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Looking for inspiration, insightful advice, and a supportive community to help you navigate your business journey?
The Carolina Women's Collective is your one-stop shop. This biweekly podcast, hosted by Booth Parker, features interviews with a powerful network of female entrepreneurs and business leaders, sharing their inspiring stories, actionable advice, and industry expertise.
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[00:00:00]
Booth: Today on the Carolina Women's Collective Podcast, I am joined by Dawn Carteret. Dawn is the example of a beautiful life of service. She is a Marine Corps veteran. She was the rock alongside her husband as he founded Wells Global. An engineering and construction company that designs and installs backup power systems for the federal government, and she has led numerous nonprofits and community events.
Dawn is a true philanthropist with the heart dedicated to giving back. Welcome to the podcast today, Dawn.
Dawn: Thank you so much, booth for having [00:01:00] me. And thank you for Jillian for also having inviting me.
Booth: Uh, we're so glad you're here. So you have, um, one of those kind of wonderful love story American dream stories.
I love reading about your story. So you married your high school sweetheart, mark, fairly soon after graduating high school, and then you both decided to join the Marine Corps together. Tell us about that decision to marry young, even though you both had aspirations to get college degrees.
Dawn: I think that the first thing is we both attended a year of college right after high school graduation in 1978, and we were at different schools and we were both miserable without each other.
All we were doing is trying to see one another. I think that was, um, something that was a real catalyst in getting married so early. we, were traveling nonstop to see one another, [00:02:00] and we knew that if we got married, we were married in August of 1979, a year after we graduated from high school.
And we knew that if we did not. Do something that we were gonna end up in a textile mill Burlington was a textile mill, you know, city. And that, that is not a good place to be. Um, it doesn't pay well. It's a, was kind of a dead end road. I. So I don't know how we came to the idea, but we decided to join the Marine Corps and, um, at first we were gonna join the Air Force, but we went at the time of the day where the Air Force recruiter was out to lunch.
So the Marine Corps recruit recruiter was standing right there in the doorway as they shared one floor of this office building. He started talking to us and we signed with the Marine Marine Corps recruiter. Um, looking back on it now, sometimes I think, what was I [00:03:00] thinking? What were we thinking? We didn't have our thinking taps on, but you know what?
We are better off for that decision. It, um, it served, has served us a lifetime. It has made us stronger. It has made us smarter. More willing to take risks. I think it just really broadened our horizons. our parents could not afford to send us to school once we got married.
They were, they were stretching it just to fix, you know, to pay for that first year. So it was kind of like we had to have something and that was what fell in our lap.
Booth: let's talk about your time as a Marine. So, I personally, I grew up right near Camp Lejeune and so I've had a lot of friends whose fathers were in the Marine Corps, but women in the Marine Corps is not nearly as common, so.
You and Mark, you both did the basic electronic school and you both worked in air defense. So kind of tell us about that time in the Marine Corps as a [00:04:00] woman and your role and things you learned and really how it shaped your future once you left the military.
Dawn: I was one of a handful of girls and we were girls then that was required to qualify with an M 16 on a range, a firing range.
actually, it was, we were the first three that ever qualified in the Marine Corps. Um. It was a wild time. I was used to shooting small handguns but not rifles, and when they got me out there, I was, They allowed us to shoot all kinds of guns and that was very exciting.
we went to bootcamp in January of 1980 and finished in March of 1980 and then went to. Basic electronic school and after that, to Cherry point, most people think. At that time, most women were in administrative positions.
We were one of a, a group of women that were sent [00:05:00] on NATO deployments, lived out in the field, went 40 days without a shower, um, lived in tents side by side with men. There was no exceptions made for us, and it was kind of like a trial to see how this would go. I look back on it now, and it was probably one of the most fun times of my life.
It was difficult, it was difficult in many ways. We were treated very well by male marines. I, I, I suffered very little, um, any kind of, uh, um, sexual, you know, abuse or anything like that, or sexual harassment. Very little, which is kind of surprising given this was over 40 years ago and the climate was not the same as back then as it is today.
