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Most operators can recite horror stories of life in the pizza biz but few can rival Mike Amheiser of Fredericktown, Ohio (halfway between Cleveland and Columbus) for dealing with adversity. He opened his first carryout and delivery store, Pizza Dock, in 1988 and lost a second pizzeria to divorce in 1993. Meanwhile, that same year, an arsonist burned down his first store. (There were two arsonists, one died in a car accident before sentencing. The other, a disgruntled Pizza Dock employee, was arrested and served eight years in prison). When Mike began rebuilding, Dominos began building on the same street. How did Mike respond to these horrific events? He went to Kenya and Uganda, Africa to help those even less fortunate.
Big Dreams, Big Faith
He and Africans he befriended began taking orphans off the street, and taking them to a property they had converted into an orphanage. The children – some 35 of them – now have a school and uniforms. Mike says these are children who were facing mean streets of desperation.
“We’re getting street kids who were begging for food,” Mike says sadly. “Their parents either died of AIDS or in tribal clashes, or just abandoned them.” In 2005, Mike took 50,000 pounds of food to Kenya, spending $13,000 of his own money. Facing professional and personal calamity, one might wonder what possessed him to reach out to the children of Africa.
“I’ve been through divorce and arson, my family and work were messed up,” Mike recalls. “So I just decided I want my life to make a difference. I’m 47 and I decided life is short. I didn’t know what to do but I knew I had to do something.”
Mike says he made his first trip to Africa in 1999, at the invitation of a pastor working in Kenya. He says the invitation came in the form of a vision.
“I had a friend in a wheelchair whose dad is a pastor, and we were at a church meeting,” he recalls. “He started seeing this angel and I couldn’t see it. This angel started talking to him, telling him ‘You’re going to Africa and you don’t have to worry about finances.’ I knew he wasn’t playing games with me. When I came back to Ohio, a woman came up to me and asked me how my African trip was going.
“I was still suffering from my losses,” Mike says as he shakes his head. “All the money in my bank account was gone. For me to go to Africa was impossible. I didn’t have any money, had shut off notices on my desk. I didn’t want to tell her any of that so I said, I was working on it, you know?
“She said, ‘The reason I’m asking is I have 40,000 free Sky Miles that are going to expire.’ Well, that was a round trip to Kenya. It had been only a week and half since I’d heard I was going to Africa and not to worry about finances, then here’s a plane ticket. My faith in God is big.”
Walking the Walk
Mike acted on his faith. In 2005, he spent a month in Kenya distributing the 50,000 pounds of corn.
“We rented three big trucks and dropped the load off at this one town, Kiwawa. There, we divvied it up, 10 bags at a time, 200-pound bags, and we went from village to village.” On a return trip in 2006, he bought bunk beds and shoes for the 35 students at the orphanage. Mike funds these trips by saving his money and raising awareness among churches and other faith-based organizations.
“Last year, I spoke at three different churches here in Fredericktown,” he says, “and they each gave me $1,000. Another church sent me a check for $1,500. It’s three grand for a truckload of corn. My brother sent me a check for $4,000, that’s the biggest check I’ve gotten.”
Mike says he has another trip planned for the summer of 2007 and this trip will be used to instruct the villagers to fend for themselves.
“This year when I go, I’m going to take corn and some supplies for the orphanage and help them set up a kerosene business,” he says. “We’ll buy them a tank of kerosene and they can sell it. They don’t have any electricity, so all cooking and lights are run on kerosene.”
Mike says there’s also some land he hopes to buy or lease to teach the villagers how to farm.
“There’s a five acre piece of property next door to the orphanage that we’re gong to try to lease so they can have a vegetable garden,” he says. “They can eat from the garden and also sell some of the food. Then up north, where there has been a lot of tribal warfare, they’ve asked me to build a mission station. Now that the tribes aren’t fighting anymore, they want to learn how to farm. In the past they never farmed, they just stole cattle from each other.”
Mike says he has to fight the perception that his missionary work is due to too much time and money on his hands.
“Some people think I’m a rich guy because I have my own business,” he says intently. “Other people realize how tough small business is. When people see that you’re giving back to the community, it affects people, they appreciate it. When somebody gives me $20, they feel good. They know me and know the money is going to a good place. And it makes them feel good about themselves. As the saying goes, ‘Many hands make a load light.’”
Dock On
Mike still runs Pizza Dock (named for his former career as a fishing guide on Lake Erie) and currently employs 18 workers, full and part-time. His 600 sq. ft. business holds its own in this small Ohio burg of 2,500. Still, through it all, Mike sends $500 a month to his orphanage. The relationships that Mike struck up in 1999 are still bearing fruit.
“The people in Kenya feel like forgotten people,” he declares. “They feel like even God has forgotten them. They know there’s technology out there; they can see planes go over. They’re frustrated, hungry, poor and uneducated. They just feel like nobody cares. They respond well to people coming and wanting to help.”
Mike says he will continue to serve pizza to the residents of Fredericktown and life lessons to the children of Kenya. He says he will do it by following a very basic philosophy.
“I just want to help people.”
For more information or to send donations, contact Border Bridge Mission, c/o Michael Amheiser, 113 N. Main St., Fredericktown, OH 43019.