Mattress Mack Speaks at Rotary
Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale spoke to The Rotary Club of The Woodlands...
Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale, of Gallery Furniture, spoke to The Rotary Club of The Woodlands today and entertained, educated and inspired members and guests in attendance.
Starting with Rotary's very own motto, "Service Above Self", he challenged everyone to think about what that may mean in their lives' by sharing the experiences of his very own family. Building off of the Dickens' quote "It was the best of times and it was the worst of times" from A Tale of Two Cities he spoke about his own Tale of Two Children, recounting the struggles of his daughter, Elizabeth and how it affected not only her, but the whole family.
At age 13, Elizabeth's challenges with OCD became obvious and started affecting her and the family in ways that could not be ignored or explained away. After initial diagnoses that her OCD was too severe to treat, they found the resources they needed at the Menninger Clinic. Relapses and return visits ultimately helped Elizabeth to cope with her illness. Following graduation, something that was deemed impossible, she started pursuing a degree in Social Work in order to help others with similar issues. It was through a conversation with a professor that she ultimately determined that this was her calling and also started as a spokesperson, educating the community about the struggles she and others face. She has since graduated with her PhD in Social Work from the University of Houston.
How does this affect our members? Mack brought it to a point talking about the "least, the last and the lost" of our culture, many times which ultimately end up being the children in our community who are the product of broken homes as well as nonexistent or dysfunctional relationships in their formative years. His family also experienced this first-hand bringing in another child, Regina, into their home that was dealing with just such issues. They are still trying to help her cope with the issues that she is dealing with.
Family, friends and a nurturing environment were ultimately what helped his daughter and the lack-of that led to many of the issues that Regina is dealing with.