COEUR d’ALENE — Growing up in St. Maries, Jimmy McAndrew faced a rough road. His mom died when he was young. His father spent time in prison.

He could have complained about tough breaks. He could have become angry.

But he didn’t.

And for that, he thanks Doris Hagan.

“This little lady saved my life,” McAndrew said at the Coeur d’Alene Regional Chamber’s Upbeat Breakfast at the Hagadone Event Center.

Hagan was his grandmother and essentially raised McAndrew. She was a source of inspiration and sacrifice.

When McAndrew needed to get to practice or a game for one of the many sports he was in, she got him there. When he needed advice, Hagan was there. If he needed a hug, she gave it.

McAndew never heard her utter a bad word.

“She never complained about anything,” he said. “Not once.”

Those lessons stuck with McAndrew and he later came to realize something, which he shared with about 125 people Tuesday morning.

“I’m the luckiest kid around,” he said.

The vice president of real estate sales with Mountain West Bank delivered a 25-minute talk on how to “connect and serve.”

He is a member of the Coeur d'Alene Sunrise Rotary Club, past president of the EXCEL Foundation, co-founder of The Coeur Group and served on the finance committee of Coeur d'Alene Summer Theater.

McAndrew said communities need leaders who will stand in the gap. He told a story of Jack Buell plowing the streets of St. Maries in the middle of a snowstorm with his own equipment late one night as an example of someone who served and asked for nothing in return.

“He was just a giver,” McAndrew said.

Concerned about failed Coeur d’Alene School District levies, McAndrew decided to run for the school board last year and won, edging Yasmin Harris by less than 300 votes.

McAndrew didn’t so much want to convince those who voted no that they were wrong, but rather, present information that might help residents come to support levies and most importantly, vote.

He praised his opponent and said they had more in common than in differences.

“We should look for the things that bind us, rather than divide,” he said.

McAndrew said when people vote, think and act differently, when they don't share the same view, it does not equal division.

“We have more in common than we have differences,” he said. “I really believe that.”

McAndrew offered a few words of advice: Complain less, be generous, invest in kids, look for the best in others and go out on a limb for good.

"I hold out hope that most of us want the same or very similar results. We just have different routes and modes of transportation that we prefer for the journey, and that's OK," he said.

Service with a smile is important to McAndrew. He said people have told him he is optimistic, which he doesn't deny.

“I’ll own that,” he said.

Linda Coppess, chamber president and CEO, praised McAndrew for leading by example. She said words like gratitude, authenticity and grace resonated throughout his talk. 

“You don’t have to think the same as somebody in order to build trust with them,” Coppess said.