Bringing Hope For Heartwarming Holiday Season: Christmas Wish From Fellowship Home Loans, Star 99.1 Grants Special Requests From Radio Family
Fellowship Home Loans with Hope for the Holidays
Christmas! The most wonderful time of the year. While it may sound cliché, Christmas seems to be when differences are minimized, and helping each other takes center stage. The glimmer in the eyes of a child highlights the lights, the celebration, and the family gatherings. The weeks that follow Thanksgiving, before the craziness of a new year, is when Hope and happiness often reign, and the madness of life is put on hold, albeit possibly briefly.
Right in the heart of Rockville Centre sits a team striving to keep that Joy alive all year. Fellowship Home Loans is more than a mortgage lender. Mike Rakeman, Brian Schiele, and the entire team at Fellowship believe in service above sales. For as long as they remember, Mike and Brian, Fellowship’s top managers, have looked for ways to impact the community at Christmas and year-round with gifts that last long after the season fades.
That led them to Star 99.1 to sponsor the station’s Christmas Wish promotion. Listeners submit or have desires submitted by family and friends. One that resonated with Mike from years past was Aida. A preschool teacher was laid off due to her school’s challenges to renew contracts with the state.
While that was troubling enough, Aida was battling kidney issues and needed both knees replaced. But, even amid her troubles, her heart desired to provide a new bedroom suit for her nine-year-old daughter for Christmas. A suit that had been hers since she was four.
That dream led Aida to Star 99.1 to share her hopes with a Christmas Wish. Unbeknownst to Aida, Mike Rakeman, a father of two girls, was on the line. Afterward, he said, “just hearing the heart of a mother facing such challenges in what should be the happiest time of year moved me deeply as I thought of my children. A home should be a place of safety and comfort. Fellowship had to make a difference.”
And they made a difference, fulfilling Aida’s dream of a new bedroom set in time for Christmas. Aida offered tearful thanks to Mike and Star 99.1. Mike says, “the peace of the season was his. He was grateful for the opportunity to help.”
Brian Schiele adds how blessed the Fellowship family is to be a part of the great ministry and work of Star 99.1 and the Christmas Wish program. “The Fellowship team takes pride in bringing Joy and hope to people during this beautiful season filled with family and friends. Reflecting on the gift given to us many years ago, in a stable.
The Christmas Wish is about those who receive, and also those blessed when hearing of wishes being granted. Recently, a listener shared that while she has no particular needs, she often listens with tears as gifts are given and dreams come true, saying, “I have everything because I have God in me. I want to send blessings to Mike, Brian, and their families because what you guys do for Christmas is amazing! I love it.” Even though she may never meet Mike and Brian, she prays and thanks them for all they do.
While life sometimes gets in the way of Joy, Mike and Brian say sharing the reason for the season can keep the spirit of giving all year; it’s about priorities. “Providing more than money’s always been at the top of our list. We pray to welcome families home to a place where memories are made. We don’t have customers, we have family”, says Schiele.
Mike reflects on humble beginnings, and on the wishes he and Brian have realized over the years. “When we began this company more than twenty years ago, we dreamed we could make more than a living. Our desire was then, and continues to be, to make a difference. Our success is not measured by how much we make. Our legacy is built on those faithful people who were once clients but now are lifelong friends.”
Brian recalls another Star 99 Christmas Wish that resonated and inspired him, Mike, and the entire Fellowship family. Eleven-year-old Alexa began feeling sick the week before the fourth of July. She was so ill she couldn’t get out of bed; even sunlight brought her pain. Symptoms so severe she ended up in the hospital. A visit that resulted in a diagnosis every parent fears. Alexa had a large brain tumor in the back of her head. This diagnosis was followed by days, weeks, and months of tiring and painful treatment. But through it all, the stress, the hair loss, and the tests, one thing remained: a fantastic smile from a child who knew the peace that passes understanding.
