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Leave things in 'better shape' says publisher

	Next Allouez What: Claude Allouez Forum, sponsored by the Green Bay Diocese; it is open to the public. When: 7:15 a.m. May 2. Where: Bemis International Center, St. Norbert College. Who: Betty Manion. Topic: Gifted and Giving Experiences of Stewardship as a coordinator of youth ministry. Cost: $10, includes breakfast. Reservations: (920)437-7531 or (toll-free) 1-877-500-3580, ext. 8173.

DE PERE -- Stewardship means caring for what has been entrusted to us and giving back in gratitude, a northeast Wisconsin newspaper publisher told the April Claude Allouez Forum.

For Frank Wood, that has translated into the numerous newspapers his firm, Brown County Publishing Co., owns in Brown, Kewaunee, Door and Oconto counties, as well as employees and readers, and the many students he has taught at St. Norbert College.

These enterprises enabled him to start a charitable foundation to give back to the community -- primarily to St. Mary's, St. Vincent and Bellin hospitals in Green Bay and St. Norbert College.

Stewardship, Wood said, first requires us to look after our own body and mind "because, unless they are in fairly good condition, it's not likely that you are going to be in a position to be of much use to others."

Some 6 billion human beings, he said, share this planet with its marvelous diversity of flora and fauna.

"We happen to live in the United States of America," he said. "The United States of America has about 4% of all of those people and yet we are fortunate enough to have approximately 25% of the world's wealth. So we've been blessed and we've been given a fearsome stewardship to begin with just by virtue that we were born in this country."

Wood recalled that when he bought the Door County Advocate in Sturgeon Bay, he told the former owner that he regarded it as a stewardship.

"I think I can still hold my head up 15 years later and say that I have behaved as a steward of the Door County Advocate. I can also say there are several people in Door County who wouldn't agree with that."

Wood said he regards ownership and publication of his various newspapers -- many of which are more than 100 years old -- "as a responsibility and a trust and, certainly, as a stewardship."

For Wood, the meaning of stewardship was best summed up by Jake Rose, former CEO of Associated Bank: "Leaving the campground in better shape than you found it in."

As a steward, Wood said, he is confident the papers will all be here long after he is gone and in better shape than when he bought them.

Beginning in the 1960s, Wood pioneered a form of ownership called syndicalism in which employees were given an opportunity to own a piece of the means of production through buying stock in the company. Many employees have taken advantage of the opportunity and money from the stock sales has funded the family's charitable foundation.

The family sense of stewardship also led them to donate acreage and a cabin in northern Wisconsin to St. Norbert College, which uses it for the freshman symposium and a biology project.

Stewardship also has meant allowing retiring employees and the former owners of papers Wood has purchased to continue to work as they wished.

As a nation, the U.S. has done some excellent things in stewardship, Wood said. He cited the land grant colleges, the Homestead Act, the Marshall Plan for rebuilding Europe after World War II and the G.I. Bill of Rights that funded college educations for members of the U.S. military. All these, he said, have paid tremendous dividends that we still enjoy as a nation.

"The G.I. Bill of Rights resulted in the explosion of knowledge and the explosion of our economy in this country. And I sincerely believe, with all my heart and soul, that if you cast bread on the water, it comes back to you many times over. I feel that my wife and my family and myself have been beneficiaries of that."