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Collector’s love for hobby inspires him to help local community
From an early age collector Greg Poole has always thought about others. Even in high school he sold some of his card collection to pay for meals for people on his “Meals on Wheels” route.
Even during a particularly dark moment in his young life, he was thinking of how he could help others. Sorry for the tease but check out Sports Card Nation episode 325 for the specific details.
Thankfully Greg, 39, is still here but it was those moments that made him more aware of the struggles that many other people may be going through and inspired him even more to be a difference-maker. That's exactly who he is. His love for the hobby has become a vessel to help his Benton, Ill. community.
While his non-profit organization Can's Can Ministries started around 2000, he opened the only 100 percent non-profit local card shop just before Covid hit, which proved difficult due to the obvious restrictions that came along with the pandemic. Thankfully a sympathetic landlord and eventually being deemed an essential service allowed him to survive.
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The LCS is multi-tiered. Besides cards it also includes products to help students with school supplies and items of necessity for the elderly as well. He also sets up at local card shows. Again 100 percent of every card sold goes to the organization.
He's been featured on the hobby show “The Card Life” and the local news as well. The exposure has definitely helped and the local community has been good as well. Some show promoters have been better than others.
After his appearance on my podcast, Terry, a local friend and listener of my show, dropped off a tote of cards and memorabilia for me to sell and designated the proceeds to go to “Can’s Can Ministries.” That is further proof that the hobby community is a great one and very generous most of the time.
Hopefully this groundswell grows. If you’d like to help please reach out to Greg and his organization at canscanministries@gmail.com, on X at @Canscanministry or Facebook at @canscanbenton, or check out his website at canscanbenton.org.
— John Newman is a collector, dealer and the host of the Sports Card Nation podcast. Catch his Hobby Quick Hits on Monday and his guest interviews on Friday on your favorite podcast platform. You can reach him at sportscardnationpc@gmail.com or on Twitter at @sportscardnati1
John Newman is the host of the Sports Card Nation podcast
