Koch uses talent and treasures to help others

Nov. 29--Steve Koch does more than volunteer for and donate to causes he believes in. He also recruits others to help those who need a a hand up.

"I feel very blessed," Koch said when asked why he gets so involved in community organizations. "I'm inclined to feel that I should share my time and talents and treasures."

Koch is a finalist for the 2020 State Journal-Register First Citizen Award.

Koch, 60, is a financial planner and partner with Ameriprise Financial Services in Springfield. Among his outside activities, he's on the board of Habitat for Humanity of Sangamon County. In the last two years, he's donated nearly $200,000 to the organization, providing full funding for one house and partial funding for three others, said Colleen Stone, executive director of the agency .

"I am very seldom at a loss for words, but Steve's contributions over the past few years leave me speechless," she said.

His volunteering on Habitat building projects has included hanging drywall, painting and landscaping.

"His quiet pursuit to ameliorate homelessness and the debilitation associated with being poor in America has been his focus," a nominator said. "I am frequently awestruck by his humility and dogged determination to do the right thing for those who suffer the indignities of housing and food insecurity."

St. John's Breadline and the Central Illinois Food Bank are among the other organizations he volunteers with or helps. He said he periodically invites his clients to volunteer or contribute to causes.

"I like promoting and making people aware of the kind of plight and the need," he said. "I'm careful as a financial adviser not to steer anybody or tell anybody how they spend their money. But I do sometimes help folks understand that they've met all their goals (and) they ought to consider making donations."

"We took about 20 clients over to the food bank just last week," where they did about four hours of volunteer work, he said in a recent interview.

He's also been active with other charitable causes including Friend-in-Deed, United Way, and his church, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Chatham. And he is longtime president of a Springfield-area University of Illinois alumni group.

Koch graduated high school in the southern Illinois city of Highland, and got a political science degree in 1982 from the U of I at Champaign.

He managed the 1982 and 1984 campaigns of former state Sen. Frank Watson, who went on to be GOP Senate leader. He came to Springfield in 1983 and traveled with then-Secretary of State Jim Edgar for about a year and was a legislative liaison for the state lottery before going into financial advising in 1987. He's now a past president of the Sangamon Valley Estate Planning Council.

He is married to Jodie and they have four grown children.

Koch, in the interview, got emotional when talking about giving back to the community.

"I'm a firm believer we either all have time, we have some talents, or we have some financial resources or treasures," he said.

"If we all do what we can do," he added, his voice cracking, "I hope it makes a difference."

Contact Bernard Schoenburg: Bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com, 788-1540, twitter.com/bschoenburg

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