“I think there’s a lot of opportunity for visitors to not only get that unique experience, but really give back to make sure the communities here form in a year, five years, ten years when they come back.” – Andrew Rickhauer

What if your destination’s true success lies in addressing the hidden vulnerabilities of tourism workers?

In Marquette, Michigan, tourism is playing a vital role in community resilience. Andrew Rickauer, Executive Director of United Way of Marquette County, shares how prioritizing resident well-being lays the foundation for a thriving visitor economy.

United Way works quietly behind the scenes to ensure local families have access to essentials like food, housing, and healthcare: critical supports that help the hospitality workforce show up ready to serve. Many of these workers are part of the ALICE population (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), often holding service jobs in tourism. Rickauer stresses, “without supporting the ALICE population, the whole economy would come to a grinding halt.”

But Andrew’s vision for Marquette’s tourism future goes further. He encourages DMOs to invite visitors to engage meaningfully through “travel with intent.” Whether volunteering at local events or participating in conservation projects, travellers become active contributors who deepen their connection to the place and help preserve it.

For DMO leaders, this means that building partnerships with nonprofits, promoting responsible visitor engagement, and investing in community health aren’t just nice-to-haves, they’re essential strategies for sustainable tourism success.

This episode, you’ll learn:

• About the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population and why many tourism workers fall into this category.
• Why understanding and supporting the ALICE population is essential for building a more equitable and resilient local economy.
• How tourism businesses can support local well-being by encouraging staff and visitors to volunteer in community initiatives.
• The importance of building lasting relationships with local nonprofits to ensure tourism benefits both residents and visitors.
• How to use tourism as a tool for connection and transformation, not just economic growth. 

Subscribe to Travel Beyond through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast player.

Feature image provided by Travel Marquette.

Show notes

1. United Way of Marquette County provides essential services to residents of Marquette County in need.
2. Yoopers United is a resource that connects volunteers with opportunities to give back to the Marquette community.

Episode transcript

This transcript was generated using AI and has been lightly reviewed for accuracy.

Andrew Rickhauer: In tourist areas, most of the services are provided by the ALICE population. And ALICE is asset-limited, income-constrained, employed. So it’s that working class that still struggles month to month to make ends meet. They’re still making those tough decisions every day, week, month, of, can I get to work? Do I have money for gas to get to work? Do I get medications today?

Sara Raymond de Booy: Welcome to Travel Beyond. I’m Sara Raymond de Booy from Destination Think. I’m recording from Seattle, Washington from the homeland of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Squamish, and Muckleshoot people. On this show, we look at travel’s role in making a better world, and we highlight leading destinations and change makers.

Our guests are taking local action that the world can learn from. They’re helping to regenerate ecosystems, communities, and economies, and they’re often making positive change happen from the bottom up. Supporting residents in the workforce is a topic that we encounter a lot at Destination Think, and our work with the collective.

There’s so much desire to find ways to lift up the local community economically and socially, and use tourism as a tool to make that happen. In Marquette, we had the chance to sit down with Andrew Rickhauer, Executive Director of the local United Way chapter in Michigan. He had a lot of insight into the economic realities, often faced by hospitality workers that I think are really valuable for any destination to keep in mind.

My main takeaway from this chat was that when discussing workforce, whether related to attracting tourism workers, retaining them, or handling seasonality, remember that a lot of the time there are organizations in your community that already might be doing what you wish you could do. And when you work together, you might just have a recipe for making that resident support happen more quickly and in a more meaningful way.

Let’s listen to what Andrew has to say.

All right. Well thanks for sitting down with us today. Excited to chat with you. Um, and I just wanted to start with the basics. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do? 

Andrew Rickhauer: Yeah. I’m Andrew Rickhauer. I’m the Executive Director of United Way Marquette County. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Gotcha. And how did you end up in, in that role?

Andrew Rickhauer: It’s, uh, kinda just happened to be there when I needed something. Um, I came up here for school and then went out west, got my Master’s in Business Administration and moved back here and took on a couple different roles here, but community and volunteering have always been part of my life ever since I was a kid.

