Power for the Cause—Thrivent Financial Volunteer Excellence Award recipients talk about what drives their efforts, and why each cause is near and dear to their hearts.

If Tom Mischka could give one tip to prospective volunteers, it would be this: Pick something you love to do and involve your friends and family with you as much as you can.

He certainly lives that out in his own life. Whether it was with his immediate family when his kids were younger or it’s today with his fellow Thrivent Financial employees, he loves to help people who are less fortunate than himself. Some of his volunteer efforts are long-term commitments, while others are sporadic.

“It gives me purpose beyond me,” Mischka says. “It helps me feel like I’m having a meaningful impact.”

Much of Mischka’s volunteer efforts revolve around the Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley. He and his family had enjoyed cooking meals at the shelter in the past, so when he was looking to become more involved in the community, the board of directors at the shelter seemed a natural fit. But he doesn’t limit his time there to serving as president of the board; he also revamped the shelter’s computer system, helps with fund-raising and gains support from local congregations.

“I tend to get involved in an organization at multiple levels,” Mischka says. “I enjoy cooking, so I take my management team to do that at the shelter on a quarterly basis. It’s a fun activity for us. And it’s a way for me to interface with the shelter at the hands-on level along with the budget planning and the vision work.”

Mischka also serves on the Providing Basic Needs and Self Sufficiency Committee of the United Way Fox Cities, a group committed to ensuring United Way dollars are properly invested in programs that will help meet basic needs of individuals and families in the community. With it being such a broad organization, it is a good way for him to better understand all the different nonprofit agencies in the community.

“I like it when we can help people get off the treadmill, out of the hole they are in, so they can go beyond where they are right now,” he says.

He’s thankful that Thrivent Financial not only gives him the opportunity and flexibility to serve in the community, but that the organization also provides funds for many of the nonprofits.

When Mischka thinks about the Volunteer Excellence Award and all the people across the organization who would be deserving, he finds it very humbling. “Volunteerism is just a part of the basic fabric of our employees.

New on his list of volunteer accomplishments is a Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity project earlier this year. He enjoyed it so much, he’s on his way to India with a Thrivent Builds Worldwide trip.

“Thrivent Builds just aligns so well with our organization,” Mischka says. “I love the local impact through the chapters, and I really like how it allows us to promote a national activity while impacting it a local level.”