Mentoring Agent Derek Fink, center, of Sidney, talks with Sidney Mayor Mardie Milligan and Sidney-Shelby County Chamber of Commerce President Jeff Raible during a ribbon cutting ceremony for Home Experts Realty at 217 N. Main Ave. The ceremony was held on Tuesday, June 20.
Along with remarks from Pastor Fred Gillenwater of Russell Road Church, Milligan, Shelby County Commissioner Bob Guillozet and Sidney Alive Executive Director Amy Breinich, Fink told the crowd about how he got to where he is today.
“I’m not supposed to be here. That’s why I get emotional, because I was this close to being on billboards in this town for the wrong reasons. I was in the paper for the wrong reasons in this town. I did a lot of my young life in the county jail and prison and rehab, and when I did my prison time the CO (Corrections Officer) there said, ‘Derek, you’re nothing but a punk and you’re going to be in and out of here the rest of your life,’ and she was not lying because that’s the statistics. You don’t make it out of that life, and not only do you not make it out of that life, you don’t make it out of that life and succeed in this way,” Fink said.
“My goal is, I just want to show people that it doesn’t matter where you’ve been in life, that you can overcome, you can come out of that and get to anywhere you want to go. And I just want to be that person for people, and that’s why if I sell a $50,000 house, I treat them the same as the person I sold a $6,000 house because I just have such a passion for that,” he concluded.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Mentoring Agent Derek Fink, center, of Sidney, talks with Sidney Mayor Mardie Milligan and Sidney-Shelby County Chamber of Commerce President Jeff Raible during a ribbon cutting ceremony for Home Experts Realty at 217 N. Main Ave. The ceremony was held on Tuesday, June 20.
Along with remarks from Pastor Fred Gillenwater of Russell Road Church, Milligan, Shelby County Commissioner Bob Guillozet and Sidney Alive Executive Director Amy Breinich, Fink told the crowd about how he got to where he is today.
“I’m not supposed to be here. That’s why I get emotional, because I was this close to being on billboards in this town for the wrong reasons. I was in the paper for the wrong reasons in this town. I did a lot of my young life in the county jail and prison and rehab, and when I did my prison time the CO (Corrections Officer) there said, ‘Derek, you’re nothing but a punk and you’re going to be in and out of here the rest of your life,’ and she was not lying because that’s the statistics. You don’t make it out of that life, and not only do you not make it out of that life, you don’t make it out of that life and succeed in this way,” Fink said.
“My goal is, I just want to show people that it doesn’t matter where you’ve been in life, that you can overcome, you can come out of that and get to anywhere you want to go. And I just want to be that person for people, and that’s why if I sell a $50,000 house, I treat them the same as the person I sold a $6,000 house because I just have such a passion for that,” he concluded.