Mike and Brian were privileged to listen to Alexa’s call when she and her mom were advised that her wish was to be granted. They were near tears when they awarded her the shopping trip of her dreams and a little extra to bring some gifts home for the holidays. Mike said she was no doubt the bravest girl ever! Brian added it was a pleasure and honor to help make her dreams come true and help build a play paradise.
Alexa continues to look past her problems, and says when she grows up, she wants to be a Child Life Specialist, like the ones lifting her spirit. In her face, you see the joy of giving, the glimmer of hope, and experience the reason for the season. A season of sharing, of family, and the promise of peace.
“While interest rates rise and fall, the economy may tumble, the truth of the season will always be the bedrock that guides Fellowship Home Loans, that is that love conquers all.”, says Rakeman.
“We’ve all been blessed with the greatest gift. Let’s live like we mean it,” adds Schiele.
Finally, they thank Star 99.1 for making wishes come true and keeping Hope in the Holidays.
About Mike and Brian of Fellowship Home Loans
Brian:
Brian Schiele is a mortgage professional here at Fellowship Home Loans. Brian grew up in Seaford, New York with a fascination for finance and economics along with a strong desire to help others that was instilled in him from a young age by his family and local church community.
Being attracted to the straightforward nature of mortgage banking over the unpredictable nature of hedge funds, he entered into the mortgage industry soon after he graduated Hobart College with a degree in economics. Brian also enjoyed the day to day personal interaction of the mortgage industry, but he soon saw a need for more transparency in it.
Brian met Mike Rakeman, the co-founder of Fellowship Home Loans, in 2003 when they were both working at a retail mortgage company. As they continued to develop their experience in the retail mortgage industry, they were discouraged by the profit based motives of the companies that they worked at.
Being inspired throughout his life by the hardworking people he knew from his church community, he wanted to be a part of a mortgage company based on Biblical principles that would make its customers the top priority over profits.
Aiming to set new standards for the mortgage industry, Fellowship Home Loans has quickly grown and become a well-known name in the mortgage industry. We have been able to break new ground with Fellowship Home Loans by offering a customer oriented and honest approach to mortgages that has proven to be successful and appreciated by their clients.
Mike:
Growing up in Rockville Center, NY, Mike began working toward a career in mortgages early by attending college for finance and economics. After graduating, his first job was for a retail mortgage bank, where he helped originate mortgage loans.
Once he started working, he realized quickly the impact and potential of mortgages to change people’s lives. Finding satisfaction in helping people, Mike began to explore how he could take mortgages a step further, and bring it closer to his vision of what they could be.
“With Fellowship, I was motivated to begin a new undertaking where we could put customer’s needs first. Having the ability to impact people’s lives is so rewarding,” said Mike in an interview.
Through what Mike learned, he noticed a few things that he wished to do differently. The customer’s needs always came second to profit, but Mike knew there had to be a different way. This critical attention to the value of the customer’s experience is what lies behind his work ethic every day.
Mike and Brian crossed paths in 2003 when they were first working at a retail bank. They learned that they had played against one another in their church’s youth basketball league. Ironically enough, they were raised no more than ten minutes away from one another on Long Island. Sharing the same interests and values, and coming from the same community made the rest easy; there was an instant friendship and fellowship.
Banner Image: Star 99.1 Christmas Wish banner. Image Credit – FHL/Star 99.1
Brian Schiele Fellowship Home Loans
Brian Schiele is a mortgage professional here at Fellowship Home Loans. Brian grew up in Seaford, New York with a fascination for finance and economics along with a strong desire to help others that was instilled in him from a young age by his family and local church community. Being inspired throughout his life by the hardworking people he knew from his church community, he wanted to be a part of a mortgage company based on Biblical principles that would make its customers the top priority over profits. Aiming to set new standards for the mortgage industry, Fellowship Home Loans has quickly grown and become a well-known name in the mortgage industry. We have been able to break new ground with Fellowship Home Loans by offering a customer oriented and honest approach to mortgages that has proven to be successful and appreciated by their clients
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