Soon after they sold out of the business in 1998, Carl and Margaret initiated an unusual collection. It began innocently enough with a handwritten thank-you note tossed, almost thoughtlessly, into a basket. But over time, it grew into an intentional effort to preserve a record of uncommon thoughtfulness and generosity. “We have a big basket in the living room,” explains Carl, “and we get [notes] and I make sure they have what year on them and I throw them in that basket. I never throw a thank-you note away. When I don’t get thank you notes, I know I’m not doing enough.”


By December 2011, Carl and Margaret had amassed a haphazard collection of more than 900 notes—an average of about 70 per year (although they certainly received more in later years than in early years)—chronicling more than a decade of generosity. (And the basket contained only personal thank yous, not the many official acknowledgments received from the dozens of charities they support.) ...


But by far the largest number of notes comes from children and teens, who exhibited and then sold their goats, pigs, cows, and sheep at 4-H and FFA auctions. Carl has been a fixture at livestock sales for decades, supporting youth who show and sell their animals at county fairs and local 4-H and FFA shows. Bidding at auctions to benefit others is Carl’s idea of fun. He explains it this way: “Some go hunting, some go fishing, some go golfing. . . . They do all kinds of things. And I don’t do any of those. But I can go sit at an auction and bid on something that’s going to help... 4-H kids or FFA. And I can sit there and have a ball.” But Carl doesn’t attend auctions just to have fun. He brings his business savvy and bids strategically. One of his chief goals is to make sure exhibitors receive more than market value for their animals. Lloyd explains, “He goes out to a lot of these 4-H sales and FFA sales, and buys the kids’ animals. They have it set up that the butcher is there and the butcher pays, say, a dollar a pound per hog. Well, he’ll make that hog bring a dollar and a quarter per pound. He’ll pay the bill so the kids get good money, but then he sells it to the butcher and pays the difference. He does that with a lot of cattle and pigs and sheep.” Carl seldom trucks an animal home. What he does take with him is a feeling of satisfaction from supporting young people in their agricultural endeavors. And Lloyd points out that supporting youth at these events is a great way to put the Wenger name in front of the business’s primary customers.


Carl is a fixture at the annual Lebanon County Fair, where he not only bids generously on animals, but since 2004 has given a $50 savings bond to each youth exhibiting livestock. But Carl doesn’t limit his bids to local auctions. He has supported 4-H and FFA auctions at other locations in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Florida, and a number of other southern states. Young people recognize Carl and appreciate his support. In addition to the many thank yous he receives—many with pictures of prize-winning steers or pigs and their proud owners— occasionally he receives notes from exhibitors inviting him to consider bidding on their animals, like one he received in 2004 from a boy named William asking Carl to consider buying his steer, Big River, at the 2004 Huntingdon County (Pa.) Fair. One of Carl’s favorite sales through the years has been the Putnam County Fair, held each March in Florida. Carl has been a supporter of the Rodeheaver Boys Ranch, near Palatka, Florida, a 790-acre operating farm and ranch that provides religious, educational, and vocational training for needy boys. The ranch has its own “Rockin’ R 4-H Club,” and each year about 20 boys raise and sell pigs at the county fair and get to keep the profit. Ranch founder, Homer Rodeheaver’s philosophy—“If the boys will raise the animals, the animals will raise the boys.”— resonated with Carl. As a result, he bids to bring the Rodeheaver boys and other exhibitors a good return on their animals.