Yeah. So when the position opened up it, the timing was right and it seemed like it a good natural fit to use some of my skills and keep doing what I would be doing anyway. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: And I know that you mentioned you came up here for school originally. What’s kept you here since you, oh, you were from Colorado and then, yeah. Tell us a little about your journey. 

Andrew Rickhauer: My wife’s from Marquette. Ah, so she brought me back here and kept me here. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Yeah. And is there anything about this place that continues to inspire you personally or in your work? 

Andrew Rickhauer: It’s a great area. It’s, I, I like the outdoors. Um. I joke around, but I’m serious that the trails are like a mile from my house, and that’s the furthest I’ve ever lived from away from trails.

So I, I like to do the outdoor stuff. I like cross country skiing, downhill skiing, snowshoeing, biking, trail running, kayaking. Pretty much the most of the silent sports, outdoor silent sports. And Marquette’s, it’s a great area for ’cause. You can do really any of it here. Same. It may not be the best at, at any one of ’em, but it’s good at all of them and it’s all within a minute or two from the house.

Sara Raymond de Booy: Good. And how often do you get out to enjoy those? 

Andrew Rickhauer: Once or twice a day. Yeah. Lucky. Yeah. I get out, uh, every day at least once. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Yeah. Do you think that connection to the outdoors shapes your view of this community? 

Andrew Rickhauer: Yeah, I mean, it, it shapes my view of what I think of Marquette and the up. Um, it’s, it also, in some ways it’s gonna sound really weird.

Um, it disconnects me from the community too. Most of the time I’ll spend the first two hours of my day out in the woods. Um. You know, what was it Monday, just yesterday, God and Monday, that it was, it was a hot day, a little bit cooler, slightly cooler in the morning, and I saw two people out on the trails and I was out there for an hour and a half and I considered that to be a busy day on the trail.

So it’s, it’s really, to me, it’s something real special that, you know, I can go kayak on Lake Superior and feel like I’m the only one out there. ’cause I don’t see. Anybody else. And to be able to do that for an hour or two every morning, it connects me to the area. But also, like I say, it disconnects me, ’cause I don’t, I don’t have to deal with anybody. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: And how would you describe the spirit of this place to someone who’s never been here? 

Andrew Rickhauer: I think independent and, um, kinda just reconnecting. It’s, it’s easy to reconnect with nature and what I believe is the. Really what everybody needs. I see it with my kids if they don’t get out nearly as much as I do.

But I notice with me and with them, if they don’t get out in nature for something, then they get moody. And honestly, I’ve never lived in a city, but when I travel, there’s a lot of moody people in cities. I, I think it just, it’s, it brings us back to, you know, what humans are about and kind of grounds us.

And I think that’s, whether living here or visiting the area, it’s a good place for it. ’cause it does offer, you can bring a family up here and everybody can do something different and still have that same grounding experience. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Is there anything that you think surprises first time visitor visitors the most when they come to visit?

Andrew Rickhauer: I am not from Michigan, so this is just kind of a guess, but I would say roads and people. ’cause from what I hear, a lot of downstate, Michigan doesn’t believe that there’s anything up here at all, and they seem to be really surprised that there’s roads and buildings and people and electricity and, um, but, but I can’t deny or confirm that so.

Sara Raymond de Booy: Oh yeah. Well, shifting gears a little bit, what does it mean for you personally to serve community through an organization like United Way? 

Andrew Rickhauer: I think community’s extremely important. I, I grew up in a, a small mountain town and community was really an extension of our family. In some ways it hurt me as a teenager, but for the most part I could.

Go to dozens of homes and without any hesitation, really just kind of walk in and be part of the family and know that I, if, if something bad was happening with me, I wasn’t feeling right, or, you know, I was threatened in any way. I, I knew that there’s hundreds of people, the entire community is there for me.

