Mike Rowe has had some dirty jobs, but he’s also a Distinguished Eagle Scout.
Mike Rowe is a favorite media personality of mine. He hosts a show on CNN that’s about the tough jobs … “Somebody’s Gotta Do It.” He believes in doing work that’s dirty. He’s a Distinguished Eagle Scout. And, he’s a consummate showman and fundraiser for his non-profit, non-partisan foundation, mikeroweWORKS, that exists to fund scholarships for people getting training in the trades.
Mike Rowe is a big supporter of honest work, where collars are not white, if they exist at all. He’s about to award $600,000 in scholarships. That may not be a dirty job, but it’s certainly an important one.
He regularly auctions off C.R.A.P. to raise funds for the foundation … that’s Collectibles, Rare And Precious, to the uninitiated. He typically finds things in his storage room to auction, and occasionally one of his fans will contribute their skills to, for example, make his faded blue jeans into a purse. He regularly auctions off memorabilia from his shows, such as a warning light globe from the Mackinac Bridge, which was the subject of one of his shows several years ago.
Recently, he mused about auctioning off something from our leading political candidates in this tumultuous season … an autographed bathrobe from the Donald, or a similarly autographed pantsuit from the Hillary. Or something like that.
And a smart campaign worker made one of those ideas happen.
If you know Mike’s work, then you know he is independent. He did not seek one candidate’s contribution over another, and he’s specifically promised that he will auction off a contribution from the other candidate, with all appropriate pomp & circumstance, should they make a contribution. That didn’t stop the boo birds from coming out, though, and his Facebook page has been alive with flames saying “How COULD you?”
He’s doing it for the money to fund more scholarships, and I have no problem with that. Do you?
Want to own your own Trump bathrobe – and support mikeroweWORKS at the same time? The auction is open on ebay until August 1 … and, as I write this, bidding is now over $10,000. You can bid, here.
What a wonderful thing to do – sadly, the people who “do” are woefully outnumbered by those who say “Oh, somebody SHOULD do this” or “NOBODY should ever do that” – I hope he gets HUGE bids on all the items he gets from whoever is decent enough to give him something! Three cheers for Mike Rowe!
PS – I think maybe it was Patton who said “Lead, follow or get out of the way!” I’m very tempted to say that any time someone has to offer an opinion [and NO effort at all] on something like this. If they don’t like what’s being done, get off their backside and get busy doing what they think SHOULD be done – that way there will be twice the help for someone who needs it!!
100%!