Making a Difference: An Eta Mu Brother Gives Back to His Community
Tim Hilborn, second from the left
The Flying Squirrel Preserve — A Story of Service, Leadership and Community
Just a short drive from many of our Eta Mu Brothers is a remarkable community resource—the Flying Squirrel Preservein Morrow County, Ohio.
Spanning 342 mostly wooded acres, the preserve offers an incredible opportunity to experience and enjoy the outdoors. Its forests are a diverse mix of beech, tulip, maple and oak, along with hickory, black walnut and cucumber trees. Nearly nine acres of wetlands add to the preserve's biodiversity while helping protect the headwaters, streams and wetlands that feed the Scenic Kokosing River.
More than four miles of trails wind through the forests, ravines and around scenic ponds, where catch-and-release fishing is permitted. For Morrow County and the surrounding communities, the Flying Squirrel Preserve has become a true community asset—a place where families, hikers, fishermen, volunteers and nature lovers can enjoy the outdoors.
Click here to view a complete overview of the Flying Squirrel Preserve
An Eta Mu Brother Serving His Community
For approximately five years, our own Eta Mu Brother Tim Hilborn '81 has served on the Morrow County Park District Board, helping guide the development and future of the Flying Squirrel Preserve.
His service has taken many forms.
At times, it means participating in important decisions and providing leadership at the board level. At other times, it means rolling up his sleeves and doing whatever needs to be done—mowing acres of lawn, clearing hiking trails, helping manage the property and, perhaps one of his favorite jobs, dealing with the preserve's beaver dams!
That combination of leadership and hands-on service may sound familiar to many Theta Chi Brothers.
Tim graduated from Findlay College in 1981 and was an active member of Eta Mu Chapter. Reflecting on what Theta Chi has meant to him, Tim says:
"Theta Chi's creed says, 'Serve God, Country, and Fellow Man.' That just resonated with me. I am a much better person as a result. It has served me—and those I touch—every day."
Those words provide a pretty good explanation for why Tim continues to find ways to serve his community.
Turning an Idea into Action
Tim's involvement with the preserve goes well beyond maintaining trails and mowing grass. He has also become involved in helping secure the resources necessary to complete projects and sustain the preserve for future generations.
Recently, Tim and his fellow Board Members accepted a $10,000 donation from the Morrow County Development Authority to support the park.
The story behind that donation is perhaps even more significant than the amount itself.
It began with an AmeriCorpsCCC grant secured through the Friends of the Morrow County Park District. The agreement will bring a team of nine AmeriCorps members to the park for six weeks to work alongside the Park District, volunteers and community members.
The result is an opportunity to move forward with approximately 40 projects that have been identified for the preserve.
Among those projects are renovation of the shelter house, demolition of old structures, construction of bridges and walkways, and improvements to trail surfaces and drainage.
And there is an important lesson in what happened next.
The investment of people and volunteer effort helped generate additional community support—including the $10,000 contribution from the Morrow County Development Authority. One commitment led to another, and another.
As Tim puts it:
"It is just such a rewarding and great story. It shows the power of people when they are all pulling the rope in the same direction."
The Theta Chi Connection
There is something particularly fitting about an Eta Mu Brother helping lead an effort like this.
Theta Chi has always challenged its members to take what they learn in the Fraternity and put it to work in the world around them. Leadership isn't simply about holding a position. Service isn't simply about writing a check. Sometimes leadership means making the decision; sometimes it means doing the work; and sometimes it means finding the people and resources necessary to make something happen.
The Flying Squirrel Preserve is a wonderful example of what can happen when those things come together. Several of Tim's alumni Brothers have been to the park to assist with various projects over the years.
One donation. One grant. A group of young people willing to work. Volunteers willing to give their time. Community organizations willing to invest. And leaders willing to keep pushing the effort forward.
Together, those individual contributions become something much larger than any one person could accomplish alone.
A Challenge to Our Eta Mu Brothers
Tim's story is worth sharing because it is ultimately not just a story about a park.
It is a story about what happens when we use the lessons life has taught us, find something we care about and decide to make a difference.
Every one of us has opportunities to serve.
Some may serve their church. Others may serve their community, their profession, a nonprofit organization, their alma mater, or simply the people who live around them. The opportunities are different for each of us.
But the principle is the same.
Find something that matters. Give it your time. Use your experience. Bring people together. And make a difference.
That is part of what it means to live the values we learned as Eta Mu Brothers.
And perhaps, years after leaving Findlay College, it is one of the greatest ways we can continue to live out the words that brought many of us to Theta Chi in the first place:
Serve God. Country. And Fellow Man.
Alma Mater First, Theta Chi for Alma Mater.