Making A Difference: An Occasional Series Profiling North Idaho’S Community Leaders Good At What He Does Steve Schenk Says His Position At North Idaho College Is The Best Job He’S Ever Had

Steve Schenk never screamed at Coeur d’Alene to “show me the money,” but people came through anyway.

At Schenk’s urging, they flooded North Idaho College with enough $100 donations to wallpaper Boswell Hall. In return, they got a chance to win a brand new $200,000 home.

The Really Big Raffle has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for NIC’s Foundation, which Schenk directs. Much of that money has gone to scholarships, providing community college educations for hundreds of people who might not have stayed in school.

“Without Steve, the foundation positively wouldn’t have taken off the way it did,” says Jo Webb, the foundation’s founder and still a board member. “He’s a marvelous guy.”

The foundation’s assets have mushroomed from $250,000 to $7 million during Schenk’s 15-year reign over the fund. He modestly declines credit, praising his staff and the 25-member board.

But both are reflections of Schenk.

“He’s good at finding creative people and getting the best out of them,” says Sandy Emerson, former director of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce. Emerson nabbed Schenk for the chamber board shortly after Schenk’s 1984 arrival in town.

The foundation wasn’t in Schenk’s game plan back then.

“I never expected a career in fund-raising,” he says. “But this is the best job I’ve ever had.”

He didn’t know what he wanted to do after high school in St. Louis, Mo. Law school intrigued him, but he needed a bachelor’s degree first.

He settled on journalism at the University of Missouri, and punctuated his education with service in the Army National Guard. After graduation, Schenk went to work instead of law school.

Love deposited him in a public relations job with the St. Louis Junior College District. The position enabled him to stay near his future wife, Gretchen Berning.

Berning pulled the couple to Wyoming four years later, when she found a job on the Wind River Indian reservation.

Schenk worked several journalism-related jobs in the area before he found the opportunity he wanted in 1978. He invested $3,000 in the Thermopolis Independent Record, a newspaper with 4,000 readers.

He and Berning took over as publishers. For seven years, they did everything, from selling ads to writing editorials.

“It taught me I didn’t have the personality to stay in the newspaper business,” Schenk says. “Someone is always angry at you. I like almost everybody and I want everyone to like me.”

They sold their share in the paper in 1984, bought a minivan and headed west. Spokane impressed them, so they moved. Schenk applied for a public relations job at NIC and was hired that November.

“I had no career plan. I was just going to do the job,” he says.

Six months later, he and Berning moved to Coeur d’Alene.

The new job included directing the fledgling foundation.

“I didn’t know how I’d feel about asking people to give money to NIC,” Schenk says. “Once I realized I was raising money for something I truly believe in, it got easy.”

Emerson helped by inviting the affable Schenk to join the chamber board. Many of the contacts Schenk made there became foundation supporters and board members.

Schenk immersed himself in his new community and encouraged local organizations to use NIC. His easygoing warmth worked well in Coeur d’Alene and generated healthy public support for the college.

It was no calculated public relations effort.

“I have never met a more fair, honorable person. He’s exceptional to work for and as a friend,” says Rayelle Anderson, the foundation’s associate director. “He always sees the bright side and advocates for what’s right. He’s a wonderful role model for us.”

Schenk’s passion for fitness nearly matched his enthusiasm for NIC. His lunchtime health club workouts connected him with a new segment of the community, and kept him trim and smiling.

“I’m always reminded that my dad died at 50,” he says. “I always feel good and happy after I work out.”

In 1993, Schenk proposed the foundation raffle off a house built by NIC’s carpentry students. Students built a house every year for someone in the community, but had to handle everything from construction to chasing down payments.

A dean suggested the foundation manage the project. Schenk figured raffling the house could raise big money for the foundation. He suggested selling 4,000 tickets for $100 each. If the tickets didn’t sell, the foundation would return the money and sell the house.

“Our biggest risk was the marketing expense of the raffle,” he says.

The idea barely squeaked past the skeptical foundation board, but the public embraced it. The raffle has sold out every year since and netted a minimum of $150,000 a year.

“He’s the best I’ve ever seen at what he does,” says Jerry Gee, NIC’s vice president of instruction. “He really believes in what he’s doing and he gives it all the effort he has, all the time.”