I look forward to getting more and more involved with them. I hope I'll be able to contribute some concepts.

It was very eloquent, but I sat there, I looked at that letter (off and on) for a couple of years. ... He was chairman of the Transportation Committee and he'd never let us get (the resolution) to the floor.

He (Johnson) ended up getting me into several doors I had never gotten into and really single-handedly got Congressman John Shimkus, R-Ill., behind this. (Rep. Ray) LaHood, R-Peoria, was always behind us. They really got us through the red tape and got us on the floor and it was a unanimous vote.

I hope we never get to the point that we put ourselves in Jesus' place. But when I read the New Testament basically, we get three mandates: to love God, to love each other, and to take care of the least among us. And I think this is at least a step in the right direction.

Hope our full house can beat them.

We hope to be the most strategic in utilizing funds to either form partnerships and leverage existing ongoing activities, or by identifying gaps and placing our money there.