Um. I went on things that I never imagined. I could conquer a 25 mile force march through the mountains of the Mojave Desert, which is just nothing but sand. And when your feet hit the sand, they just sink into the sand. It was like [00:06:00] walking in concrete for 25 miles. That was difficult, that I swore into my breath a lot that day.
It was a wild time. I met the most wonderful people that I still keep in touch with. Many of them. It was an experience that you cannot duplicate. When I was in the service, many of my friends were in college in sororities, and sometimes that tugged at me, um, kind of pulled at my heart like they were out having a great time.
But what I didn't realize is I have come to understand, uh, comradery.
In a way that I could have never understood. Comradery. It has defined me. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. It made me a stronger woman. It made me more,itdefined My thoughts and my beliefs, it led me to think in new ways, outside of the box, much outside of the box.
I had to work full-time when I went back to college and it [00:07:00] was, um. I hit the ground running when I went to college. I loved every minute of it. I excelled in college. I graduated Summa cu Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. That would've never happened if I'd have continued on the path or the trajectory I was on, you know, earlier.
So it gave me, gave me so much confidence as well.
Booth: Yeah, that is so fascinating. Like you were a true trailblazer. Like you were one of the first women. Out there, there, um, it was basically a combat role, correct? Because you were in the field,
Dawn: right. Our, the field I was in what they call MOSA military occupational specialty.
it was combat from the air. For example, the squadron I worked with worked in conjunction with surface to air missiles. So when we would, watch dog the space, and should, uh, foreign or unfriendly aircraft enter that space, [00:08:00] we would launch missiles to take 'em down.
It seems kind of strange to say that now it was once a part of my daily life, but 40 years later it's, it seems so strange to say that, um, because it was so deadly. And, um, and I'm just a little girl from Burlington who liked to paint her nails, you know? it was a very different, uh, atmosphere and environment for me, but I'm glad I did that.
It made me a strong woman.
Booth: Yeah. A amazing
Dawn: woman.
Booth: I can only imagine. So, I don't, I don't know if you can answer this question or not, but where were some of the places you were deployed to, um, during your service?
Dawn: Um, not as, I was only in for four years, I went to Denmark and Ireland, uh, and that was it.
I did a number of NATO deployments, but many of them were here in the United States, um, in new, in, uh, New Mexico, um, and then California. Um, but the, the only real native exercise that I did [00:09:00] outside of the states was Denmark. And then I did see Ireland.
Booth: How had that experience affected you when you were approaching your education? So you said you excelled, you were, I think you said sumi cum laude when you graduated. That, how did that experience really shape what you wanted to get out of your education when you
Dawn: I had learned so much while I was in the Marine Corps, and I did well in high school, but not to the extent that I did in college, after one or two courses.
Initially, in 1984, I realized I love to learn and, and I had not made that connection before. I love to learn. I took every course I could. I was in school throughout the summers, and that was intentional. That wasn't, you know, um, by chance or by demand, uh, um, from the school. I loved learning and. I did everything I could.
Um, my dad used to get on me because I took a lot of liberal arts courses, [00:10:00] and he'd go, you can't, you can't make a living like that. And I'm like, I'll make a living. I'll make a living. But, um, when I was learning about the religions of the world, when I was learning about history, I studied a long time. I spent a year and a half in my, in college learning about the German Holocaust.
I spent a lot of time focused on the Antebellum South, the Civil War, and the time afterwards. It has made me a very smart person. Not because I am smart, but because I am learned, but it, it helped me so much. Um, it taught me a lot about civics, a lot about our constitution, a lot about our government.
And so I attribute that all, it gave me the discipline to sit down and do it, and the desire to do it.
Booth: That is so, so fascinating. So you have just, you're almost, I know you went to college, but at the same time, like when you really [00:11:00] take it that seriously in a way, you're, you're self-taught because you want to just consume and learn everything you can, and it just makes you so well-rounded and.
I can't imagine the confidence it continued on after your military service as well. I can't, I probably
Dawn: shouldn't share this, but I'm going to, um, I believe that every kid that graduates from high school should have to serve one or two years in the military because it grounds them, it humbles them. It shows them that things are not always going to be easy, and it helps them grow emotionally.
