Frank Shankwitz - Anyone Can Be A Hero

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the what now Audio Experience. These episodes are my way of giving you that real, raw, authentic look into business and what it actually sounds like. Some of these conversations are recorded in the studio, some are on the red carpet, and some are with my friends over at dinner. So the audio may be a little rough, but what really stands out to me are some of the behind the scenes conversations that take place when the camera is turned off because they provide so much value from people who are living and breathing business every single day. That's what I wanted to do. Bring you something that represents what business actually is, not just what you see on social media. No fake gurus. And by the way, if you need more help with your business, please visit the what Now Academy at www.wharnow.academy. there you'll learn what to do now and what's coming next to build a great business. Be sure to connect with me on social media, Scott Duffy Media across all channels, or visit my website@www.scottduffy.com. let's do this.

On today's episode of the what Now Audio Experience, my special guest is Frank Shankwitz, a founder of the Make A Wish Foundation. Now, for all of you that have heard of that have known Make A Wish, over the years, this organization has granted wishes for over 450,000 people who are ill around the world. And Frank's story is really one of a legend. And the first time we had a chance to meet was, gosh, it was really cool. I was down in San Diego speaking at Greg Reed's secret knock event. And Frank was another one of the speakers. And it was the first time they ever heard the story, his story and the story of how the Make A Wish foundation was formed. Kind of what the idea was and how they got it off the ground. But here's what was really cool. At the end of Frank's talk, Greg sat down and he interviewed him. And the last question was this. He said, frank, the make it Wish foundation grad it wishes were 450,000 people around the world. What is your wish? And Frank looked totally shocked. He said, what's my wish? He said, nobody's ever asked me. So Greg said, well, what would it be? And Frank's answer was to have his story told. He wanted to have his story told because he believed based on how he grew up and the disadvantages that he had and what he had to experience in his life, that if he could have this kind of impact, that anyone could be a hero. And so what Greg did that day is he made a commitment. He made a commitment to have Frank's story told. And that started a project that lasted over four years. And it was really the making of the movie Wish man, which is the story of Frank Shankwitz and the founding of the Make a Wish Foundation. And I was really fortunate to be a part of that project from the very beginning. And I think when I really got to know Frank, when I really understood how, like, just how amazing he was, it was on the first location shoot. I'm sorry, the first location scout that we did for the movie. So we got in a van, we went down to Arizona, we got in the van, and we went to all of these places that Frank had experience, places that he grew up, places that he lived. And if you see the movie, you know, you recognize all of it. But here's some of the things I learned. I learned, for example, that Frank, as a young kid, born in Chicago, born in Illinois, born in Chicago, was taken by his mom after he and the dad separated, was taken and literally taken away. And for a lifetime, Frank's dad searched for him. And Frank was told by his mother that his father had been killed in a car accident. So Frank goes along thinking that his father has been. Has been killed. The mother's hiding him. They have very little money. They're very poor. He showed me where he stayed and where I lived in a trailer with no rain, what, no hot water. He used to shower with the other poor kids that lived in the area. A lot of them were Native American in that. In that particular area of Arizona, because none of them had hot water. What they would do is go to the railroad station. And at the railroad station, there were steam engines. And the steam would create heat and would heat the water. And so the poor kids like Frank would go down and this is where they would shower. You know, Frank's a guy that was caught pulling food out of the trash can as a young boy, as a young kid, started working, 11 years old because he was hungry. But that turned into a job. And, you know, the amazing thing is the person that really helped Frank and that stepped in, this amazing gentleman who we had a chance to meet at the premiere, he said to Frank, he said, look, he said, you know, I'm going to help you, but in life down the road, you're going to have to help somebody back. If somebody needs help, give it to them. And again, Frank said, how am I? Who am I? How could I, you know, look at me now? And then he goes on to start this organization, and he and his amazing wife Kitty, and some others that today the Make A Wish foundation again has granted wishes for over 450,000 people, primarily kids around the world. And so this is an interview I did with Frank last year. Unfortunately, we lost Frank this year. We lost Frank just a couple of weeks ago. And I was looking through all of my interviews with him and the time we spent together, and this is one I really enjoyed. And so I wanted to share it with you. I hope you enjoyed as much as I did. This is Frank Shankowitz, a founder of the Make A Wish foundation, who proves that if he can do it, anyone can be a hero.

I want to welcome our next guest, a really good friend and somebody I respect so much, Frank Shankwitz. Frank is the creator and the co founder of the Make A Wish Foundation. He was also the Make A Wish Foundation's first president and CEO. Today he sits on several boards in the charity space and just has so much amazing information to share. And before Frank, I let you. I just have to share this. Last year, a movie came out that was based on Frank's life, Make a Wish. It was an incredible story. Frank's gonna tell you more about it. But what's really cool is it was accepted to be a qualified to be nominated as best picture, which is just such a great tribute to you. So, Frank, it is so good to see you today.

