Mike: Welcome to the Mike Agruss Law video podcast. We are a different kind of law firm and that’s on purpose. At Mike Agruss Law, we see you as a person and not just a client, and that makes us better at what we do. We’re not just lawyers and you’re not just a client. We’re friends, neighbors, and family.
This is a show about all things legal-ish that friends, neighbors, and family want to know. Today we’re talking with Marion Ruthig, Founder and Executive Director at Inside Out Club DuPage located in Naperville. At Inside Out Club, the mission is to develop kids and character inside and out. Marion, how are you?
Marion Ruthig: Good. Thanks so much for having me, Mike.
Mike: Yeah, this is great. Thanks for being on. So tell me a little bit more about yourself and what you do?
Marion Ruthig: Yeah, thanks. So I live in Naperville with my family. We have three kids and my husband works at North Central College as a professor. We’ve been here about 10 years, and eight years ago, I had an idea. I always say I was at this networking breakfast, I saw a video of a local homeless shelter, and I got goosebumps, a little teary-eyed. I was like, “How can we help? We need to get involved.”
So I always say I had this idea of a Netflix of nonprofits. How can people connect through video and figure out how to get involved in the community? So I quit my job. I was working as a CPA. I quit my job and started what used to be called I Support Community. And really, that was the vision. We started filming local nonprofit stories, but we quickly saw that on a shoestring budget, we didn’t get enough people to watch the videos.
So we started hosting events because for me, the biggest driver was around, how can I get my kids to grow up giving back to the community, and all the wonderful things that come with that? You’re building up their self-esteem, their confidence, teaching them about kindness and acceptance. So we started hosting events for kids and families. And then a year later, we piloted that as an after-school program here in Naperville.
And we had a huge response. I think a lot of parents just really felt the same as I did. How do I give my young kids these skills so they can handle anything that comes their way? They can handle stress, anxiety, a pandemic. They can handle it all in stride and just have the things that they need.
So with that huge response, we quickly saw our after-school program grow. And within a few years, we were serving more than 2,000 kids in the after-school program. It was at that point that the Board decided that we really needed to focus solely on that youth program, which was called Inside Out Club by that point. And so we rebranded and became Inside Out Club DuPage.
Mike: Got it. So you started in, what did you say? 2012?
Marion Ruthig: Yes.
Mike: Okay. And beforehand, you were a CPA and what’s interesting is you were a CPA at Klein Hall, which has now been bought out by Wipfli, or they merged, whatever. But my CPA financial advisor business guy is at Klein Hall, and what’s interesting is I think I hired him a couple of years after 2012. So I don’t think you’d know him, but it’s a small world.
What was that transition like going from high stress CPA, I think you had young kids at the time, to then saying, “You know what? I’m totally going to do a 180 and switch gears here?”
Marion Ruthig: The fun thing is that everything that I loved about being a CPA, which was really getting to know my smaller clients, understanding their issues, figuring out how to help them solve those issues, I use all those things still in Inside Out Club. We partner with over 30 or 40 non-profit organizations. I’m always interested in their stories, how we can help, how we can plug in.
So a lot of the things that I truly loved about being a CPA, I still do. And it’s also helped obviously on the financial side for Inside Out Club, because I can do all the books and records and tax returns, and all those great things. But it was exciting. I’ve never been an entrepreneur before, we have a lot of entrepreneurs in my family but it was really exciting.
And I quickly learned just the value of other perspectives and opinions, how to ask for those. I used to always feel bad because people would say, “How can I help you?” And I’d think, “Oh my gosh, I can’t help you.” But then as the years go on, it’s amazing how then you can turn around and pay that forward. So now I’m in a position to help people that might be interested in starting a nonprofit or have questions about different things.
So it really was a wonderful experience over those few years of getting up and running.
Mike: Got it. And so now you’ve been doing it then for about nine, 10 years?
Marion Ruthig: Yeah. This’ll be around eight, nine years. Yeah.
Mike: Okay. So how have things grown since you first had this idea to today and 2021?
