Celebrating Its 25th Anniversary

RV/MH Heritage Foundation Comes of Age

by Don Magary, editor

In early August, the RV/MH Heritage Foundation commemorated its 25th anniversary with a Hall of Fame induction ceremony and dinner in Elkhart, IN, where nine RV and manufactured housing industry veterans were honored. After years of struggle to receive broad-based industry support it seemed as if this event marked a turning point in the foundation's history.

For years industry pioneers outside the northern Indiana-southern Michigan area were reluctant to support the organization expressing their belief that the focus of the foundation was regional rather than national. But that stigma has most certainly passed by the wayside as evidenced by the national audience of more than 350 that came together to celebrate their industries' heritage and pay tribute to those who were being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

This event was the successful culmination of a lot of hard work that involved changing the parochial perception about the Heritage Foundation.

Credit for changing that perception must go to the leadership of foundation's past and current boards of directors. Another key element was the recruitment of Carl Ehry as president and chief fund-raiser.

Ehry joined the foundation in July 1994 and to his surprise, there was only enough money in the bank to operate for about one month -- $4,800. "When I learned about the bank account I was devastated," Ehry told RV News. "I told my wife we are in trouble and it's as if we are starting over."

So his first job was raise enough money to keep the foundation solvent -- a job he was well qualified to tackle. Ehry grew up in North Dakota and after school joined the Salvation Army. In that capacity he eventually ended up in Elkhart, IN. Later he became head of the United Way for Elkhart County and was very successful as a fund raiser. For example, when he joined the United Way, RV and manufactured housing industry companies were contributing collectively about $75,000 annually. He was instrumental in increasing those contributions to over $800,000.

As he embarked on his new career at the foundation, Ehry's special knack as a fund raiser became evident early-on. For example, shortly after he joined the foundation, Ehry was sitting in his office one Friday when the phone rang. Ehry answered. He recalled, "The man on the phone said, 'I want a picture of E. M. "Gene" Raker (Peerless Trailers) and you have him in the Hall of Fame.' He explained that Raker was one of the developers of the double-wide for manufactured homes.

"Since I had only been onboard a short time, I didn't know that, but I took his word for it."

The man calling turned out to be the chairman of the board of the Raker Foun-dation. Raker had died and left millions of dollars to the foundation.

"He said, 'We have a new office building and don't have a picture of Gene Raker. We would like to make an enlargement of the one you have in the Hall of Fame.'

"I asked, 'Do you mind picking up the photographic costs?'

"He said, 'You have cash flow problems?'

"I said, 'Yes -- we have one-month in the bank.'

"He said, 'Why don't you bring the picture over and I'll give you $5,000 for the foundation.'

"I said, "Can I come over Monday . . . ?

"We had lunch the following Monday. He said, "I've decided to give you $10,000, $5,000 now and $5,000 in January, because Gene was so honored to be inducted into the Hall of Fame."

That was the first of many success stories. However, it was going to take a lot more to sustain the foundation's on-going expenses, and it called for creative methods of fund raising.

Ehry and the board decided to conduct a national sweepstakes in order to raise part of the funds needed to sustain the foundation's work. The raffle was organized and launched, but lackluster ticket sales caused the association to have to extend the raffle for 90 days, which meant the expected funds would also be postponed.

By the end of November, the bank account had again dwindled to $4,400. Ehry decided he needed to be at the National RV Show in Louisville to try to sell raffle tickets and make contacts. He recalled, "I didn't have any money, the show was sold out, and I had no place to stay. RV News was kind enough to allow us to set up a table in their booth so I had a chance to talk to a lot of people about the foundation and promote the raffle.

"Actually, I was scared to spend the money to go to the Louisville show -- $300 to $400. But at the show Warren Jones (chairman emeritus Hehr International) walked up to me and said, 'How we doing?'

"I said, 'It's really close. We've got $4,400 in the bank; we're a couple of weeks from passing out resumes. Continued