Blog: Maverick Giving

From JuanAhonenJover - Apr. 15, 2008 5:30 PM

FIRST MIAMI PRIDE PARADE IN 10 YEARS

As incredible as it may seem, by 2003 Miami had not had a Pride Parade in 10 years or so. So a group of people decided to organize one for that year. A couple of weeks before the parade, they approached Ken and I since they needed $2,000 for the fee to use a park for the parade.

The organizers showed us a business plan and explained that the $2,000 was just a loan since they expected to make the money selling T-shirts and other items at the park. We gladly gave them the money, but having had quite a bit of entrepreneurial experience, we did not expect that they would make any money and therefore the loan would not be repaid.

We thought that $2,000 was a maverick investment in helping to revitalize a Pride Parade in our city.

As you can expect for the first parade in many years, not many people showed up and certainly not many T-shirts were sold.

To our surprise, a few days after the parade the main organizer came to visit us with a personal check in hand for $2,000. When we pushed him, he disclosed that the event had not made any money, but he said that he was returning the money since he promised that it was a loan.

We were most impressed by his integrity, especially since we knew of his personal medical bills. Of course, we tore down the check. This was the best $2,000 we have invested in personal integrity.

Juan and Ken Ahonen-Jover

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