Marion Ruthig: Yeah. So as I mentioned, right before the pandemic, we were serving well over 2,000 kids a year. And so the biggest growth has really just been in the audience and engaging these kids and families. How can we empower our kids? We focus on pre-school and elementary aged kids. About 70% to 80% of the kids’ character is developed before they leave elementary school. So for us, this is kind of our passion as the younger kids.
So we’ve seen just a tremendous growth there. I did want to mention just in case people are interested, we’re going to be re-bringing back the after-school program now that things are kind of coming back to life. We have had a new virtual program that we’ve been using that has engaged families. And again, volunteerism from home, building character from home.
And then our weekend programs have continued virtually as well. So we offer about 20 weekend events a year for kids and families to come together, volunteer. So it’s really been great just to see the growth over the years, and more and more people find out about Inside Out Club. I think that’s kind of one of the hardest parts about being a smaller organization, is really just getting that brand awareness and recognition out in the community.
Mike: Yeah. And hopefully today’s podcast will help you do that, right?
Marion Ruthig: Yeah, I hope so. Thank you.
Mike: What were things like pre-COVID? What did you do pre-COVID? How did you switch gears during COVID and what are you going to start doing now that it seems like, at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel in the sense that people are getting vaccinated, we’ve got Spring, summer around the corner, people will be out and about?
So what were things like a couple of years ago? What have you done during COVID and what do you see yourself doing the rest of this year?
Marion Ruthig: Yeah. So before COVID, our after-school program was in over 30 elementary schools. So when that happened in the Spring, it shut all that down. So immediately as an organization, we just pivoted to say, “How can we continue to serve kids and families, and help them build character and volunteer?”
So we had a free Spring break live event last year over Spring break, which was great. Kids did projects at home. We were able to engage them and kind of bring some normalcy during that Spring break, when a lot of people had to cancel plans. So that was the first thing that we did. We converted our weekend events to virtual. So kids pick up all the supplies ahead of time. We do a Zoom, and then they drop back off the donation item. And then we collect all of those and take them to the nonprofit and then send back out a video or a photo so they can see the completion of the cycle, the completion of their impact.
And then because of the after-school program, we just knew that it wasn’t going to happen this school year. We created a brand new program called Inside out Club Live. And I like to describe it as like a Mr. Rogers meets YouTube. So lots of fun videos, it has a host, I’m the host with actually my daughter’s hedgehog, Dorito, which he’s become quite the celebrity.
So it was very fun interactions over Zoom, and we had great feedback from families that they really enjoyed that. A lot of times we would see comments like, “Oh my gosh, my child’s struggled with the e-learning today, but he just loved the Inside Out Club Live. So that was great to be able to do that.
And then given the success of that, now looking forward, weekend events are starting to be outside. They’re going to eventually be in person. And then the after-school program, we are going to kind of combine the Inside Out Club Live curriculum with what we traditionally had done after school. Keeping this kind of host and episode feel of the video, some videos, because we really think that, that just engages kids, keeps them motivated, keeps them moving, and is exciting.
So we’re really looking forward to kind of getting back out there with a blended curriculum model that we think is going to work well. And then we’re going to continue to offer an online version, and also find some locations outside of the school, because we really want to give access to kids and families.
We just finished creating a calendar that highlights all of our programming for the entire year. So you can really see each month, ways to engage. Because our overall goal is that people build a value set around living their lives inside and out, that’s forever. That’s how I live my life. How can I be a good person today? How can I help others?
So that’s really the end goal, so we want families to be able to continuously engage so it becomes part of just the way that they are.
Mike: It sounds like there should be an Inside Out Club for lawyers, right?
Marion Ruthig: For everybody.
Mike: So tell me specifically, give me an example of how this works. So my daughter is four, just turned four. My son is six and a half. And I think you said that your target is elementary and middle school, is that right?
Marion Ruthig: Actually, pre-school and elementary.
Mike: Oh, okay. Pre-school and elementary.
Marion Ruthig: Yes.
Mike: So my kids are sort of in that range of your target, right.
Marion Ruthig: Yeah, exactly.
Mike: So what would be an example of something that you would do, like an after school club or event that they would be engaged in, or that they could participate in?
