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‘I Bleed Rainbow’: New Rainbow Network director passionate about helping Nicaraguans

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An eye-opening journey to Nicaragua as a teenager set Megan Munzlinger on a path to eventually lead a Springfield-based nonprofit that is impacting the lives of tens of thousands in the impoverished Central American country.

Munzlinger is the new executive director of The Rainbow Network Inc., a faith-based organization that addresses poverty through four core areas: health care, education, housing and economic development. Founded by Keith Jaspers in 1995, Rainbow Network currently serves about 50,000 people in 166 communities in Nicaragua through medical clinics, community centers, housing construction, microloans and a high school scholarship program, Munzlinger said. Its annual revenue, generated largely through donations, is around $2 million.

Formerly the organization’s development director, Munzlinger replaced Jaspers in the leadership role following his retirement at the end of June.

“It’s always daunting to take over for a founder. This is his baby,” she said, about a month on the job after Jaspers spent 23 years building the nonprofit.

But Munzlinger’s been connected with Rainbow Network for about 13 of those years.

“It’s second nature to me. He even jokes that I bleed Rainbow,” she said of Jaspers and the transition.

First impressions
Munzlinger started out as a high school volunteer for Rainbow Network in 2004. She had the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua for the first time with a group representing the nonprofit.

“It was really overwhelming,” she said, vividly remembering one woman sweeping her dirt floor and yard as Munzlinger and other members of the group approached her house. “You just saw the pride, even though she’s living in this mud and stick house, she had pride and wanted us to see she had pride and took care of things.”

It was the first of what have been many visits she’s since made to the country.

“It really opened my eyes to poverty, it opened my eyes to a great organization like Rainbow,” she said. “I knew at some point I’d be working for them – I hoped to, anyway.”

She continued her volunteering with Rainbow Network throughout college and leading up to 2012 when she met and was hired by Jaspers to lead groups in Nicaragua and be involved in fundraising.

“She just impressed me with her passion and dedication,” Jaspers said. “She’s just continued to do a great job.”

Jaspers originally retired from the organization in 2009, with the Rev. Jim Oman named as his successor. But Jaspers was asked to return to the executive director position by the board of directors near the end of 2010, after Oman left Rainbow Network. The recession effects hit around that time, Jaspers said, and fundraising dropped in 2010 and 2011 to around $1 million.

However, after taking back the reins, Jaspers was able to help revive fundraising. According to the organization’s Form 990s filed with the IRS, financial public support through contributions, gifts and grants have increased every year since 2012. That year, $1.19 million was reported, and it rose to $1.76 million in 2016, the most recent reported year.

Munzlinger said the idea of her taking over was first discussed almost three years ago. She’s known since February 2017 that she was going to be Jaspers’ successor, which gave her plenty of time to pick his brain.

“He’s been around so long that he’s been a great advocate, a great mentor, a great teacher,” she said.

“I’m 75 years old now and you just can’t fight the calendar,” he said of his decision to walk away from the organization where he drew a salary of nearly $130,000, according to 2016 IRS records.

While he was named president emeritus of the organization upon exiting the leadership position, Jaspers said he’s retired from all other business interests.

Nicaraguan connection
Before 2012, when she joined the staff of Rainbow Network, Munzlinger said she traveled to Nicaragua five times. Now, she estimates she spends several months per year in the country.

She’s currently the lone employee of the six-person Springfield office who travels to the country.

While Rainbow Network shares biblical faith with the Nicaraguan people, none of the organization’s service work – be it building houses, providing health care or providing microloans – is conditional, Munzlinger said.

“We’re not saying you have to hear the gospel and say this right thing in order to get this plate of food or anything like that,” she said.

The nonprofit takes a community-oriented approach, she said, with local staff advising residents on programs, including job opportunities and health care services. The people get to call town hall meetings in their communities and vote on leadership to set up their own structure.

“Our staff in Nicaragua, who are all Nicaraguan, are actually working for those leaders in the community,” she said of the 65-member team.

For housing construction, the organization has one paid foreman and a couple of bricklayers, Munzlinger said. And much like Habitat for Humanity, the recipient families are chosen ahead of time and actively involved in building the home.

“Each of our programs are really instilling empowerment in the people. None of it is a handout,” she said. “They bought into this, and they want us here. They don’t lack the ability or the desire to work hard. They just simply lack the opportunity.”

Starting work in Nicaragua was born from Jaspers’ desire to serve a country that desperately needed the assistance, Munzlinger said.

“He wanted to go to an area where nobody was already helping. Even today, when we expand to a new region or a new community, we want to make sure they’re not getting help from anywhere else and that they truly do need our services,” she said.

An uncertain situation
Munzlinger’s uncertain when she’ll next travel to Nicaragua – not due to lack of interest or funds, but rather the civil unrest taking place since April that has led to more than 300 deaths, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Protests have been ongoing against the government for Social Security tax increases and decreased benefits, Munzlinger said, with occasional violent clashes between protestors and police.

“You have people on one side of a barricade shooting a slingshot and on the other side there’s someone with an AK-47,” she said. “The people have said they are not giving up until they have a true democracy and true freedom in their country.”

Through email and video chats, Munzlinger said she’s been able to keep in contact with staff in Nicaragua on a daily basis.

“They have been able to continue our work every day,” she said. “Our mission has not changed.”

Jaspers said the organization is in good hands with the person he handpicked. And she’s ready for the task.

“Everything in my life, since I’ve traveled in 2005, everything has been about Rainbow,” Munzlinger said. “Everybody that I know has heard about it. It was really just a dream come true for me.”

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