And I think that’s important. And I think without a solid community, um, strong community. It would be tough to, to feel at home. I think I, I’ve never experienced it, but I can’t imagine living in a place that doesn’t have a strong community and a strong foundation. And that’s, that’s a lot of what United Way does, is, um, really the foundation of the community.

Um, almost the behind the scenes. Type stuff. Um, what we do is, you know, so when people come to visit and the locals, they’re not seeing the streets filled with homeless and they’re not seeing long lines at the food pantries and they’re not, they’re not saying all the stuff that a lot of people really don’t want to see or think about because United Way is there, we’re taking care of it.

We’re making sure the community is fed that our. Our youth are able to get to school and get there fed and not show up without having eaten any food for the weekend. And we’re there to make sure that, you know, everybody’s parents and seniors in our community are able to get to their medical appointments and get checked up on and get fed.

Sara Raymond de Booy: And is there a, a stat you have on how many people the organization supports either on a. Monthly basis or annual basis or whatever comes to mind. 

Andrew Rickhauer: In general, what we do supports just over 40% of market county residents. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Oh, wow. 

Andrew Rickhauer: So it has a broad reach. Um, you know, it, it’s easy to think of, you know, like I say, the kids that don’t have a safe place to go or don’t get food at home and, you know, the seniors, but just a lot of the, the local residents, um.

Depend on our programs, whether they, most of ’em probably don’t even know it, but just over 40% of the population, uh, were impacting and helping. Um, yeah, it, it really, it, it affects in, in some ways, that’s who we directly affect, but we do affect a hundred percent of the population because those that don’t rely on the services are benefiting from.

Those that do get it, not just the local economy for the residents, but the visitors, um, you know, the visitors rely on, in a, in a tourism area, most of the services are provided by the ALICE population and ALICE is asset-limited, income-constrained, employed. So it’s that working class that still struggles month to month to make ends meet.

They’re still making those tough decisions every day, week, month, of can I get to work? Do I have money for guests to get to work? Or you know, do I get medications today or should I skip medications this week because family needs food or, you know, it’s all those basic necessities, and that’s who we really support. And those are also the people that you go to, you know, Walmarts, Targets, the coffee shop, the restaurant, that’s that population. It’s, they’re working, they’re trying hard, but they still struggle to make ends meet. And if you remove them out of the, the equation, those positions wouldn’t be filled, and it would really, you know, the whole economy would come to a grinding halt. But in an area with tourists, we have more of those type of positions than in other areas that don’t have the tourist. Um, and I don’t know any stats on that, but just, you know, looking around some of the local communities here, we have more coffee shops and breweries and Marquette than Ishpeming just down the road, or Gwinn or Escanaba.

We don’t have enough population to sustain it. So it’s the tourism’s, great for the economy, but we do rely on that ALICE population and that population that we help serve to make sure that they are able to get that, that food and get what they need, get the transportation so that they can get to work to keep the economy going.

Sara Raymond de Booy: And do you see a place for, you know. Outside of what they’re doing, going to coffee shops and, and spending money at those places, do you see an opportunity for tourists to give back in other ways to that portion of the community? 

Andrew Rickhauer: Yeah, I see it not as much as I’d like to see it, but there’s a lot of things that tourism can do and I, I always like to, you know, for my personal traveling, I like to, I, I just say travel with intent.

I don’t like to go to a place to just check a box. It’s, been there, done that. I like to figure out what’s, what’s in the community, what’s the history? Why is it here? What’s keeping it going? Maybe part of it’s the my business frame of mind of, okay, what, how does this community survive? Um, I also like to try to give back, especially the places that I visit that I really enjoy.

It’s like, okay, what does this community need? I wanna make sure that it’s. Just as strong in five years. When I come back as it is today, I don’t want to come back to a, a rundown community. I want to preserve this, you know, so visitors can come and they can volunteer. It’s, um, there’s always volunteer needs going on.