I think it's what they need before they hit the road running in college. You know, that probably sounds drastic and extreme to many, but, um, I also, but I also waited tables through college and I think people should always have to wait tables. I think that is also a very humbling experience.
So, um, so there's that.
Booth: Yes. So that is, um, so true and, [00:12:00] um, I didn't serve in the military. I'm grateful for everyone who has, and I've seen a lot of friends and family members, um, the sacrifices they make. But I have worked in restaurants and waited the tables and, and you know what I'm talking about,
Dawn: don't you?
Booth: I sure do. I sure do. So once you finished school, you and Mark, y'all moved to South Carolina for a bit and you worked at a credit union there, and then you eventually worked at American Airlines. So tell us a little bit about those, those roles, what you did with those, and just some valuable things from those experiences that you learned.
Dawn: I, the, the, the job that I had with the South Carolina Credit Union was pretty average. I, I don't know. I don't know that I gained a whole lot from it. Maybe. Um, oh, I, I gained a little bit of in, uh, knowledge about investing. I did. I, I, I don't wanna dis diminish that I did with that. I met some great people.
the job with the [00:13:00] American Airlines, that was a real growth builder. it taught me a lot about the airlines, which is something that affects so many of us in this country and around the world. Um, I worked as a curriculum developer, um, developing new curriculum for different programs, customer service programs, fairs and tariffs.
And I would go around with a group of other people, um. Offering classes to help people understand changes in policies and, you know, new, new procedures that were being implemented. Uh, that was a good job. That was very good job. It was a tough job. the airlines industry changes every five minutes, so it's really hard to sink your teeth into something and stay the same.
Everything is always changing and that's very difficult. Change is good, but not constant. I did learn a lot. I learned, uh, a lot about myself in that job too. I learned to stand up for myself. That's the one job I really learned to stand up for myself in and a little bit. I did [00:14:00] learn to stand up for myself in the Marine Corps as well, but I think that I learned that better at American Airlines, you know.
Booth: That is interesting. What, um, what an interesting role doing the policies and, and all of that kind of thing. It's, it's not something you just think about when you think about an airline, but that's definitely an important piece of it.
Dawn: I have great stories too. Like one night it was almost midnight and the weather I was trying to leave Dallas Fort Worth, the weather was, it was in the middle of the summer and the weather is always difficult
and I had the last first class seat on the plane and when someone came up and said, you're going to have to move, and that meant I had to move in the back because I was flying not as a full, a full fair paying customer. I was flying for business and that first class seat was available as long as a pain passenger didn't want it.
So I said, okay. I knew there was a chance and I started to pick up all my stuff and I look up and there was Oprah Winfrey.
Booth: Oh my gosh.
Dawn: And she, she was [00:15:00] like so apologetic. I'm like, no, don't apologize. This is the best story I've got. You know, this is gonna be a great story. I had an opportunity to work with Eddie Van Halen on some flights that were problematic.
So it, it had like some real perks.
Booth: Yeah, that sounds fun for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's great when you work hard, but you get some little fun parts in there too. Right.
Dawn: I know.
Booth: Um, so after this then comes the, the really hard role. You become a mom and you decide to quit working to raise your daughter, and what made you make that choice and kind of how did motherhood change your perspective on life after everything you'd already experienced to this point?
Dawn: Um, let's see here. My husband was traveling. He was not, he had not started his business yet. He was working for a company here, located here in Raleigh. He was traveling nonstop. He was going to Guam a couple times a month, and that was just a part of it. He was in Dallas and San Diego, New [00:16:00] York, Seattle, Florida, and he was going traveling nonstop.
And I had had, um. Of miscarriages and, um, that has also shaped me. Um, and so when I successfully delivered a little baby. I didn't, I wasn't too thrilled about going back to work. I didn't like that idea. I thought it took me forever to get her. Why am I gonna leave her now? And so I'm so glad I made that decision.
I gave up a lot. And, and I, when I say a lot, I don't, I, that's not really true. Um, I didn't learn how to use a computer like everyone else did. I don't know any, I can't navigate through word.
I can't do Excel, I can't do spreadsheets. I can't, I can barely do a document.
