Forget, for a moment, the polished businesswoman sitting behind a desk. Instead, picture Gina Radke in the crowd at a mixed martial arts match. "I cheer and cheer and cheer," Radke said.
For the underdog, naturally. Even the corner man for one fighter heard her and told his man: "Don't listen to her, listen to me!'"
Radke seems to bring the same enthusiasm to everything she does, whether it's running the Sherwood aviation hardware business she owns with her husband, Wade, or community service. For instance, she chairs the board of Union Rescue Mission, which this week holds two events: the ninth annual Night on the Street telethon Thursday, and the Love & Hope Evolution Concert on Saturday.
"She is awesome," fellow board member Danica Massey said of Radke. "She's coming from an executive viewpoint, so she has that knowledge of what it takes to make a business successful. If we get sidetracked, she's like, 'No, no, no, no.'"
On the other hand, Massey added, "She'll tear up at least once during the meeting. It's neat to see her compassion."
Radke, a 37-year-old Little Rock native, graduated from Mills High School and has a marketing degree from Park University in Missouri. She worked in promotions for a local radio station and the American Heart Association in Florida before she and her husband, who was getting out of the Air Force, decided to buy Galley Support Innovations, which had been started by Wade's grandfather a half century before. "His grandma said, 'I really think you were meant to carry on this business.'"
Galley Support custom makes locks, latches and other hardware used in the interior of aircraft for clients such as Boeing, American Airlines, Falcon Jet and Gulfstream.
"It's not very glamorous, but there's a little piece of Arkansas flying all over the world right now," Radke said.
The Radkes moved the company from California to Manson Road in Sherwood. Gina calls it the "best decision we ever made," but success hasn't come easy. When orders plummeted during the recession, Gina stepped into the chief executive officer job so that Wade could work for another company. Today, Wade is Galley's lead product designer, while Gina is one of the few female CEOs in the industry. She is a member of the Arkansas Aerospace Defense Alliance, which promotes the state's aerospace industry, and was appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson last year to the Arkansas Career Education and Workforce Development Board.
Since those lean years in the late 2000s, Galley Support has expanded and last year recorded $3 million in sales. Galley Support employs about 28 people. Gina says many helped the company survive tough times. She and her husband have tried to repay that by giving people "second chances," sometimes hiring ex-convicts and people who've gone through Union Mission.
"There aren't a lot of people who hire felons," Radke said.
Radke's involvement with Union Rescue Mission stems from personal experience: A relative, "someone I love very much," had her life turned around by the organization.
Radke said she received a call one night in 2011 from a hospital where her relative had been taken, unconscious from drinking.
"They said, 'You need to get her help,' and it broke my heart," Radke said. "I knew what not to do," and that was "not take action."
Radke looked into private substance abuse treatment centers and realized her relative, who was uninsured, could never afford the "insane" costs. Calling around, Radke heard from a friend that Dorcas House, Union Rescue's home for women and children, had started a substance treatment program.
"They found that domestic abuse and addiction often go hand in hand," Radke said. "A lot were self-medicating."
"The next morning, I took her," she continued. "She was still drunk, mind you."
Radke said she had a feeling she'd come to the right place as soon as the front desk attendant welcomed them.
"She came to us and told us, 'This was not your fault,"' Radke remembers. "She stopped and she prayed with us. When we left, it was with such a feeling of peace."
Today, Radke said, her relative is "doing great," working two jobs and attending school.
"It's just been an amazing journey, how they've helped our family. For us, it was knowing she was in a safe place. It's a home, an actual home."
Three years ago, when a Union Rescue representative asked Radke to join its board, she replied: "I could raise a million dollars and not repay what you've done for my family."
Radke became chairman in March 2015. The board had extra work to do from January through April of that year, before Keith Medlock filled the vacant executive director's slot. "That was a tough stretch," Radke said, also praising Arkansas State Police Col. John Bailey for volunteering to serve as executive director during one period. The board created a volunteer award in his honor.
"He was great. He really got us going forward."
Today, she said, Union Rescue is "in the best financial shape in four years."
The mission also operates Nehemiah House for homeless and addicted men.
On Thursday, local high school students will gather at Fellowship North Church, 1 E. 52nd St. in North Little Rock, for "Night on the Street Presents Young & Free." Teens will learn about homelessness and raise money for the mission by telephoning family and friends for donations. Massey calls it a "healthy competition between schools to see who can raise the most money." It's the youth version of the mission's biggest fundraiser of the year, also called Night on the Street, "Multicultural," which will be held at War Memorial Stadium on June 18. Mary Mary and Kris Allen will headline that show, during which the crowd is also encouraged to solicit donations via phone and social media.
On Saturday, entertainers Dee Dee Jones and Tweet will perform at the Metroplex, 10800 Colonel Glenn Road, as part of the Love & Hope Evolution Concert.
Radke sounds most excited about Saturday's concert, a first for the mission. She says that Jones and Tweet have signed up to be spokesmen for Union Rescue.
Radke will be in the crowd Saturday. Cheering, naturally.
High Profile on 03/13/2016