know New York, i don't know Miami. You have to have someone that's there, that's passionate about it. They love that community, they love that area. That burden becomes theirs. They want to help their community and then it becomes theirs to solve.

Porter: 33:06

That's in Opel Climb too, because there's plenty of people that are there. You're like. Let me just talk to the first person that says they're willing and able. How do you even make a footprint or a foothold?

Mike Rebich: 33:16

I mean honestly, it's just through relationship, It's through getting to know people. It's relationships, Honestly, some of it is just time, Some of it is just time. Over time you'll get to know them and you'll see if their intentions are pure, if they really care about and do what they're saying. It's just communication and relationship.

Porter: 33:35

All right, if folks stay tight, we'll be right back on Transacting Value. Did you know that children who do chores to earn their allowance have more respect for finance and more of a drive for financial independence? Did you know that families who complete tasks together have stronger bonds? Did you know that cognition, sense of self and anxiety all improve if people have regular interactions with nature? Imagine what instilling self-esteem, resilience, family teamwork and an authorized sense of self could do for the growth of each generation. no matter the temptation At Huff and Cluck or Farm, that's just another Tuesday. Want to learn how to homestead or just more effectively develop your character for an unknown future? Follow or direct message on Instagram at Huff and Cluck or Farm. Watch it happen in real time. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. A foolish man learns from his own.

Mike Rebich: 34:30

You know, some of it is just time like. Over time you'll get to know them and you'll see if their intentions are pure, if they really care about and do what they're saying. It's just communication and relationship.

Porter: 34:41

There's so many similarly niched podcasts around relationships And I don't know I'm saying this out of ignorance but I don't know that they're able to accomplish what you're able to accomplish, even though it's a similar circumstance, or what you're trying to do, is better relationships and people's ability to have them. I mean, this podcast included, right, but what do you think is the difference between doing it in person by doing it over the air, like podcasting, for example? we'll reach people and you'll reach people, obviously, in person, but how do you bridge the gap? How do you make one more effective than another?

Mike Rebich: 35:17

Yeah, i mean, this is just something that I believe, but I believe that we as humans, we were created for personal interaction. You and I can say we've communicated and you and I can say we have a relationship to some degree right, because we spent some time together. But like if you and I lived on the same street and we went to the same coffee shop every day and we had that in-person meeting, like that relationship takes on a whole different a look and a whole different feel to it. So I think they're reaching people in person plays to the humanity of us that, like we are communal people, like we are communal beings, we're meant to live together, to be together, to form relationships in person. It's just the fact that we have this great technology that's come over the years that allows us to do things like this, and it's fantastic, but in no way can that take the place of actual in-person relationship and communication.

Porter: 36:20

But it can certainly start it.

Mike Rebich: 36:22

It can, absolutely, it's a great starter and I think it's a great tool. Like, i think podcasting, you know, like that is a fantastic tool, but I think actual, true, long-lasting relationship has to be person to person.

Porter: 36:38

Yeah, i agree. I think it's a lot easier to make a to deepen your relationships when you're able to have yeah, interpersonal interaction, for sure. Speaking of, though, and also for the sake of time, if anybody wants to get in touch with you or your wife, i suppose either of you for the mission code, just to reach out to you, solicit, maybe license a little bit, help you guys expand any number of things. How do people do it? What do you recommend?

Mike Rebich: 37:01

The biggest way, obviously, is our website, themissioncodeorg, and there's all the ways on there Like we have, you know, our Facebook page. We have our Instagram on there. You can follow us on social media. We're super active. We wanna make sure that everything that we're doing you know that people can see it be a part of it. And then there's a whole contact page on there And I mean that goes directly to me, so you know they can get ahold of me. I'll answer them back And I mean I'd love to share more about what we're doing and this whole fun idea that we have.

Porter: 37:32

All right, cool man, i really appreciate it. And for everybody listening, the link to Mike's website for the mission code and obviously there's social media and everything that comes with that will be in the show notes for this conversation. So, depending on your player, click see more, click show more. Once you get the description to drop down, you'll see all the links for the mission code and for Mike as well. So, that being said, mike, i just wanna say thank you again, man. I really appreciate the opportunity.

Mike Rebich: 37:56

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, porter, it was great to be here And, man, like I would just closing thought what you said. Man, people listening to this, you might not live in Pittsburgh, but I would just say, like, go out into your community and get involved somehow, you know, find a community nonprofit, find someone that's doing something in your community and just go out and meet people and get involved And, man, i promise you it will completely change your life.

Porter: 38:21

Yeah, you know what? that's a great point too. How do you find people in your community, how do you find causes to get involved in? Like, you walk outside, get the mail and you're like, hey, bob, what are you getting involved into? You know, like, what do you do?

Mike Rebich: 38:33

Honestly, social media is one of the best. I mean, any community organization that is doing something will be active on social media, cause, like, that's where people are. Again, we're talking about this technology. That's a first step to getting involved with people, into reaching people, is they're already on social media, so find them there. So, man, like for the mission code, we're on like the little community pages and you know anything like that that has to do with our communities. We're active on those pages, letting people know what we're doing, where we are And that's how people can find us.

Porter: 39:05

Genius. I mean, I say that but it's not, all things considered, a brand new concept, right Like you find where people are congregating and what they're talking about and inject it. but Exactly. Yeah, man, super cool. That was great dude And for everybody listening. Thank you for tuning in and listening into our core values for June of abundance, adventure, prosperity. Mike, i gotta thank your wife for giving up this evening Well, she's taking care of the kids for you to be able to come out and talk to us, but also for everybody you've worked with obviously your mom, the experiences that she brought you up with, your dad And, as it turns out, serbia and Christmas, because that sounds like a super cool opportunity. Yeah, it's awesome For all the inspiration it brought to this conversation. Man, super cool. I wish we had more time. You know we could have more time. You wanna come back on the show? you let me know.

Mike Rebich: 39:51

Absolutely, man. I'd love to come back.

Porter: 39:52

Yeah, i'm all about it. That was super cool, but I also gotta thank our show partners Keystone Farmers Market, hovenklocker Farms and, obviously, bo Spraub, for your distribution. So, folks, if you're interested in joining our conversation or you wanna discover our other interviews, you can check out transactingvaluepodcastcom and follow along on all our social media, where we continue to stream new interviews every Monday at 9 am Eastern Standard Time on all your favorite podcasting platforms. But until next time, that was Transacting Value. Thanks for listening.