So, and I keep telling myself I'm gonna go to community college and learn how to do that. And I've never done it yet, but I gave up some stuff. Um, [00:17:00] but by and large, I would do it all over again. Now I can remember one particular day my husband was gone and had been gone for a week. That was difficult, always being home alone.
Anybody that stays with a small child knows the rigors that he presents. Uh, and I remember one particular morning I had given her a cup of milk with a tip. It was a tippy cup and, um. She, um, when I was walking away, she threw it at me and it landed on the floor. She was two and she said, I said blue cup.
And so that meant I, she wanted, she had to have blue in everything. And I remember standing there thinking, oh Lord, I can do more than this. I can do more than this. But that afternoon we were out doing stuff and I was enjoying her and I have the most wonderful memories of her, and I would not trade that for.
Booth: I love, I love hearing the, the mob stories, you know? Yeah. The, the
Dawn: hardest part was he, my husband was always gone. [00:18:00] And, um, that got to be, that probably was the most grueling time of my entire life, was that I was raising her by myself. Um, always alone. I didn't have anybody to talk to except for a 2-year-old.
Uh, you know, and, um, but somehow, I don't know. I made it work. I don't, that's probably the biggest challenge I have of my life.
Booth: Oh, I bet. single mom in.
Dawn: The only, the good part was I didn't have to worry about working and paying for everything. So, you know, there was, there's that.
Booth: Yeah, that was great.
That was great. So you mentioned Mark was traveling a lot. Obviously you were, you were home alone a good bit. But also during this time, while Catherine was toddler agent and everything, he was beginning to start his own business. So. Here you are raising a toddler. He is still working his corporate job and you're helping him launch his business, Wells Global, and he's leaving the comfort zone of corporate America.
[00:19:00] Tell us about that whole process of launching that while raising a toddler and, and all of the, the craziness that I'm sure you experienced in that time.
Dawn: When I look back on that, it could have been really ugly and it wasn't. He transitioned, while he was working for the company that he was working for, he slowly started stepping out.
The company that he was working for did most of their work with the FAA as does mark to this very day. Most of his jobs and work is with the FAA. So he had some real good friends with the FAA over four years. He had built a really solid core of good friends that were employed with the FAA. They actually were some of the ones that he, that encouraged him to go out on his own.
Um. And he started and they would give him, they would award him some bids here and there, they call 'em bids, you know, they would award him some jobs here and there. And [00:20:00] he was making a go of it. And after, I can't remember how long it was before I. I think it was maybe a year, year and a half, and maybe I'm wrong about that.
Before he severed the ties and quit the job and he was up and going, and at first he worked, his office was in our house and um, he made me knock before I came in. I liked it when he worked in the house. We would go out for lunch. We would, you know, it was just a special time between the two of us.
It really was. And um, but then he outgrew the house. It started, things started getting busier and he rented an office space. And at the same time, our daughter, we had been traveling with our daughter a lot before she started school, and I was able to go, come and go. And retain flight benefits with American Airlines.
So we were traveling quite a bit, but when she started school, that all came to an end. And, um, that's when it got difficult [00:21:00] because I couldn't see him as much. She couldn't see him as much. Um, we, a couple times we ended up moving to different locations just for like eight months or nine months. Instead of him letting, always him always being gone, I would take, I would pack us up and take.
With him so that she could see him and know him. And, um, but that came to an end when she started kindergarten. So, um, I don't, I wouldn't change that either. Things happen, you know?
Booth: Yeah. Things happen for a reason that, um, that sounds very exciting. Like what, what a great, great story. And so then Catherine does start kindergarten and.
You start becoming heavily involved with her school. You're one of those super volunteers.
Dawn: I was. I never saw it coming.
Booth: Yeah. And but you eventually began chairing major events, did a fantastic job with them. You were asked to join the North Carolina Museum of [00:22:00] Histories, board of Directors and Executive Mansion.
How did those school events evolve into these major roles and boards you became a part of, and and why were you so passionate about serving in that way?
Dawn: Um, I've always believed that if you want your child to believe in education, and you have to show them that you believe in it too, and you must be, you know, you must be present and accounted for at that school.