Marion Ruthig: Yeah. So for the after-school programs, those run once a week for four weeks for about an hour, and a typical, let’s just say an example, lesson might be including seniors. So this lesson is around how can we accept people that are different than us? So how do you get to know a senior? Some good questions to ask. We’re going to read a book, and then the project is making these really cute chip clips for seniors, that Meals on Wheels serves.
So they’re going to learn about Meals on Wheels. They’re going to make this service project, and then that’s going to be donated by Inside Out club to Meals on Wheels. So that’s an example, typically in an hour, we have sort of three to four different kind of activities that the kids will do, again, focused on what’s the character trait we’re trying to highlight.
In that case, it’s probably acceptance and kindness. And then what’s the non-profit we’re talking about and how are we helping those people? How are we helping that nonprofit? So that’s a great… Go ahead.
Mike: Oh, no. Yeah, so that would be an example of something like an after-school program…
Marion Ruthig: Yeah.
Mike: And how long would a class like that last?
Marion Ruthig: So the new Inside Out club calendar that we built, we have these four-week Inside Out Club opportunities. It’s going to be offered three times a year, so in the fall, the winter, and then the next summer. So not summer 2021, but summer 2022. We’re planning to have a camp version where families could sign up. So we’re really excited about that. That’ll be something new to look forward to.
Mike: Okay. Are you only doing this in Naperville? Have you expanded to other towns, other schools? If people are outside of Naperville and they’re interested in getting involved, give me a little bit of a rundown there? Because I know it’s part of DuPage County or the group is DuPage county, but tell me where you’re at now and where you see yourself in the future as far as expanding to other communities?
Marion Ruthig: Yeah, absolutely. So currently we serve schools in Napperville, Lyle, Glen Ellen, Wheaton, Aurora. So we sort of started the Naperville area and we’re going outward like this. We definitely have a goal of expanding further into DuPage County over the upcoming years. In addition to that, our Board has set a goal over the next few years to add on opportunities for middle school and high school, to continue to be engaged in Inside Out Clubs. So we’re really excited about that offering that will extend again, the interactions and really help families stay involved and keep living their lives inside and out.
Our weekend programming is hosted around 20 times a year, and those are open to anybody that’s willing to come and be involved. Typically, they’re hosted around the Napperville area, but sometimes we’ll partner with organizations in Glen Allen or other communities. So those are open to anybody in the DuPage County area that says, “Hey, I really want to go do that.” So we welcome people.
Those are geared for again, the elementary aged children, but oftentimes we’ll have older kids come that just think, “Well, I’d make a toy for a dog and at a shelter.” So we always welcome other ages as well to those that are interested in the project. So those are great ways that people can get involved in the DuPage County area.
Mike: Okay, that sounds good. So I was on your website and I noticed that you have something with an integrated curriculum on the website. And I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit more about that integrated curriculum, and just sort of dive a little bit deeper into what is involved in that, and maybe a little bit more of an explanation of it?
Marion Ruthig: Sure, absolutely. So the curriculum that we have built focuses on the character side, we focus on eight key character traits. So we’re looking at acceptance, collaboration, curiosity, empathy, kindness, perseverance, gratitude, and self-awareness.
And for each one of those, we have outcomes that we’re looking to help kids build. So we want kids to be brave enough to ask questions. We want kids to keep trying when it’s hard. We want kids to be able to include others unconditionally. So these are the things that we’re working on building in kids.
And then we do that through connecting them to social causes and helping them engage in those causes. So we have the six cause umbrella we kind of say as a part of this curriculum. So we look at being socially responsible, building character, supporting our troops and veterans, meeting basic needs. So those are some of those six social causes and we have a list of those on our website.
So the integrated curriculum really is looking at how do we integrate the character traits, the social causes, and then plug in a local non-profit organization? So that kids are learning all of these kind of together, and then they’re being able to take that and do something with it. Have an action like, “Okay. Well, I just learned this and now I’m helping this organization. Or, “I learned how operations support our troops, does yoga for veterans because they struggle sometimes with their emotions.” Well, I struggle with my emotions and now I’ve just made a breathing wand to help me next time I feel angry or mad or sad.
So that’s how the integrated curriculum works, and that’s the focus. We did partner with North Central College when we were building this curriculum, and they helped us map it back to the state common core, social, emotional, learning standards. So we have kind of that support as well there, when we’re looking at the curriculum as a whole.
