Hooray for Grass-Roots Nonprofits

By Linda Lovely

Many well-known nonprofit/charitable organizations are national—even international—in scope. Such organizations often have paid staff and sizeable budgets for promotional mailings, websites, and brochures. They may even have celebrities to champion their causes.



Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum



That’s seldom the case for grass-roots nonprofits—ones started because a single dreamer or perhaps some like-minded folks see a community need that’s going unmet, a wrong that needs to be righted, or they have a quality-of-life vision. This blog salutes the tireless heroes and heroines who have such dreams and won’t stop working until they breathe life into their goals.   



Captain Steve Kennedy



My late cousin, Stephen Ross Kennedy, was one such hero. A native of Spirit Lake/Lake Okoboji, Iowa, he loved the history of the Iowa Great Lakes. Steve lamented the passing of the golden era when tour boats plied the lakes, ferrying passengers from one grand resort to another, or giving folks who couldn’t afford a boat a chance to experience a sunset cruise. Steve wasn’t alone. Working through the Chamber of Commerce, Steve and his friends raised funds to build the Queen II, a double-decker tour boat. After tour revenues paid off the Queen II mortgage, profits built the Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum, located in Historic Arnolds Park, an amusement park that’s entertained Midwesterners for over a century. The museum is another nonprofit gem.

My family with Steve's statue.

Steve became the first captain of the Queen II and the first director of the Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum. However, borrowing one of my cousin’s expressions, he’d have been “happy as a clam” even if he hadn’t been honored with these opportunities. He’d also be surprised to know his statue now stands on the Arnolds Park pier. Steve’s love for the lakes was contagious, and the Queen II and museum are gifts that continue to give. The Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum offers fun history lessons for every member of a family—from bathing suits our great grandparents might have worn to the evolution of motorboats. The Queen II also retains her regal status as the first lady of the lake. 

 

NO WAKE ZONE, the second book in my Marley Clark Mystery Series, is set in Lake Okoboji/Spirit Lake and opens with a billionaire’s death aboard the Queen. The Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum also figures in the mystery. Last summer, I did a book signing at the museum with all profits going to support the museum. I hope every

Has a grass-roots nonprofit made a difference in your hometown? Are you helping?

Where Are the Women? A Military Mystery

WANTED: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Needs Charismatic Heroine

Qualified applicants should be physically fit and battle tested with investigative- or intelligence-gathering experience and leadership abilities. Training in self-defense, survival skills, and weaponry a plus.

The muscled images of ex-military heroes—men trained as SEALS, Special Operatives, Rangers and Military Police—grace the covers of dozens of romantic suspense novels written by women. Male authors have been even busier penning novels with veteran heroes from Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer and John Macdonald’s Travis McGee to Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch and Lee Child’s Jack Reacher.

So where are the ex-military heroines?

Capable heroines populate many of today’s crime novels. They work as district attorneys, homicide detectives, medical examiners, and Secret Service and FBI agents. Yet only a handful of leading ladies list military experience on their resumes.

To be fair, if it weren’t for a lifelong friendship, I doubt I’d have been smart enough to cast a 52-year-old retired military intelligence officer as the star of my Marley Clark mystery series. Wanting a heroine with “thriller” qualifications, I immediately thought of Arlene, a friend since kindergarten and a retired military intelligence officer. Arlene graciously shared details to give Marley relevant career experiences and depth.

I’ve met a number of Arlene’s Army friends, and these ladies are smart, physically fit, witty, and often hold advanced college degrees. They also know how to use weapons and understand tactics. Excellent heroine material.

According to various sources, U.S. women military vets number between 1.8 and two million, with more than 214,000 women on active duty in all services—about 14 percent of the entire U.S. military. In 2011, West Point graduated 225 women. At the Naval Academy, female cadets make up about 17 percent of graduates. About 35,000 women serve as officers.

As a result of policy reforms, 91 percent of Army and 99 percent of Air Force occupations are open to women. Dozens of career paths provide women with the skill sets needed to unravel mysteries and combat deadly foes. A partial list might include military intelligence analysts, who assist in collecting information and then work to filter, assess and knit it together to identify enemy units, personnel and equipment; military intelligence officers specializing in operational, communications or physical security; lawyers with the Judge Advocate General; Military Police, members of the Criminal Investigative Division, who may even work undercover to investigate a variety of crimes such as dealers attempting to sell drugs to military personnel. 

Many are also battle-tested. Almost 41,000 women served in theater during the Persian Gulf War. More than 20,000 women served as peacekeepers in Bosnia and Kosovo, and about ten percent of U.S. Forces serving in Afghanistan and Iraq are women.

 

Given the nature of warfare today, front-line combat units need support units nearby. That means the driver of an Army supply truck or a communications specialist must always be alert to ambush and attack. In every arm of the service, a person’s first job must be soldiering—specialties come second.

My conclusion? Marley Clark may soon share mystery/suspense bookshelves with many more ex-military heroines. There are too many heroic possibilities out there to ignore.

Do you know a vet who’d make a great heroine?

My Marley Clark Mysteries, DEAR KILLER & NO WAKE ZONE, are available as e-books and trade paperbacks. Visit my website for buy links.

Celebrating The Ones Who Inspire Us

I can’t wait for June 16, 2012. That’s when I make a book signing/benefit appearance at the Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum in Arnolds Park/Lake Okoboji, Iowa. All profits from museum sales of my latest mystery, NO WAKE ZONE, will benefit the museum. 

The benefit is my chance to salute someone who inspired me—Stephen Ross Kennedy, my late cousin. NO WAKE ZONE is dedicated to Steve, one of the Maritime Museum’s founders and its first director. Steve also was the first captain of the Queen II, an excursion boat that plies the waters of Okoboji West every summer.

While book launches and signings are always fun, this one is truly special. It lets me spotlight a life that mattered. In no small part, Steve’s infectious enthusiasm is responsible for helping a number of the lake region’s family fun staples continue to flourish. His life and contributions should be a lesson to us all when we’re tempted to shrug our shoulders and ask “why bother?”

Steve didn’t graduate from college. It wasn’t his cup of tea. But he loved the Iowa Great Lakes and read every book about the region’s history he could lay his hands on. He worked in a drug store, joined the Chamber. When the idea of bringing a grand excursion boat back to the lakes took root, he sought donations door-to-door. When the Queen II was christened, he was ecstatic to be asked to be its first captain. Never mind that he’d never driven anything larger than his beloved Hafer motorboat. As Steve guided the Queen II around Lake Okoboji, his humor-laced patter brought patrons back again and again. Soon the Queen paid off its debts and banked profits were saved to build the Maritime Museum, a magical time capsule that includes all types of memorabilia from nineteenth century ladies bathing suits to boats with gleaming mahogany exteriors.

While the “cousin” in NO WAKE ZONE is fictional, there’s no doubt who inspired my affable character, Captain Ross. And I’m delighted to report the institutions that play major roles in my novel are real treasures of the Iowa Great Lakes. While I hope you’ll read my new mystery, I hope even more that you have occasion to board the Queen II for a cruise and visit the Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum located in Historic Arnolds Park. Maybe you’ll even hear Steve’s good-natured chuckle on the breeze.

Do you like to read books set in real locations? Authors, do you ever salute your loved ones by incorporating their personalities in your cast of characters?