On September 11, 2001, Diane Markle, a high school senior at the time, sat in her Ohio classroom with a heaviness in her heart. In her rural, one-stoplight town, many of her friends and neighbors jumped at the chance to enlist and serve their country. Markle dreamed of joining the music program in the Navy and giving back to her beloved country, but due to medical waivers, she was unable to join the service at that time.
Markle changed course, went to college, joined a music program there, and eventually a job in banking brought her to Indiana. But that call to serve her country still weighed heavily on Markle’s heart.
“Banking found me, and I was in bank management for 18 years in downtown Indianapolis,” says Markle. “But I found myself giving my time, talent and treasure to veteran causes.” She began serving on the board for HVAF and Folds of Honor Indiana when a casual conversation with a retired general lit a fire inside her soul. “He said, ‘Just because you can’t wear the uniform doesn’t mean you can’t serve our military,’ and to ‘go and get it done,’” she says.
And that’s what she did.
She poured her passion into Folds of Honor Indiana, a local chapter of a national nonprofit organization awarding thousands of educational scholarships, totaling millions of dollars, to spouses and children of fallen and disabled service members, and also more recently, first responders. The scholarships can support private school tuition or tutoring in grades K through 12, tuition for college, technical school or trade school, and post-graduate work.
Markle now serves as a regional impact officer for Indiana from her home in Bargersville.
“I don’t work a day in my life – this is the coolest thing,” says Markle. “If anyone would’ve told me 20 years ago that I would be doing this, and doing golf outings and galas as my work in fundraising for, to me, the most noble and important cause of honoring the sacrifice and educating on the legacy of our service members and first responders, I would’ve said you are nuts. But it is so rewarding.”
Part of what draws Markle to Folds of Honor as an organization is the transparency with donations. She says 91 cents of every dollar go directly to these educational scholarships for families, and the turnaround time for the organization to get those dollars out is quick.
“You see the impact immediately,” says Markle.
Markle then takes it a step further, ensuring that she knows how much the organization sends out, who the money goes to and where they go to school, while also protecting the privacy of the recipient families. “I can tell you which branch the family member was serving in or whether it was fire, police or EMS,” says Markle. “I can tell you what the student is studying, and what year.”
She adds that 42% of their recipients are from minority populations. “If you feel called to do something, the first step is just to get up and do it – but also being intentional, and finding an organization with a level of transparency and their ratio of dollars given back,” says Markle. “Educate and then dive right in, because there is nothing more gratifying than giving back with something you are passionate about.”