In some ways. Some of the volunteer stuff that I’ve done in the past, in other communities, it’s, you get. A different view of the community and don’t want to compare it to like zip lining. But at the same time, you know, like Lake Superior’s, uh, is a treasure for us and there’s volunteer needs to snorkel or scuba dive and pick up garbage in the lake or beach restoration.

You know, for some people that might seem like work, but at the same time, that’s a unique experience that. I’m guessing in most communities you can’t get that experience. So not only you’re giving back, but you’re learning about the community, you’re helping support the community, and you’re getting inexperience.

I think that’s really cool. Yeah, and that’s just kind of the volunteer side of things. I think there’s some potential ways to really support the community in other ways, especially if, and this is kind of a. Far off a vision that may never happen. But if the community would come together and embrace tourism in a way and work together, you know, you get the hotels saying, okay, well you, you volunteer or you donate to the community in these ways, then we will give you, you know, a discount on your room.

Or, you know, here’s a 20% off at this local restaurant. And so just kind of. You can really build this big circle of the community businesses supporting other community businesses while supporting the volunteerism and supporting the local nonprofits. And that’s, I think that’s critical. It’s, but you know, when you look at the nonprofit world, a lot of the, we’re in a small community in the up, most of the nonprofits, it’s a two person operation maybe.

But we have the added strains of, we don’t have a lot of the resources that other communities have because of the remoteness. And we have that extra strain on and won’t make tourism and visitors sound bad. But we do have extra services to be able to provide what the visitors are coming here for. And so that leaves, you know, instead of, um.

You know, food insecurity in one community might be 30%. Well, up here it could easily be 38% just because we have more of those jobs, again, in that ALICE population. So it puts a strain on the dozens of small non-profits. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for visitors to not only get that unique experience, but really give back to make sure the community’s here.

Form in a year or five years, 10 years when they come back. Our numbers are skewed because we collect the data, but we don’t know if they’re visitors versus students. So we get a lot of students volunteering. We do get a lot of visitors volunteering. Um, if you’ve got kids and you’re from out of the area and you can come up here and.

Be introduced that okay, this community does care about everybody. So we try to do some different volunteer engagement activities during orientation when the families are up here and kind of target not only directly through the university, but also directly to them, um, to introduce the, the students that, okay, here are some things happening in the community if you want to get involved, but also.

It’s like I, I feel a lot more comfortable knowing my kids are in an area that encourages them to get out and be part of the community. If I sent them to an area that I didn’t recognize that, then I’d be concerned. It’s like, what’s gonna happen if something goes wrong? It’s like, who’s gonna be there for you?

And kind of goes back to what I was saying before growing up. It’s like I had hundreds of families I could go to know that I’d be taken care of. And that’s what I want for my kids. And I think that’s what, uh, I try to push for, you know, when working with the university and their students and families.

And then we also get a lot of visitors coming for our events. That’s what I don’t, I don’t have those numbers of, you know, if it’s their first time visiting the area for the big events, but we do all the volunteer managing and recruiting for that. So that’s easier to track, you know, who’s local and who’s not.

We send out a volunteer newsletter every other week, and I’m getting calls and emails pretty regularly from visitors. Just, you know, some of ’em are just like I, we come up there once a year and I love seeing these. I read ’em all the time just to know what’s happening and I feel connected to the community.

Seeing where people are going and what’s needed up there. And then when they come up here, they volunteer, or if they’re coming originally for an event, you know, maybe one or two family members are doing the event. And the others, it’s not uncommon to see them volunteering. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: And then what do you think, um, motivates people to get involved?

Or how do they, if they’re not already subscribed to the newsletter, um, how do you get the word out about what’s going on? 

Andrew Rickhauer: That’s one of our downfalls. I’m pretty much a one-person operation most of the time, and I’m not a marketer, so it’s hard to get the word out. I really built a lot of it through the big events to at least that, that’s a lot of our outward marketing.