And, um, my parents were, and I, um, I feel very strongly about that. So, because my husband was gone all the time, I only had one child. And there was really nothing else to do. And plus I believed in it. I wanted to be there for those teachers. And, um, so it started just a simple everyday way of PTA mom, you know, going in and filling in when a teacher had to leave for a little while, it started like that.
And then. Um, I started working for the school store and then I started buying for the school, school store. [00:23:00] And then I started chairing the school store. And then we had a, Catherine went to a private Episcopal school, uh, in elementary school and high school. And, um, she, uh. We would, we had to do our own fundraising at these schools.
And before I knew it, we were having this big Christmas market, and I was the chair of it for a couple of years, which in the, that gave us a lot of proceeds, um, back to the school. And then I, we transferred to St. Mary's. She went to St. Mary's High School, and before I knew it, a friend said, Dawn, you gotta get involved.
So I said, okay, I'll get involved. Before I knew it, I was chairing the St. Mary's auction for a couple of years with a friend of mine, and that was a hoot. I gotta, I gotta be honest, that was a hoot. But we did, it was a wonderful time too, where we made a lot of friends and this is the, this is the one thing about my life, I realized the more you do.[00:24:00]
The more you become involved, the more friends you make, the more wonderful people you come in contact with. People that have great stories that you learn from. And that's what life is all about, is learning, making friends and being around other people. You know? I truly believe that. So I did the auction for a couple times and then we helped with a weight med, um, auction.
I never was. For sharing that. That's, that was, um, a lot. Um, but we, I, my friend and I helped with that. Um, and then I became involved with the, um, governor's mansion, the executive mansion. What a fun thing that was as well. I was meeting students, um, I think it's the third and the sixth grade students. You probably know this better than I do.
The third and the sixth grade students learn about North Carolina history, and as a result, they often take field trips to Raleigh to look at the capital. I would meet kids from all [00:25:00] over the state of North Carolina, their teachers, and I would tell 'em about the governor's mansion, the, the primarily the main floor.
Not anything else, but um, and that the Governor's mansion, if you've never been, you must go at Christmas, make a trip of it. It's beautiful. You really need to do it. And it's such a part of our history. Um, and so I wholeheartedly recommend that that.
Booth: you're clearly finding a path serving in your communities and you also became the chairperson for a ministry called Clark's Promise. Mm-hmm. And also volunteered with, um, a nonprofit called Reach, which spec specialized in childhood homelessness. So tell us a little bit about. These organizations and why they were so important to you?
Dawn: I was probably the least likely person to become involved with the homeless community I always had. After doing the Marine Corps, putting [00:26:00] myself through college, I always had kind of a pull yourself up by your bootstraps spent, pull yourself up by your bootstraps mentality. You know, if I can do it, anybody can do it, get out there and get a job.
And then I started, um. I started noticing veterans on the side of the road that were homeless, well, that I, you know, OB obviously triggered me, so I just started, our church was really starting to become involved with homelessness and I decided to go and show up for a few meetings to see what they said, to say.
I still wasn't convinced, started talking to my husband about it. And I, I'm ashamed to admit this and I, but I will, because I know there's others out there like this. I wondered if the homeless people were trying to run a game to those and get things paid for free. I wa I, I wondered if it was just because people didn't have the ambition, and I am so glad [00:27:00] that I made that jump and that leap.
I learned something completely different. I learned a whole lot of things that were completely different. It would tell me, it would take me several hours to discuss what I learned, but I know now that the Lord led led me to that. I, I know that. Um, and so I started getting involved with Clark's Promise.
Clark's Promise was a ministry out of Christ Episcopal Church, which we belong to, located in downtown Raleigh. And, uh. I knew then I, I started going out with a, um, a psychiatric nurse out on the streets and, um, she would make me stay in the car, but she would fill me in and let me know what was going on with that particular person.
It was so incredibly interesting. I. Before I knew it, I found myself trumping through the woods around Raleigh, where homeless, uh, encampments were set [00:28:00] up for the homeless. You probably have seen them and you can see them a lot of times when you're driving down the road in the side of the woods. And, um, so I found myself going through the woods, stomping through the woods, looking for them with other people.
