A Message from Henry Schwarz
Dear NTB family,
When I was a boy, we as a family went through a season where there just wasn’t enough for everyone to leave the table with full bellies. I was ten years younger than my brother and he was a teenager with a ravenous appetite. What I recall from those days was that Mom would distribute what we had as fairly as she could based on our need, but as I recall it my brother would aid me with my portion which left me feeling even more hungry and feeling like it wasn’t fair. At that point in our family’s life, my dad had been incapacitated for a season and my brother was bringing home his earnings as a teenager to help the family so I am sure my emotions were in conflict with his real care for us/me. In any case the real answer to our challenge was to increase the amount of food we were able to distribute to the family. That required us to look for more opportunity to earn, whether that was my sisters babysitting, house cleaning, Mom working at the canning company, my working in the garden to grow food, you get the picture. We all survived and learned a great life lesson which was to overcome need with a pursuit of opportunity and teamwork.
As I look back some 56 years later, I am deeply moved by my brother’s care for all of us. He got a job no one else was willing to do working for the village of Sauk City, WI, which was to climb down into the storm sewers that had filled up with rotting leaves, deceased animals, road debris...etc. He would fill a bucket on a rope and the person at the top would haul up the bucket as it dripped on his head. The bucket was dumped into the truck and then drop back down the manhole for him to start the process all over again. It took months to clean the traps throughout the village. At that point in time I didn’t appreciate the sacrifice that my brother made in my care, but I get it now. His example has been a pattern for my life that I have pursued with a hope to pay it forward.
As we at NTB are faced with some areas of shortage due to changes in health care, government regulation, increased tax burden... which have resulted in increased expense and reduced income, we can rejoice that we have opportunity with new business and resources with the new equipment that we have invested in to replace worn out equipment. The next step we will be taking to enlarge our storehouse is to adjust our compensation to the driving force with the goal of adding revenue producing family members. As in the case with my family, those who were able to produce revenue were also the answer to taking advantage of opportunity to fill the storehouse that I was able to share in. I didn’t contribute much when I was 5, but I learned to give what I had to supply the family’s needs and as I grew older I was able to contribute at a much deeper level. In any case, the goal was to prosper as a family and we ultimately all shared in the solution which was to earn more for each to share and before long there was enough that we were able to enjoy a full belly and even have food in the storehouse for security. We each had an important part in meeting all of the needs, whether it was pulling weeds in the garden or earning a paycheck that was shared by all.
I still have memories of that hunger and a realization that hunger needs to be directed at enlarging the storehouse for the good of the family and the value of earning for the good of the family still burns within me. I look forward to inviting more individuals to our family so we can fill the storehouses and I have every confidence that we will all ultimately enjoy the fruit of our labors. Please join me as I pursue the care of the NTB family.
Henry Schwarz
President