Um, 

Sara Raymond de Booy: what are some of the big events 

Andrew Rickhauer: like the Noquemanon Ski Marathon? The Oar to Shore. Blues Fest. Harbor Fest. UP 200. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Now, I know you mentioned that one of the challenges getting out the word that of the activities that you’re doing and where people can volunteer, and especially with smaller organizations that might struggle with marketing.

Do you see a natural place where A DMO or a tourism board, um, can help out with that? 

Andrew Rickhauer: Yeah. I, I work with the media quite a bit. That helps. But, and that, that’s, I reached out to, um. You know, Travel Marquette a little while ago and just to kind of talk it through. ’cause I see the visitors wanting to volunteer and volunteering and I also, in my head, I see this vision of how they can really get involved and, you know, the potential there.

And I think the more that message can be out there is, it’s a good thing. Because it, it lets people know that not only, again, something like beach restoration, that seems like a really bad example, but it’s the only one I can think of right now. But it’s a lot of the volunteering stuff. It’s you, some unique experiences that you may not get and another community to be able to get the word out that not only do we have.

You know, hundreds of miles of great single-track biking and Lake Superior, which is some of the best kayaking around and you know, some great hiking trails and waterfalls. But you can also learn about beach restoration and be part of it, and not just attend a seminar in some lecture hall, but actually hands on with the people that know the stuff and do it.

And I think that’s a unique message. It’s. That we can offer up here. Um, and I know most of Marquette would hate me for, but would attract more people to the area. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: And are there existing projects right now, um, that visiting volunteers already help support? Like are there a few tangible examples you could give us?

Andrew Rickhauer: Aside from the events? A lot of it’s really kind of just hit and miss and it just hit and miss because of when they come. Um, or when the visitors come. Um, I’ve got one student that I see, I don’t know, he must be graduating pretty soon from high school, but he volunteers probably about 30 hours a year.

And we track the volunteer for the Governor’s Youth Service Awards for the state of Michigan. We manage that for this area. And so his name comes up all the time. He doesn’t even live in the up. They visit twice a year and, but yet he’s one of our top youth volunteers. His mom says most of his volunteering is when they come up here.

They’re up here once, maybe twice a year, and they always pick out some things and he loves, loves it. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: And what type of projects does he usually, uh, gravitate towards 

Andrew Rickhauer: if there’s an event he tries to do that he’s done Feeding America. Several times he’s worked at the, uh, warming center, serving meals at the, the homeless shelter.

I think the original thing that brought them up here to at least connected me with him is I think they came up for the Noquemanon Ski marathon four or five years ago. Yeah. They were just so happy to be able to volunteer. ’cause uh, she told me, she’s like, I get so tired of. Traveling with her husband all the time, and he goes and does these races and what do I do for four hours?

And then afterwards he just wants to shower and relax. So then I got another couple hours, you know, it’s like, what do I do? And so she was really excited to be able to volunteer and. So it’s always interesting to see those when they respond to volunteer need. It’s like, oh, they’re visiting next week. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Yeah.

Um, what do you think, uh, people take home with them beyond, I guess the memories and the, perhaps the unique experiences? Um, like what do you hope people take home with them after they volunteer? 

Andrew Rickhauer: It’s, I think connecting, I really believe has been going downhill, especially since COVID, it just connecting with people.

So not only are they getting that experience, um, but they’re able to connect with other, other people and they’re learning not only the interpersonal skills of how do you communicate, how do you go to another person and say hi, you know, but they’re getting those type of skills, which honestly anyone like under like, 30 doesn’t know how to do, but being able to have those experiences and not have to have a phone and being texting to people, but they’re connecting with people on a, a real level. And, um, I think that’s another advantage of a small community. Like this. Um, when you do, like for the warming center, they only take a handful, you know, three, four volunteers a day maybe.

‘Cause they don’t have the space and they don’t need more than that. Um, and I, I’m biased, but I prefer the, the smaller group. And I think it’s just cool to be able to show up and be working with three other people that I’ve never met. And two hours later, you know, we know each other and I feel like we know each other well.