Mike: Got it. So then are local schools within DuPage County involved in this as well, or is this more families and kids? I don’t know if I’m being clear, but it seems like you had mentioned something about this being integrated with schools and them accepting the program, so are schools involved too?
Marion Ruthig: Well, typically for a school like a new school, usually it’s brought to the school by a parent who finds out about it.
Mike: Right.
Marion Ruthig: But sometimes we do have people that are on a district Board that are interested and reach out, or even principals that hear about it and reach out. So it’s not really integrated. They do just decide like, “Wow, this is a great program and aligns with what we’re trying to do with kids,” because of that social and emotional learning component… Let me start that again.
So we do partner with schools, but typically how we get a school involved in the program is it’s usually through the parents who find out about Inside Out Club and say, “Hey, I want that at my school.” And so then we come and we work with the school and it’s offered as an after-school program, just like chess club or some of the other programs that are offered.
Mike: Got it.
Marion Ruthig: So it’s not really integrated into the school day, it is an after-school program.
Mike: So I’m in Elmhurst, my son is just finishing up kindergarten. So if this were something that I would want to get his school involved in, and sort of expand your club into Elmhurst, this would be something that I would approach his school and say, “Hey, I heard about Inside Out Club. I think this could be really beneficial. We should offer this as an after-school program here?”
Marion Ruthig: Yeah. So if you approach the school and find out if they have interest, and then you can reach out to Inside Out Club and we can work together to see, okay, if the school is interested, can we bring it to the school? When can we bring it to the school?
As we grow into other communities, the kind of the other linkages that nonprofit piece. So if we’re coming down, whereas we want to have some time to kind of say, okay, well what nonprofits there support troops and veterans, or animals or seniors? Because again, we want those kids to be always connecting the learning directly back to their community and giving back to their community.
So we’re always looking to work with people and growth is a goal of ours. So I would say if people are watching and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, I would love to have this at my school, and I live in DuPage County,” definitely reach out to us. And then also you could ask your school and then we can just start a conversation and figure out how we can make that happen over the next couple of years.
Mike: Got it. And I think what’s so important about what you’re doing, my wife and I talk about this all the time, is the fact that I was fortunate enough to grow up and make it all the way through law school without social media. And my wife and I talk about this often, that we were able to grow up and go through school and not have everything recorded and documented, and we could make mistakes and sort of move on.
And I think that when I look at our kids, granted, they’re still super young, but I think what you do at Inside Out Club is particularly helpful for these kids who are going to grow up, and every single thing they do is recorded, every single comment they make online, social media, pictures. You could be doing something that’s totally benign and it could be misinterpreted.
And so anyway, I think what you do, it’s important in particular for kids now, just because of social media. I don’t know how I could have grown up with social media, having everything being recorded and documented. So anyway, that’s why I think… And I’m sure this is part of what you do in the curriculum and helping kids out. Anyway, I just think it’s important just because of that.
Marion Ruthig: No, absolutely. I think definitely, sadly I think because of the social media, kids need a lot more self-awareness and other skill sets at a young age in order to really be able to say like, “Oh well,” moderation and understanding, “Oh hey, I saw that and it made me feel this way but that’s not always true.” Definitely is really hard, and I think it’s challenging for kids because not only is everything they’re doing recorded, but they also hear and see about everything that goes on in the world, the community.
And I think they bring a lot of that onto themselves. They take a lot of that in, and it’s hard to… I know a lot of… All of us can struggle with just like, “Oh my gosh, look what’s going on.” Or, “There was another shooting or another this, or another…” And then, right, when you’re faced with that, how do you either shut it off, and how do you cope with it?
Mike: Absolutely. So tell me the difference in how people can get involved, whether you’re an individual, whether you’re a family, whether you’re a business, how can those different categories get involved with Inside Out Club?
Marion Ruthig: Sure, absolutely. So individuals, the best ways to get involved, obviously if you have kids, please join us on a weekend event. Just come try out Onside Out Club. We love it when people follow us, speaking of social media, and share the good things that we’re doing or share some of our messaging. That’s really a great way for us to just get our message out there. So that’s a wonderful way for individuals to get involved.