Hey, thank you, Scott. So happy. Thanks for the invite, by the way. We just have so much fun doing this.

We do, we do. So the story of the founding of Make A Wish, we'll talk about that in just a second.

But where I'd really like to start.

Is your background as an Arizona State trooper and really how you grew up. Because how you grew up and the way you grew up and what you built in your lifetime, it's just so inspiring.

Well, yeah. And not unusual. I'm a war baby, World War II baby. Not unusual for a lot of kids in that area. But my parents split. My father had custody when I was 5 years old. On a playground, kindergarten playground, a lady grabbed me, said, I'm your mother. Had no idea who she was.

Wow.

Kicking and screaming. And she said, we're going to Arizona. Well, in kindergarten, we hadn't got the geography yet, so I had no idea where Arizona. But just again, a couple smacks on the head, that shuts you up. And off we go. She took a stranger out to Arizona. We ended up in Michigan. Wow. She had some contacts up there to work up in northern Michigan.

And pulled into a campground and There's a tent. And she said, this is our home, and I'm a city kid.

The tent was your home.

The tent was our home. It's right on the shore, Lake Michigan.

And first it was scary because all of a sudden we got skunks, raccoons, deer, bear, everything else running around. City kid. But this next five years was moving from a tent to the car to flop houses in the winter. Just survival, learning survival.

Wow.

Biggest thing. Always hungry. Seldom saw her. She was either working daytime or whatever she doing in the evening hours. But it also taught me how to take care of myself. How to kind of survive. How to just turn those things, negative things, into positive things. At 10 years old, my father found us. Called the local authorities to have her arrested. She threw me again in a car. Off we went to Arizona. Finally, Arizona, which took six weeks because she didn't have enough money. So she will one day get a job at a restaurant, get enough tip money for some gas, a little bit of food, sleep in the car. On we go. Ended up in a little town called Sligman, Arizona, which she knew that area, but just outside of town. Ran out of gas. And it's the first time I saw her cry. We have no money. We have nothing. And a rancher stopped, said, what's wrong? What's going on? Can I help you? She explained the situation. He said, I'll get a gas can. We'll put some gas in your car. You follow me back at the ranch and we'll help you out by helping out for the next six weeks. I'm 10 years old now. The next six weeks. We slept on his kitchen floor. Very small place, not enough bedrooms, but we had some bedrooms, but we had heat. And this is wintertime now in northern Arizona. It's already snowing in that we had heat. We had breakfast every morning. Biscuits and gravy. I still love biscuits and gravy.

But I got a job right away. 10 years old, working full time, washing dishes. And this is the first time we lived in a town. Because she's always on the outskirts, always on the move. I'm going to school all of a sudden. I've got friends, playmates. But I met a gentleman. It was a Mexican gentleman building something across the street. Went over and said, what are you doing? He said, what's your name? I said, frank. He said, no, from now on, your name is Pancho, meaning Frank in Spanish. And that was stuck with me my whole life. And he said, my name is Juan. But the people in town called me Juan.

In fact, we've made sure that line was in the movie Wish.

Yeah.

But Juan became my father figure. Juan started teaching me things. Juan taught me work ethic. He taught me integrity, character, how to develop that. Because those aren't inherited. You know, that those develop throughout your whole life. Got me introduced to sports, got me introduced to music. Just things that I had never done before became that father figure. And then when I started in seventh grade, I go home. We got a little travel. Trailer was wrecked, but at least it was sheltered and come home and it's being hooked up to a pickup. What's going on, Mom? She said, I can't afford you anymore. You're on your own. And left.

Wow.

My house goes. My house. My trailer goes down the road. And obviously it upsets any kid. And I go to Juan, I said, I don't know what to do. And he said, always learn to turn. Now, this is in the 50s, Scott. This is a popular term today. Always learned to turn those negatives and positives. My home just left me, Juan, what do I do? He said, I've arranged for the widow Sanchez for you to stay at her house. She's going to charge you room and board, $20 a week. You make $26 a week. Every money I ever made went to my mother.

Wow.

First time in your life, you're going to have $6 of your own. That's a lot of money for a kid at the time. And he said, that's a positive. For the first time in your life, you're going to have your own room. You're going to have indoor plumbing. Because I would have to go to the locker room for the Santa Fe Railroad to use the showers in that indoor plumbing. That's a positive. She's the best cook in town.

It's a positive.

Worry about meals.