Plus we helped the community. Got some good, great experience and I think that’s something that’s really lacking. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: And shifting gears a little bit, I know you’ve lived in, in quite a few places outside of Marquette and in Marquette for a while. Uh, what’s tourism been like in those other places that you’ve lived and how might that be different from how it’s in Marquette?

Andrew Rickhauer: I’m from Colorado in ski towns. Small ski town and tourism is, I think, yeah, aside from the early mining days, I think it’s been tourism since the ski industry started in the. Sixties, and that’s what those towns are built off of. There’s really no, no business, no economy beyond tourism. It’s like we don’t have a large factory.

You know, these are towns that are under 2000 people easily. And then in order to sustain them, it’s not only how do we attract more tourists too. The ski resorts, but now how do we build the community around it? You know, all the gift shops and coffee shops and stuff. But then now how do you make it year round?

And so growing up I was part of, you know, I was able to see that transition and the community embraced the tourism. We also enjoyed those. We knew the exact date when the last tourists felt like was leaving town and when the next one would be here. And those. Couple weeks in between, it was like a party.

But, um, but we also knew that the whole area, the whole economy depended on them. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: So what responsibilities do you think travellers have when they visit a place or a place like Marquette? If we wanna be specific, 

Andrew Rickhauer: I think in general, you should always leave a place better than you found it. And, you know, whether that’s, you know, a theory from my backpacking.

Times, you know, leave no trace. But I believe it’s the same thing when visiting an area and hopefully you’re visiting an area that you enjoy and want to come back to and to be able to come back and see that it’s, it’s the same and it’s thriving. Yeah. Especially when you look at the outdoor recreation area, you know, to be able to come here and go kayaking and it’s, you know, a really rough road and.

Tough to get to the water and then come back five years and it’s like, oh, they, they now have a, a real parking lot and they have a launching spot and they have a guide to great places to visit. And I think that’s kind of one of what I think of. It’s okay, how can I leave this better and how can I come make it so when I come back, things are probably better than before I have a better experience.

And a lot of that’s driven by the. The tourism, we don’t have enough population to drive that economy and, and drive the change that we’re seeing here. It really is the, the tourist and, um, and so I think it’s a, a blessing, but the, I think that they need to definitely, they need to travel with intent and embrace the community and, and I think that’s one thing that at least I was told when I.

Learned about the up for the first time before, before, just before moving here. Um, a lot of people said, oh, the people up there are so nice. And I think people appreciate the, the welcoming culture in the area. Think when you’re going over to a friend’s house, so they’re welcoming you in, you’re not just gonna walk in and open the fridge and start eating their food, you know?

Bring over a bottle of wine, you know, or, or something. It’s, you know, give back, leave a place better than you found it, whether it’s at home or where you’re visiting. I think that’s important. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Is there a baseline right now where you think the average Marquette visitor is of a grade you could give them on that kind of giving back or leaving the place better than they found it?

Andrew Rickhauer: It’s hard to say. I, uh, for the most part, I would, I would probably say a, B, B minus. I think there’s more that, that, that can be done. But I think they’re doing, I think they really are trying. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: How do you think a, a tourism board or organization like Travel Marquette can maybe bring that B minus up to A, at least an A minus, let’s say.

Andrew Rickhauer: It just, it’s really just getting the word out. Providing ’em the opportunity. One thing. Yeah. It, it’s really just the education awareness of these are our expectations, this is our culture. Here’s how you get involved, here’s how you do it. Where to go to find the resources. And that’s one thing that I built through United Way, the Yoopers United site.

One of my struggles as a local was reaching out to organizations saying, yes, I want to volunteer. You say you need volunteers, you fill out a form and then you don’t hear anything from ’em. Or you hear might hear something a month or two later and they’re just like, well, yeah, we need you for this. And it’s like, well, I’m not available that day time.