And then I realized after, after about four years, I realized that homelessness doesn't start with adults, it starts with children. And that's when I made a move to go to join a group called Reach. And um, the reason I did that is because homeless children are twice as likely to fail a grade. As their housed peers.
I don't know what it costs in Carteret County, but the last time I checked one year of school, it costs to almost $10,000 in Lake County. So if they're failing these grades, we're wasting our money. These children start a year and a half behind, vocabulary wise from [00:29:00] their housed peers. So if you send a child to school.
A vocabulary that is so under, you know, so under par, they're not gonna make it up, not in a public school. They don't have the means, they don't have the money to help that child progress. So what happens when a child becomes discouraged and realizes that they are less than their, their other students in the class?
They're gonna quit at some point. There's a lot of other things, but I realized, I once heard a Philadelphia police officer say, you wouldn't need nearly the police officers in this country if you would take care of poverty. And I, I already was coming to that conclusion. I was already coming to that conclusion.
So I don't, I don't wanna browbeat anybody, but that's, that's how I came to it. And I'm not involved with that organization anymore. But I'm still, I still am very big with [00:30:00] boy, um, girls and boys clubs of, of Wake County. 'cause I do believe in that very much. So that's a, that's one of the way we ways we send, you know, give money to one of the club groups.
Booth: Great organization. Uh, it's growing here on the coast as well. And so you mentioned the veterans. That was your first experience with the homelessness was the veterans. So you and your husband's company, Wells Global. y'all have created an endowment at NC State for veterans. Tell us about what that endowment does and how it impacts veterans.
Dawn: Um, for the first year, the, like any endowment and you and booth, you probably know this much better than I do. An endowment sits for a while drawing interest before they even tap into it, and with each, so after a year or two of drawing interest and letting it grow. They awarded the [00:31:00] first scholarship to a young man that had just separated from the Marine Corps, and I don't really remember a whole lot about him, but since that time, we've, um, sometimes we give scholarships sometimes full, sometimes partial.
that has been so rewarding when I, I, I'll have to share you this, share this story.When we were in school, I was the test taker. I was always, you know, the one with good grades. My husband was like, I'll worry about it later. You know, c average, pretty average on his SAT.
You know, and so when we came back after the Marine Corps and it was time to take the SAT again and reapply, they denied him at North Carolina State. They denied him in the engineering school and he ended up calling a couple times. A lady that worked as a secretary from the engineering department told him to come up here to come up to Raleigh.
'cause we were in Elon in Burlington. [00:32:00] He said, come up here. I want you to talk to the head of the engineering department. This is how much things have changed. The head of the engineering department at that time did not even have a PhD. Is that not incredible? I mean, you would never hear that these days.
So, but the head of the department at that time was a former veteran himself. So Mark went up there and talked his way into engineering school and several years ago, maybe a decade or 12 years ago. When we were setting up the, um, scholarship, the engineering department contacted the gentleman that was served as the head who had long retired, and we brought him to a big dinner and my husband stood up in front of hundreds and told a story and said, you don't let kids in that don't have straight A's.
You don't let kids in that, um, don't have perfect SATs, but when you give a person a [00:33:00] chance. You don't write 'em off and look what has happened. And there's plenty more, plenty more people like myself that took a chance and ran with it and made good on it, you know? Um, it was, it was, this endowment in this scholarship is named after his mother, which is so appropriate.
Um, but my husband said, he said, I must give back to two people, NC State, because they gave me a chance and to the, to veterans and to the government because they gave me a chance and they gave me the financial means to be able to go to school. And he said, he says all the time I owe people. My success was not, you know, solely done on my own.
I owe people, and I think his humbleness is probably what I am most proud of. His humility, I don't even know how many kids we've put through. We were just there a week or so ago, and Marcus don't donated more money because [00:34:00] he's wanting this center to grow and grow, and he's wanting them to help more people.
He's wanting them to take a chance on veterans that maybe don't look as great on paper, you know, but can, but can show that, that do show that they were really good soldiers or airmen or whatever, you know?
Booth: I love that. I love that. I mean, I have a huge respect for the military 'cause of the way where I grew up and everything and Right.
