Local man giving back through a ‘bigger or better’ challenge

IDAHO FALLS — Eugene Engmann carries a red book with him everywhere he goes. Its pages contain messages about life and happiness from people all over the world.

Some of these handwritten messages come from elected officials and thought leaders. Others are from ordinary people. Among them is this advice from 2019 Nobel Prize winner Stan Whittingham: “Make sure that you enjoy life, it’s not all work.”

“People who win the Nobel prize work really hard. So for him to say ‘take time to enjoy life’ really meant a lot,” Engmann tells EastIdahoNews.com.

Learning from others has become a lifelong pursuit for Engmann. The 32-year-old Idaho Falls man frequently travels in his job with the Idaho National Laboratory, which gives him many opportunities to interact with others.

But Engmann isn’t just learning about happiness secondhand. He recently launched a fundraiser to benefit a local charity for the sole purpose of spreading happiness and giving back to the community.

Between now and January, he’s hoping to raise $2,500 for the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center — and he’s doing it with a bigger or better trade challenge.

He started with a paper clip and began trading it for bigger or better items.

“I traded that for a journal,” says Engmann. “That was about $12.”

He traded the journal for a toolbox, which was traded for a new center table from Romaine’s Mattress King. The center table was traded for a three-night stay in an RV from Teton Adventure Rentals.

“I am currently looking for a trade for the three-night stay,” he says, which is worth $948.

The idea is to sell the last item and donate the money to the Ronald McDonald house. Engmann is also accepting donations through Venmo.

During this endeavor, Engmann says it’s been rewarding to meet people he never would’ve met otherwise and to see how much they’re willing to give.

‘You can learn from anyone’

His interest in learning from others life experiences stems back to his childhood. He grew up in Ghana, West Africa and recalls a “life-changing” lesson he learned in sixth grade.

“My cousin in third-grade came home and said she learned about air at school. I asked her, ‘What did you learn about air?’ She said in a very simple and profound way, ‘Air is a mixture of gases,'” Engmann recalls.

The next day, Engmann says the teacher in his science class asked the same question. Recalling what his cousin had told him the day before, he didn’t believe he had the right answer but raised his hand anyway.

He repeated what his cousin had told him and his teacher told the class to clap for him.

“It was a defining moment in my life. You can learn from anyone,” Engmann says.

Years later, he ended up attending college at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg. He bought a black book and started collecting advice from those he encountered.

One day, he sent his book to the president of the United States. He declined to identify the president by name. The book was gone for a long time and Engmann thought he’d never get it back.

Months later, he went to the mailbox and saw a letter from the White House.

“I didn’t even care if he (the president) had written in it. I just wanted my book back,” says Engmann. “The president wasn’t able to write at that time … but he sent me an autographed picture.”

Though the president didn’t respond, his black book does contain personal messages from Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Paulette Jordan, his Democratic opponent in the 2018 election.

With the red book, Engmann has expanded his focus. This sentence, written on a piece of paper that’s taped to the back cover, is written in 16 languages: “If you could give me some advice about life and happiness, what would it be? Kindly write it in my book.”

Engmann has collected dozens of comments in his red book and now has a Facebook page where he posts about the people he meets during this endeavor.

He’s raised about $350 through Venmo since launching the fundraiser.

Those who’d like to trade or make a donation can message Engmann through the Facebook page or call him at (208) 206-3260.