Wooster Area Chamber Of Commerce Jack O’Donnell Community Service Award: Chad Boreman
WOOSTER – Chad Boreman, the owner of Boreman-Cook Financial Services, is this year’s winner of the Jack O’Donnell Award for Community Service by the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce. A graduate of Northwestern High School and the University of Toledo, Boreman described how he chooses among worthy options in his pursuit of community service as taking “things that pop up.” In his opinion, it’s a matter of being at “the right place at the right time” when an “opportunity to assist” surfaces.
“My family works with me on the schedule,” he said, recognizing as his daughters, Emma, 12, and Carter, 8, get older, his priorities will begin to change. “A lot of stuff I did when the girls were little,” he said, when they were not as active in outside ventures, such as sports and dance, as they are now. However, while his priorities may shift, he said, he will “still want to be active in the community.”
On his exhaustive list of service to the community — board member of Apple Creek Banking Company, Rotary International past president and board of directors, vice chairperson of the Al Van Wie Rotary Classic People to People Food Drive, chairperson and board member of Main Street Wooster, corporate board member of The Village Network, and board member of the Wooster Transit Authority — Rotary membership may be most dear to his heart.
“Rotary has been such an awesome experience,” he said, particularly observing members’ commitment to the community and “what they do quietly, how they mentor people, and how they support the community in so many ways.” It gave him his initial exposure as an adult to community service. But as a child he absorbed the lesson as well through his family of origin and through his grandparents.
“When we were young, our mother would take us to various church activities to visit the elderly and sing Christmas carols,” Boreman said, in addition to trying to do “other good things like that.” His grandparents lived out an “open door policy,” offering those in need “a place to stay and a helping hand.” In fact, an honorary “uncle,” whom they found living at the fairgrounds and took into their own home when he was 16, remains part of the family.
“They’ve done that with several others,” he said. Through family examples, Boreman learned to “be there to lend a hand when you have opportunity to give of your time. It’s a good thing to do.”
Boreman and his wife, Sarah, will pass the tradition of giving back to their own children. “The girls help me on the Al Van Wie food drive,” he said. “Sarah, along with the girls,” give a hand wherever they can, from Wayne Center for the Arts functions to school activities in order to “help those in need with a little assistance.” They do it graciously, he said.
“It is really a joint effort to make (community service) a priority and focus,” said Boreman, who has amassed 20 years of experience in wealth management services. In comments responding to the Chamber’s question “What Makes You Tick,” he said he grew up recognizing a “responsibility to give of your time and resources.” The leadership of “excellent mentors to learn from and follow” in the community “has paved the way for our generation and many future generations to continue to make this community one of the best places to live and raise a family.” “I continue to find it extremely amazing the vast number of community-minded people who quietly make a significant difference in Wooster,” he said.
Chad Boreman is one of those, according to Justin Starlin, president of the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce. “Chad has emerged as a proactive community supporter both with his time and talents and also through financial contributions,” Starlin said, describing Boreman as “unique in the fact that he will support all aspects of a project or initiative from being extremely hands-on to financially supporting the cause.”
“Chad also has a solid reputation with the various nonprofit boards that he sits on,” Starlin said. “Known as a very strong member, Chad is not hesitant to share his thoughts; and when he believes in a cause, he is a strong supporter who is willing to put in the time to see it succeed. “When you think of the next generation of community leaders and philanthropists, Chad is definitely one of the top individuals,” Starlin said. “He will be one of the community leaders who will continue the rich tradition of proactive community involvement, financial support and leadership.”
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Reporter Linda Hall can be reached at 330-264-1125, Ext. 2230, or lhall@the-daily-record.com.