I went to NC State, so I'm, I'm kind of partial there as well, but just such a fascinating, fascinating story. I love this Now you serve, um, on the Carteret Healthcare Foundation's board of Directors. Why did you choose to serve on this board? And anyone around here knows the hospital has had massive growth and capital campaigns recently.
Um, how, how are you a part of all of that as well?
Dawn: Okay. I didn't choose the hospital. It chose me. It started, and I won't even name names, but they know who they are if they're [00:35:00] listening. I got a call one year asking me would I join the foundation, and I thought, this is the most illogical thing. I live in Raleigh.
I only have a second home there. I said, now that's not for me. I didn't know anything about hospitals. Now that's not for me. So the next year they, um, they were, they came at me again, these two women. Um, and I said, I made the. Mistake of saying, I don't use that hospital. We don't use that hospital. Not second homeowners don't use that hospital.
And that's where they had me because they showed me how the census doubles in peak at peak times of year as compared to off peak. So I was like, okay, okay, I'll do it. I've got nothing better to do. And I am gonna tell you, out of all the boards I've done, this might be my favorite. It is, I've met the most wonderful people.
[00:36:00] But let me back up. So I go there and I'm, the whole time I'm thinking, if this doesn't work out, I'm rolling off early. They, they can't keep me, you know? And, um, this isn't the Marine Corps, they can't keep me. And, um, so I spent the first year and as I'm listening, I'm liking what I hear. I see a group of people so dedicated to making this hospital better.
It wasn't just lip service. We weren't just passing time away. They were, they would come in there month after month, different people throughout the hospital to educate us on what they were doing, what they needed to do, what, where they were falling short, and I thought. Is this is good. They mean business.
And so one day when we were, I was in the meeting, I happened to look out the window as someone was talking, and I thought, if you live in Carteret County, I don't know that you can appreciate what I'm gonna say. [00:37:00] I've told Virginia this. I was looking out the window and I was reminded of what a feeling it is to go through Moorhead and drive over that bridge to Atlantic Beach.
It is transcendental, it's cathartic. Seeing that water and the boats flitting to and fro the water sparkling it, it, it does something to you. It takes you into a new world, a new dimension. And I realized then that this hospital had me. Because I believe, I love Atlantic Beach. I love the Shark Shack. I love it all.
I love Fort Macon. I love the Outer, I love, um, Cape Lookout. I love it all. And I thought, you know, this is a small area. I have access to some tremendously large and great medical care here in Raleigh, but it is, IM imperative that we help. [00:38:00] Second homeowners help Carteret County get come into their own right.
Come into their own outstanding healthcare. We need it here too, for when we get sick or have an accident, we need it too. And I started realizing, wouldn't it be wonderful? God forbid I receive a diagnosis of cancer, wouldn't it be wonderful if I could come to this hospital at the beach, stay in my beach home, travel 15 minutes to get to the hospital, receive whatever treatment I needed?
Wouldn't that be so much better? And then come home and sit out on my porch overlooking the water. As right now I have a 50 minute drive to Chapel Hill, you know, and it's not, it's not a fun drive either. It's, it's fraught with construction traffic backlog. It's not pretty. But that trip I. You know, getting di getting treatment at for cancer at Cape, at Carteret was, it would [00:39:00] just be just lovely.
So I knew what I had to do and I had been brought on to the foundation board to help entice second homeowners. So after COVID we went, I went at, I started going at it hard, you know, and I still got some work to do, but a lot has been accomplished and, um. When one day, uh, I was told to come to the hospital 'cause they were gonna make an announcement.
This has been several years ago. And I said, okay. And I showed up and they, in that rotunda, they announced that Mayo Clinic was joining forces with Carre Healthcare. I learned that you don't invite Mayo Clinic, they invite you. I learned that 16 hospitals in this country have a Mayo Clinic affiliation. I knew that we were under sound leadership.
I knew it. I, it was all around me. It wasn't easy to commit, you know, and, um, [00:40:00] I, there's several that feel just like me, that, you know, we opened a year or two years ago, I can't remember. We opened state-of-the-art operating rooms, five of them. I had 20 years ago, I had an experience at the hospital when we were down visiting, and it was not a good experience, so it was hard for me to, to kind of jump on board, but it didn't take long to realize.