She got the first television set in Seligman, Arizona, and Mickey Mouse Club had just started. I get that. But again, all good. Yeah. All of those things. Then they also. So you can. Frank, give back. What do you mean, give back? I don't have a thing. You don't have to have money to give back your time. And he gave the example of, I'm now at the widow Sanchez house. Look at her front yard. Look at her porch. It needs sand, it needs painting, it needs weed. You can do all that. You're big enough, you know how to do that. You don't have that money to give back. You can give back your time. And that's the message of our movie. Everyone can be a hero. But then following that, I moved to the little town of Prescott, where I currently reside. My mother said, I need you back. I need you to help me out with finances. But again, coaches helping me out, teachers helping me out, employers helping me out. After that, join the Air Force again. The mentors in the Air Force saw something special, ended up on the base honor guard when I was stationed over in England. Just all of those things, all those positive things, people helping out.

You know, it's so inspiring because I think that sometimes we look at people who built big things, who build great things or got those things started, and we think that they must have had some kind of advantage, they had some kind of background or education or financial support that maybe that we don't have. And I think that what's really inspiring is that, is that, again, anyone can be a hero. And your story is, you know, I've never heard a better example of that. Now, eventually, you become an Arizona State Trooper.

Yes. After the Air Force, I went to work for Motorola. Excellent job. It was during the Atlas missile program. Ended at my high school. Math teachers cracked up, Ended up in statistical engineering, of all things. But I didn't like living in a big city, small town. Boy, I'm living in Phoenix, Arizona now. Several of my friends have joined Arizona Highway Patrol. Frank, why don't you join with your background, Air police in the Air Force, engineering degree. You'd be a perfect fit. Guys, I make in one week what you make in a month. I'm just. I have a new house, I have a car. It's a nice lifestyle. But I just thought, I'm bored. Even though they treated me so good, on the whim, I put an application, got accepted, went to the academy. And it must have been a great career choice, because 42 years later, I finally retired.

Amazing.

And you met your wife.

You met Kitty.

Of course. It took me to get killed to meet my wife.

It did.

It did. And watch the movie. Watch the movie to learn that story. Because it's movie star Wishman. That's right. Wishman on Netflix. My kids just watched it, and they absolutely loved it. It's so inspiring. And while you're home now, with your K with your families.

Go to Netflix and pick up Wish Man. It is an incredibly inspiring story, and it's wonderful as a family. A great family movie. So how did you go from there being an Arizona State Trooper to make a wish?

Well, I was assigned the Arizona High Patrol. Decided they needed a motorcycle tax squad. Gonna be a tax squad that worked the whole state of Arizona. And initially we went. We took our initial motorcycle training with California Highway Patrol.

I see.

And right after that, the TV show Chips became very popular. And if people don't remember Chips, the adventures of two California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers, Ponch and John.

Yeah.

Very popular, especially with the younger generation.

I used to think I was Ponch. I did. I had hair. I used to think I was Ponch.

Yeah.

But we would travel usually in two man teams all over the state of Arizona. Going to a little town, all of a sudden the grade school kids would see us. Hey, Punch. Hey, John. Hey, Chip. And it was just fun. And I started saying, can we go talk to the grade school kids about bicycle safety? Which they could care less about. They just wanted to get on the motorcycles. But it was great PR. And then in 1980, I'm on patrol way up in Northern Arizona, motorcycle patrol. I get a call from the dispatcher. I need you to find a telephone and call in. And we gotta remember, 1950, there's no cell phones.

Yeah.

So the closest payphone was 40 miles away. I call in and she said, we've just been informed that there's a seven year old boy named Chris. Says terminal leukemia, only has a couple weeks to live. His heroes are punching John from the television show Chips. And he watches it all the time. And he told his mother, when I grow up, I want to be a Highway patrol motorcycle officer just like Ponch and John.

Wow.

And the family asked, is there any way that he could meet one of the motorcycle guys? Because we looked identical, our uniforms were identical, our motorcycle, except ours at Arizona. And the department said, yes, we're going to arrange that. And that's why they wanted me, because maybe I was working with the kids all over Arizona all those years to get down to Phoenix. And with his doctor and his mother's permission, we picked him up in our state police helicopter at his hospital and flew him to our headquarters building in Phoenix. And they timed it so as the helicopters approaching the landing zone. I'm just pulling up to the landing zone now. I'd never met this little boy. I didn't know what to expect. He's in a Hospital on IVs. But I look and here's his face plastered against the helicopter door looking out, just a big grin. It lands, he jumps out of there, runs over, and I get on your motorcycle. This boy is having so much fun. And Chris became that day to become the first and only honorary Highway Patrol motorcycle officer history, complete with a custom made uniform we had made for him. His own Badge which is still assigned to him today. But more important, his motorcycle wings that we wear in our uniform. That made him an official police motorcycle officer. And unfortunately Chris passed away a couple days after that. Now our commanders learned that he's been buried in a little town called Kawanti, Illinois. NS he said we have lost a fellow officer. I want you and your partner to go back and give him a full police funeral. Which we did. Now again, this is before the days of Internet. Sure. The local TV stations in Phoenix are picking this up. They're transmitted into Chicago. We get to Chicago airport, the TV stations met us. TV stations notified this little town of Kewaunee that we were coming there to bury this little boy. But they also notified the Illinois state police and the county police in that area which met us at the funeral home.