So I tried to build a website that connected people in real time. So when you go onto the site, you should be able to find something that, okay, I have two hours Monday afternoon, what can I do? And you can see everything there and you know exactly where, where you’re going, what you’re doing. You can narrow it down.

It’s like, okay, I don’t wanna be outside or I wanna be outside, or, you know, it’s, you can really get something specific. And so it allows visitors to not have to be, not have, it allows everybody not to have to do that months and months of research of, okay, is this a good organization? Need to reach out to ’em now because we’re coming up there in two months and who knows if they’ll need me then.

Um, it connects everybody thing in real time. So visitors can, they really can come up and while they’re here they can say, okay, I want to do this tomorrow and sign up and help out. And I think that’s, you know, being able to spread that word that’s you can do that, um, is important. And I think it really lets the tourist, I, I have heard from a few visitors.

They do do it at the last minute. Like we don’t know where we’ll be, what we’ll be doing. We know we wanna do something. They usually sign up the day of or the day before and just say, okay, well this is our, our free time. We’re gonna go biking in the morning and the feeding American distributions at at noon.

So we’ll do that and then we’ll go out and. To the beach afterwards. They don’t have to plan their vacation and their days around engaging with the community, but they can do it at a convenient time for them. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Do you think there’s a cultural shift happening a little bit where travelers are more interested in traveling a purpose or giving back?

Andrew Rickhauer: I think so. I think the younger generations in general, what I see is they’re the. Most compassionate, most giving generation that I’ve ever seen, even though they get a reputation of kind of being the opposite and being into themselves and stuff, but I, I see ’em as being the most giving generation ever.

They’re also the ones that are, and there’s not a shift, not only from that generation, but kind of seems like it’s creeping up. Maybe people are getting old, I don’t know. But, um, they’re looking more for that experience travel. And so I think when you combine, people are traveling and trying to get an experience, but they’re also a very compassionate generation.

I think that’s gonna, I think we’re gonna see that trend continue to shift. And those are the, I hope so. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Those are gonna be the, the people booking the travel soon, you know? Yeah. For themselves, if they’re not already. Is there a way that you’d like to collaborate more with travel Marquette or opportunities that you think would be, you know, further down the road, resource-dependent, but like how do you think United Way and Travel Marquette could, uh, collaborate more?

Yeah, I think there’s a lot of collaborations, 

Andrew Rickhauer: whether it’s just a awareness of, you know, what each other’s working on. I think that’s important, but I think there’s some, because I don’t work with travel Marquette enough yet, but I think there’s some volunteer opportunities that they can. Post out there.

And I think there’s ways that we can cross message. You know, it’s, it’s fun for me to, to be able to show off for people. I know a lot of volunteers don’t like to brag on what they do, but to be able to put out there that Embers Credit Union had 10 volunteers at Feeding America and that distribution fed over 400 families this week.

You know, that’s. That’s easy for me to do and to be able to say, you know, this event had 500 volunteers and 25 of ’em, 25% of ’em were from out of the area. You know, these are the tourists coming to our area to help support our community. And I try to do it in nice ways. ’cause I know Marquette’s a lot of residents are like, we don’t want anybody else up here.

But I think it’s a good message to share. And working closer with travel Marquette, I think it would make it, it, it would be fun to say, okay, this is what the visitors are bringing. They’re not just blocking the sidewalks and the streets with traffic. It’s, they are here and they’re giving back. Not only.

To the economy, economy monetarily, but they’re giving back in other ways and they’re embracing our community and our culture and they want to help out. And I think more collaborations like that would help. And again, I think building some sort of a, a program where we can get those that are impacted mostly by tourism, the hotels and restaurants to be able to build some.

Community-wide collaborative effort of, okay, how can we all work together to embrace this and encourage it and let those visitors that are checking into your hotel know that you know, these are the local residents, they need your help. This is how you can help more than just go to the restaurant and leave an extra tip.

