When Marvin Rubingh first decided to support the Mackinac Center, he didn’t write a check.
He donated a steer.
Directing the proceeds of a cattle auction to the Mackinac Center, Marv found a way to put more of his money toward his goal and less of it into taxes. It was the kind of practical approach you might expect from a fifth-generation farmer who has spent a lifetime finding better ways to do things.
“Growing up on a dairy farm in Antrim County, I always loved farming: corn, hay, cows, trees, land,” he says. “You look around, and it’s just beautiful. It doesn’t get any better.”
Rubingh’s Dairyland is a thriving operation outside Ellsworth, Mich., where Marv and his wife Jane raised seven children and welcomed 26 grandchildren (and counting). A graduate of Dordt College, he serves on his township board, and his son Jarris is an Antrim County commissioner. He has also brought innovation to the farm, installing airtight feed storage silos that dramatically reduced spoilage and cut four hours each day from the task of feeding the herd. Marv is an innovator!
Marv’s connection to the Mackinac Center runs through his family as well. When his 16-year-old daughter Monica began writing letters to the local newspaper editor about the Center’s work, then-President Larry Reed brought her on as an intern. Monica has said the internship confirmed something for her: A girl raised among cows and crops had no interest in sitting behind a desk for the rest of her life. The Mackinac Center is glad to have played a small part in that discovery.
Faith, Marv says, is at the root of everything, including how he and Jane decide where to give. “My worldview comes from the Bible. Scripture influences everything we do, our whole life.” He never makes those decisions alone. “If you believe in biblical principles, husband and wife unity is number one.”
That same conviction shapes how Marv sees the United States. “As we celebrate 250 years as the greatest country on earth,” he says, “we remember that America was founded by men deeply influenced by Christianity, biblical principles, and the Western tradition of God-given rights and limited government.”
Why does Marvin Rubingh support the Mackinac Center?
“It’s a group that does public policy research and advocates for freedom. It watches the Legislature and tries to influence it for what’s right, within the freedoms we need to live. The most recent thing that comes to mind is a woman who spoke up at a school board meeting, and the school board tried to censor her. The Mackinac Center came to her defense. That’s the kind of work that matters.”
The Mackinac Center is grateful for Marv’s generosity, and for the example he and his family show of living out their convictions on the farm, in local government, and in support of freedom.
