I'd like a seat at the table.

August 14, 2026

To the trustees, the nominating committee, and anyone who's ever closed a shift at 4 a.m.,

I'm putting my name forward for a seat on the Waffle House Foundation board. I'll keep this shorter than a coffee refill takes.

I spend my working life on housing. Twelve years in multifamily real estate, underwriting and operating apartment communities — which means I've read a great many ledgers with a $900 gap in them, and I know exactly what that gap does to a person who is otherwise doing everything right. A blown transmission, a hospital co-pay, a security deposit due Friday. The distance between a paycheck and a place to sleep is measured in a few hundred dollars, and it closes fast in either direction.

That's the Foundation's whole business: getting money to an associate in crisis before the crisis compounds. It's the same arithmetic I do all day, pointed at something better. On the side I've spent six years running fundraising events for a small nonprofit — permits, sponsors, volunteers, the folding tables, the thank-you notes. I've raised roughly $340,000 doing it, mostly $50 at a time, and I've learned that the unglamorous half of charity work is where the money actually is.

If you'll have me, here's what I'd order.

Three ways I'd take it

Scattered Spread the base wider. The fund shouldn't rest on a couple dozen large gifts. I'd build a recurring small-donor program — the goal is a thousand people giving $10 a month, which is dull, durable money that shows up whether or not anyone's in a giving mood.

Smothered Layer a match on top. Vendors, suppliers, and lending partners will match if someone asks them properly. Asking properly is a thing I do for a living. Every dollar an associate gives a coworker should land as two.

Covered Nobody left uncovered. A relief fund only works if people know about it before the bad week, not during. I'd push for the fund to be as familiar on the wall of every store as the menu is — and for the application to be short enough to finish on a phone, on a break.

I'm not looking for a line on a bio. I'm looking for a board seat where the work is concrete, the checks reach real people, and the meetings end on time. This one qualifies.

Call me before you vote if you'd like to argue about any of it. I'll bring the coffee, though I understand yours is better and cheaper.