It’s, you know, here’s how you can actually help in a way that’s gonna have a greater impact. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: And zooming out a little, is there any advice you’d have for a tourism board or DMO who wants to take the first step toward encouraging more visitors to give back? Like it sounds like there’s existing organizations they can get involved with, but any advice on how you’d start to, how they would be able to start to build more collaboration like that in their communities?

Andrew Rickhauer: I think it’s having the conversation. I, I, again, I’m kind of biased with the Yoopers United, but it’s. It just kind of, to me that’s kind of low hanging fruit of okay, we have these needs in our community. What’s the easiest way to get those needs out there and get that information out there? I don’t know of a lot of communities that have that, that basic network set up yet.

And I, I think that’s important. ’cause it’s hard to say, you know, let’s have this collaboration, let’s encourage visitors to give back and. And volunteer or do something. But unless if you have those opportunities available or have some organized system for it, then it’s tougher to get it going. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Yeah. Gotta make it easy.

Andrew Rickhauer: Yeah. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Are there examples from around the country or world of travelers giving back that inspire you? 

Andrew Rickhauer: Nothing specific. I just know there’s, I know of some, several people that they, they travel for volunteering. That’s how they plan their entire trip. You know, and I guess we see it, you know, with some of the big natural disasters, you know, a hurricane and you get a group of people going down and that’s not as much travel, but there’s definitely some individuals and families that do travel to help hurricane victims.

But I see it more at a, a different level of other things of, okay, I’m going to this community. And I’m, I’ve got these 10 things I’m gonna help with. And that’s the only reason I’m going. It’s all set up and, and I’m fired up for it. And I, I think that’s, that’s pretty cool. I wish more people were like that.

Sara Raymond de Booy: And as we wrap up, is there any way that you want people to feel when they leave Marquette as part of the community or, you know, as a, I 

Andrew Rickhauer: I want them to, I think when people leave Marquette, I, I hope that they feel like. They were welcome and part of the community and not just a visitor. I mean part of it’s on locals to make them feel welcome and part of it’s on them to embrace the community and be part of the community.

And I think that’s a, a, to me that’s a great compromise. And if they can leave feeling that way, then, then we did what we should have and they did what they should have. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: What gives you hope about where tourism is heading in terms of building those stronger, more connected communities? 

Andrew Rickhauer: I think it’s, it kind of goes back to what I was saying with the different generations.

I, I think the more people are looking for experience travelling and the more compassionate some of the younger generation is, I think that gives a lot of hope. I think there, there could be some really cool things growing. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: Do you have any thoughts on what it you think it means to be a good ancestor? 

Andrew Rickhauer: I think just teaching, teaching and sharing.

Sara Raymond de Booy: What makes you most proud to live in and serve in Marquette? 

Andrew Rickhauer: I think Marquette’s a great community. It’s, it’s a great area to be. Um, the people are really caring and I think it’s. Great to just be able to be part of an organization and be able to run things and be that decision maker and that the one that takes action.

Growing up, I, I’ve always been part of the community, but as a teenager, you know, the city manager’s not inviting you to the table to say, you know, what are you gonna do to fix this? But now in my position, I, I am able to. Make those decisions and let’s make these changes. This is what our community needs.

I think, again, being in a small community, it’s, we can make some of that stuff happen. 

Sara Raymond de Booy: What are you grateful for every day?

Andrew Rickhauer: I don’t know. Just grateful for, for the ability to be able to be part of a community and. Be able to get out and enjoy what we’ve got.

Sara Raymond de Booy: This has been Travel Beyond presented by Destination Think. And that was our chat with Andrew Rickhauer, Executive Director of the United Way of Marquette County. Thanks to Beth and Chris from the Marquette Regional History Center for letting us take over the research library for this interview. This episode was hosted and produced by me, Sara Raymond de Booy.

It has theme music composed by my co-producer, David Archer, Lindsay Payne, Danny Gariepy, and Cory Price provide production support. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to give us a five-star rating. It helps more people find our show. That’s a wrap on our Marquette season. Thanks for listening, and make sure to visit us at destinationthink.com for more resources and show notes.