For Rob Stea, giving back to the community in which he lives has always been an important part of his life.
“I've always liked helping people,” the Pelham businessman said. “I've always been relatively blessed with things in my life, you know, a great family, great friends, I've got a fantastic wife.”
Stea, the owner of Pelham Printing and Design, became a member of the Fonthill & District Kinsmen about three years ago. That was when he worked as a designer at what was then known as Pelham Printing and Promotions. In that job, he found himself dealing with members of the service club through day-to-day operations of the business.
“Actually, it was (Kinsmen past-president) Len Doyle,” Stea said. “Len would come in, his son would come in, and we'd get chatting. At one point, he just said to me, ‘Hey, I do this thing. I'm a part of this club. Would you be interested in coming and seeing what we have to say?’”
Since that time, Stea purchased the printing business from previous owner David Metler, and is now a full-fledged member of the Kinsmen. Joining the service club has proven to be a perfect fit for the Toronto-born Stea, who first moved to Pelham 10 years ago.
Both as a business owner, and as a member of the Kinsmen, Stea has been ready to help.
“I know a lot of the people over at Wellspring. I know a lot of people at Pelham Cares, things like that,” Stea said. “I volunteered at food banks on occasion. Just little things here and there.”
He remains modest about his efforts to give back, however.
“It wasn’t anything I was actively looking for, but more getting in there and realizing how much they do for the community and how that just made sense to me,” Stea said. “Because they don't flaunt that. They're going out and helping. They're very behind the scenes. They do it very quietly, and that really connects with me, because I truly often don't want any praise.”
But still, wanting to help others is something Stea chooses to do.
“I've always had a lot of great things, and there's people that, just for whatever reason, one way or the other, haven't had those things,” he said. “So it's just always made sense to say let's get out to a food bank, and the second somebody asks me to do something, naturally I'm going to jump right in and try to give them a hand with it.”