Wow.

Several state police officers, county city officers with full funeral possession for this little boy. He's buried in uniform. His grade marker. Amazing trooper but coming home Scott, I just thinking here's a boy had a wish and we made it happen. Why can't we do that for other children? And that's when the idea came to me. Maybe 30,000, 5,000ft over Kansas or somewhere foundation, let a child make a wish and we'll make it happen.

And it's not like you started this, this organization with a bunch of money and a fancy building. Where did you start the Make a Wish Foundation?

Well, it was started in Phoenix, Arizona but again, how do you do that again before Internet I go to the library. Library cards. How do you start a nonprofit? But the hardest thing was in Arizona and plus IRS rules you had to have a minimum of five board members foundation to file the paperwork. And everybody I went to that was involved with Chris, no, it's a bad idea. Nobody's ever heard this. It's not going to work.

Sounds like being an entrepreneur.

Yeah, exactly. And exactly what my mentor Juan told me in younger years turn that negative to a positive to do it. And it did find a way to do it. We finally found the like minded people, as you well know in yourself, surround yourself.

Finally found those people to get our 501C3 and start the foundation. Money came from me and I never took a salary with Make a Wish because I wanted all the money go into helping the children. But it was working part time jobs. Get off one ship, go to another ship getting all the money we can. And then we started getting what we call, I still like to call a mom and pop. Dollar press $5 here, $10 there. Well that Starts adding up.

It does?

Yes.

That's incredible. And so, first of all, how many wishes have been granted today?

That's an amazing figure. It's good and it's bad. It's good because we've granted over a half a million wishes.

Wow.

All because of this one little boy. It's bad, I say, because there have been over half a million children with life.

These wishes. Back in our original charter, there's an escape clause that someday we'll go out of business. Wow. These needs for these children to have this.

I'm curious, what is the most popular wish?

Probably right now, the most popular wishes are Disney related. And Disney opened the door for us. Our first official wish was in March of 1981. A little boy wanting to go to Disneyland. It took forever to get Disney 2 approved sending him there. In fact, they kept calling. Our secretary kept calling and said, we're the Make a Wish Foundation. We want to send this little boy. He's terminal illness. Then we would like free admission, please, and get in front of the line. He's a wheelchair, very ill. They kept hanging up. And she said, I don't know what to do. Disney won't talk to me. I said, give me the name of the secretary for public relations. I called, and I didn't say, this is Frank Shankowitz, president and CEO of Mekwish Foundation. I said, this is Officer Frank Shanklin's Arizona Highway Patrol. You can almost see her setting up a little bit straight. What's this about? And I said, well, I have a warrant for one of your people.

Well, guess who I got to talk to. The minute I got the director on, I explained. I said, I just lied to you. Here's my badge number. Here's my supervisor's name and phone number. All you have to do is call on him. I will be fired immediately, but will you please listen to my story? Well, he listened to my story, and now Disney. What you mentioned the most popular wish. Millions and millions of dollars over 40 years and thousands of wishes going to Disney World, Disney Cruises, Disneyland. Sometimes you gotta lie to get your goal, but always qualify that lie right away.

Wow.

That's a good tip. One more question for you, Frank. You're involved in several charities today, and it is a very difficult time for everyone, particularly charities who've seen a lot of their fundraising dollars dry up. What advice are you giving to charities or what are you seeing them do to pivot today to help get through this period?

Well, what we're doing right now, I sat on seven different boards around the United States. Just as you mentioned, money's difficult right now and so many charities are, are counting on that. Corporate dollars, which are great during the time, but corporations are now struggling. But I encourage people to do, again, what I call the mom and pop dollars. There are so many people out there that are hurting for financing, but there's others that are okay, yeah, get that $20 check is the average $25 check. And get the press on your side, especially right now, anything involving the children, the homeless, the veterans are buzzwords for the press. And contact your local press and say, listen, I've got this story. We're trying to do this and that. Get the media out there, get those mom and pop dollars. They add up.

They do. Frank, thank you so much for being with us today. Frank Shankwitz, a founder of the Make a Wish foundation and just so much more. You are so inspiring. I love you to death. And again, thank you for being here.

All right, Scott, thank you.

Hey, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the what Now Audio Experience. If you need more help with your business, please be sure to visit the what NOW Academy at www.wharnow.academy. we have an incredible community of entrepreneurs and experts that are absolutely committed to seeing you win there. You'll learn what to do now and what's coming next to build a great business. Also, be sure to connect with me on social media, Scott Duffy, Media across all channels, or visit my website@www.scottduffy.com. again, thank you so much for joining. Have an amazing day.