It was a, there was a new sheriff in town, you know, and um, and they continued to have great people making great appointments. I've met wonderful people, wonderful people. And I have to tell you, when I think about Carteret rate healthcare, it, it is not just a volunteer position. It's in my heart. It is so in my heart, sometimes I feel like crying about it, you know?
Um, a couple weeks ago I was at a, um, fundraiser at North Carolina State and, um. Eddie Smith, the owner of Grady White Boats, was there and made [00:41:00] his foundation, made a very beautiful con uh, contribution to the cancer center. And I, I knew I had to go thank him, and I walked up to him and I started talking to him, and I had to walk away after a while because I knew I was gonna start crying.
And that's so unprofessional. You know? But, but it just, that's how it has grabbed my heart in that way.
Booth: I love this. Giving back and serving others is clearly your purpose in life. I mean, clearly, Sid, and you've had such differing roles from early adulthood in the military and did some corporate jobs, and then you've spent decades now serving, so how did you, was there like one specific moment where you're like, yes, serving others is, is my purpose, or did it just kind of evolve.
It
Dawn: evolved. It evolved. I mean, when I started realizing that homelessness was [00:42:00] not an adult problem, that it was a childhood problem, then I knew that it was kind of, the writing was on the wall for me. You know, I mean, I always loved going to all these events where you know, you had to get dressed up and you get to see your friends.
But when it comes to giving back, and I always tell people, try it. Try it one time. Try it too. You are going to see how wonderful it feels to give back to another human being.
Booth: For sure. and for people who are that, that want to be more involved in their communities, how can they maybe go about finding opportunities to serve that are aligned with causes they're passionate about?
Dawn: I think the first thing to do is to actually Google that topic. For the city that you live in. You know, like if you live in, uh, Moorhead City, um, homeless, homeless, uh, nonprofits, homeless ministries [00:43:00] in in Carteret County or in Morehead City, um, you, there's very good chance your church, I. If you're affiliated with a church that you can come across that there's a lot of churches have ministries within their churches, within the, to help, um, different things.
I know the church I go to is pretty large in this, um, city council. Go to a city council meeting, ask somebody there, ask them, ask your friends. 'cause they probably know something. I just never talked about it with you. You know, I think you just start talking to people about it. Um, different people, you know?
Um, there's a lot of different ways that you can learn about it.
Booth: You know, I've been outta kind of schedule, um, for a few year now, a few years now, and I serve on a lot more boards now. And, and like you have said, like I have met so many amazing people serving Yes.
And people that expand my network for, for other [00:44:00] things, but. People whose paths I, I wouldn't have crossed. Um, you know, otherwise. Mm-hmm. Um, it is, you're, you're spot on. You're spot on with that. So, um, this has been so great, pat, with you and hearing fascinating story of you and Mark's your, it's a, it's a love story, American dream serving, like, it's just like the, the most beautiful story and the passion and what you do, just, just.
Sees right through everything you said. So thanks.
Dawn: I wanna tell you that I, I appreciate when you go on Facebook and you try to provide, um, financial literacy to, I think that is so grossly needed. You know, um, I think of myself when I was 18, 19 years old, and I was like a deer in headlights. I, I didn't know what I was doing, and I think what you're doing is just outstanding.
Booth: So thank you for
Dawn: that.
Booth: Yeah. when you a financial background, you don't [00:45:00] always realize what other people don't, don't know and Right. You know, I kind of realized that during COVID I had people calling me asking questions and stuff, and I actually, um. Volunteered. My son went to a small, um, private school at the time, and I actually volunteered and taught a personal finance class there for a few years and, and while he was still there.
And, um, and it was fun. It was a lot of fun. And, but I agree. There's just, there's so many, um, things and it's like the, it, it's like the homelessness and the poverty. You mentioned like a lot of, a lot of things happen just 'cause people don't know
Dawn: Right. Uh, thank you.
Booth: Yeah.
Dawn: For doing that.
Booth: Absolutely.
Well, thank you so much for your time today. This has been
Dawn: Thank you for Booth. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it so much and I'm honored.
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