Families, the weekend events are geared for families to volunteer together with other families. So it’s a really great fun thing to do with your kids. Typically, those are about an hour. We’re supposed to be sealing a bridge and standing a bridge this Saturday. Although I think we’re pushing it back one week for the weather, but yeah, it’s a great thing to do.
We also have a fall family 5k, it’s a run/walk. You can have a team, you could raise money if you want to, you don’t have to, but that’s always an option. We do have a little fun run for the wee little kids that [inaudible] up for the whole 3.1 miles, but still want to be part of it. So that’s going to be coming up September 26th. So we’re super excited to have that come back.
For businesses, we have corporate volunteer options around supply organization. Again, sponsorship is a great thing, so we have that fall family 5k. In the winter, we have a fundraiser called Cocoa and Kindness. Basically these are kindness boxes, it’s a great way to spread ripples of kindness throughout the community. So there’re opportunities there for businesses to support either giving those out to employees, friends, families, sponsoring to have their business associated with the Kindness campaign, Cocoa and Kindness.
So there’s a lot of different ways to get involved. I definitely would recommend people to check out our website and also feel free to reach out to me. My contact information is in the footer, so I’m always happy to talk to people about ways to get involved in support.
Mike: Okay. That sounds great. I want to switch gears for a second here and do some rapid fire questions.
Marion Ruthig: Should I be nervous now?
Mike: I was just going to say, was that a nervous laugh?
Marion Ruthig: A little bit.
Mike: Yeah, totally.
Marion Ruthig: I’m just kidding. Fire away.
Mike: I never tell people about this, otherwise they’d say, “Oh, let me know what the questions are beforehand.” And these are very easy, so don’t sweat it. What’s your favorite animal?
Marion Ruthig: Oh gosh. What’s my favorite animal? That’s a hard one. I don’t know.
Mike: Do you have any pets at the house?
Marion Ruthig: Yes we do. We have a dog, a turtle, and the turtle is actually over 35 years old. So that’s our fun pet fact. Squirtle, the turtle.
Mike: I quite like that. My son, he bugs me every day to get him a turtle, but they live 35 years?
Marion Ruthig: Depends on the turtle. This one was my husband’s when he was little. So it’s probably even older than that. Probably pushing 40 years, so a little tiny. And then my daughter has a hedgehog, which is really fun.
Mike: Oh, wow.
Marion Ruthig: But you have to get a good one.
Mike: Why is that?
Marion Ruthig: They have this a range of personalities, and I think if you don’t socialize them very well and play with them a lot, then they can just decide that you’re not part of their environment. And then they’ll just turn into a prickly ball and you won’t be able to… But Dorito, you can hold and do all sorts of stuff with.
Mike: It’s funny. You mentioned Dorito, the hedgehog at the top of the show. And I thought in the back of my mind, that must be a stuffed animal or something.
Marion Ruthig: Oh, no. He’s real.
Mike: That’s awesome. What app do you use the most?
Marion Ruthig: What app do I use the most? It’s probably Facebook. [crosstalk]
Mike: Favorite food?
Marion Ruthig: Oh, favorite food is a homemade pizza.
Mike: Got it. And what’s your perfect vacation?
Marion Ruthig: Mix of lots of relaxation on the beach, but also some adventure and getting to see some new things.
Mike: Okay. And finish this sentence. Weekends are for…
Marion Ruthig: Getting things done and spending time with the family.
Mike: Fair enough.
Marion Ruthig: That’s the honest answer.
Mike: Yeah, totally. So tell me again, I know you mentioned briefly website ways to get in touch with you. So what’s the best way? Phone, email, website, if you want to tell everyone?
Marion Ruthig: Yeah. So definitely check out our website. That’s insideoutclub.org, or feel free to email me. It’s Marion, [email protected]. Those are the two best ways to get in touch.
Mike: Perfect. Oh, and one other thing that I did is I signed up for your newsletter and I thought that that was helpful as far as talking about future events and hearing what’s going on.
Marion Ruthig: Absolutely, that’s a great way to stay in touch, hear about all the things that we’re doing, and figure out ways to connect.
