Every so often, about once every three months or so, David Hansen makes a trip — usually early in the morning — to Costco. He fills one of those industrial shopping cart dollies with granola bars and juice boxes — about 25 cases of each. He loads up the bed of his red Toyota pick-up truck (Al Gore's worst nightmare, he says) and starts his delivery route to 15 schools across the local school district.
Welcome to the Breakfast Club. Hansen is the creator, financier and sole delivery man for the program he launched in 2004. He started the program, which provides breakfast to kids in the local elementary and middle schools, after hearing a student from a poor family say breakfast was the thing he liked best about school. “I thought, ‘Wow. That shouldn't be the answer.’ His response just stuck with me,” he says.
After coordinating with the schools' counseling departments, Hansen decided he could help the local students improve their school performance by reducing hunger. Over the past three years, Hansen has purchased and personally delivered over 7,000 granola bars and 3,000 juice boxes to 13 schools.
The Breakfast Club doesn't require much time (about a day and a half) nor much money ($800 per trip), Hansen says. And that's a good thing because Hansen's affinity for helping children doesn't stop there. He also sponsors kids in 10 countries through the Save the Children program. Each child corresponds through letters and pictures with his or her sponsor and the money sent is used for education, healthcare, clean water and other investments in the kids' communities. Hansen liked the program so much that he decided to link up some of the kids with his clients. “I wanted to sponsor more kids, but there was no way I could correspond with all of them,” he says. Today, he sponsors 109 kids concentrated in Haiti and Africa and pays about $3,900 in monthly fees associated with the program. Hansen and his family correspond with their core group of four or five kids; the rest communicate with his clients. “It's a great way to put money toward a good cause and get clients involved,” he says.
Firm: Meridian Wealth Management (LPL Financial)
City: Boulder, CO
Age: 53
Years as a rep: 25
Years with current firm: 3
Production: $1.1 million
AUM: $90 million
Product Mix: Insurance 20%; Stocks 0%; Bonds 10%; Managed accounts 70%
Specialty: General wealth management
Designations: N/A
Licenses: 24, 65, 7