Building Community in Temple, Texas

Summary

Podcast Summary: Building Community in Temple, Texas

Podcast: The Collage Podcast
Host: Feed My Sheep (Jeff)
Episode: Building Community in Temple, Texas
Date: March 7, 2026

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Overview

This episode of The Collage Podcast centers on the theme of community and explores what it means to build, contribute to, and truly engage with community in Temple, Texas. The host, Jeff from Feed My Sheep, welcomes leaders from Rowan Digital—a company recently established in Temple—to discuss their experiences, motivations, and philosophies about community involvement, alongside stories of local connection and collaboration. The discussion delves into personal definitions of community, contrasts transactional relationships versus deep-rooted partnerships, and highlights the unique character of Temple as a town.

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Introductions & Guests

• Jeff (A): Host, Feed My Sheep, major advocate for hands-on community engagement in Temple.
• Charlie (B): CEO of Rowan Digital, focused on building digital infrastructure and community partnership.
• Dan (C): Head of Construction & Engineering, Rowan Digital, brings a hands-on perspective from both Utah and Temple.
• Nathaniel Brown (D): Communications Lead, Rowan Digital, based in Portland, Oregon, passionate about public service.
• Martin Romo (E): Leads Economic Development & External Affairs, Rowan Digital, spearheads community development efforts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Setting the Stage: What Brought Rowan Digital to Temple

• Rowan Digital’s leaders have relocated from across the country. While business initially brought them here, active engagement with the Temple community has become a core part of their mission.

  • "We're a business that's relatively new here in Temple, but we're really excited to be part of the community..." – Charlie (B), [02:28]

• Feed My Sheep serves as a hub for helping the unhoused and needy. Guests participated in service activities before recording.

Defining Community

• Martin Romo: “Community is everything.” ([07:44])

  • Explains community as the social fabric woven from the diverse actions and journeys of individuals, governments, nonprofits, and businesses, all contributing in unique ways.
  • “All those pieces come together that build that social fabric, and that is community.” ([08:00])

• Jeff: Stresses the organic way people’s stories become intertwined:

  • “Whether we like it or not, whether we realize it or not, our stories are somehow now intertwined together in some form or fashion. That's right. We are now connected at this level. Now what we do with that, okay, that's on us.” ([08:40])

Community vs. Connection in Business

• Dan: The brick-and-mortar aspect of a business is less important than the people and the community engagement around it.

  • “The community around the brick and mortar is really more important than brick and mortar itself... The community is what makes the brick and mortar kind of come alive and be fun and exciting.” ([10:01])

• Charlie: Draws a distinction between transactional relationships (connection) and long-term partnership (community).

  • “The business terms that translate into that is, you know, transactional versus long term partnership... And so what does that mean? It means you have to understand the people around you. You have to build trust. And that trust is hard earned with the community.” ([11:07])

The Value of Investing in Community

• Community engagement is not just altruistic; it’s a practical driver of business success.

  • “It is a revenue driver, frankly... We need this community to be able to build these buildings, to be able to operate these buildings, be able to, you know, just make them function...” – Dan ([10:46])

• Jeff shares a story about long-term relationships built with clients at Feed My Sheep and equates that relational depth to sustainable community involvement:

  • “You can’t come into a community that you don’t know and tell the community exactly how you should do stuff.” ([14:01])

Understanding Temple’s Unique Character

• Temple is described as a big town with a small-town feel; personal connections and local pride run deep.

  • “The number one thing you will learn about Temple is Temple cares about the people of Temple. You know, we're all family here. It's a small... But if you go watch how interaction occurs in Temple...” – Jeff ([14:17])

• Stories are shared about the local culture: old landmarks, neighborhood traditions, and pillars like Scott & White Hospital and beloved barbershops.

• Jeff’s advice to newcomers:

  • “People in Temple don’t want somebody to come and tell them how they’re supposed to have done something. There is pride in that... You look somebody square in the eye and you say, if a rabbit's going to lay an egg, then I better go build a nest because you said it so. Yeah, your word matters a ton.” ([15:26])

The Lasting Impact & Future Collaboration

• Rowan Digital’s team acknowledges the need to “learn as much as we possibly can... purposefully, quietly” and appreciates the value of local wisdom ([15:57]).
• Both host and guests commit to continued dialogue and partnership to bring about positive change in Temple and to model innovative solutions to homelessness and community care.
• Mutual respect and eagerness to be part of Temple’s evolving story are emphasized in closing.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Community is everything.” – Martin Romo (E), [07:44]
• “The community around the brick and mortar is really more important than brick and Mortar itself.” – Dan (C), [10:01]
• “The business terms that translate into that is... transactional versus long term partnership.” – Charlie (B), [11:07]
• “You can’t come into a community that you don’t know and tell the community exactly how you should do stuff.” – Jeff (A), [14:01]
• “Temple cares about the people of Temple. You know, we're all family here.” – Jeff (A), [14:17]
• “Your word matters a ton.” – Jeff (A), [15:26]
• “It'll be fun to watch your journey, too, as you. As you kind of change.” – Dan (C), [19:02]

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• [00:00] Introductions: Host sets scene, describes Feed My Sheep and Temple.
• [02:00] Guests from Rowan Digital introduce themselves and their roles.
• [07:44] "Community is everything" – Group dives into definitions of community.
• [09:58] Community vs. connection in business; value beyond profit.
• [14:17] Insights about Temple’s character and advice to new businesses.
• [16:28] Stories of local landmarks and traditions; importance of historic roots.
• [18:54] Closing reflections on why outside helpers care about Temple.

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Conclusion

This episode powerfully illustrates how business, nonprofit, and individual efforts intersect to form the social fabric of a community. The voices in the room—diverse in background but united in purpose—demonstrate a shared belief that real change and connection come from authentic engagement, trust-building, and a willingness to learn from and invest in each other. In Temple, it’s not just about being present, but about being part of the story.

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[For questions or further community stories, visit Feed My Sheep, Avenue G, Temple, TX.]

Transcript

[A]

Foreign. Hey, we want to welcome everybody to another edition of the collage podcast. Really excited to be here. And where here is, is a little town called Temple Texas, here in Central Texas. So wherever you're listening to this at, that's where we are coming from. And even more precisely in here is we're coming from Feed My Sheep, which is on Avenue G in Temple. And we've said this before, this is a location where we do feed homeless people during the day, and then we have resources, all kind of stuff like that. We know that that's our bread and butter. I've got a group here. Okay. That. Well, y' all can't see it. I can see it. So that's neither here nor there, but that is kind of interesting.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And so they don't even know what they've gotten roped into here, but I've asked them to come up here because they're here in Little Temple Texas, and they're here from a lot of different places. Yes, business brought some of them from here, but they came from all over the place, and they got to experience temple.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And they got to see some beautiful stuff that I get to see every day that we call people, and so they got to do that. I thought it'd be kind of interesting to have a discussion and just to kind of go, hey, what were you expecting? What did you see? Why did you come here? All of this stuff. And to kind of go that we're not going to solve all the world's problems here, but we're just going to kind of look at that. So we'll kind of go around. If y' all want to introduce yourself. We got to talk close to the microphone, Any of that stuff. We're sharing a mic because we got a whole bunch of people, and we'll go around, so whatever. Order.

[B]

Sure, Charlie. I'm the chief executive officer at Rowan Digital, and we're a digital infrastructure company that's new to the community here in Temple, but we're really excited to be here. And thank you, Jeff, for hosting us today for this opportunity to serve at Feed My Sheep.

[A]

Okay. No offense, Charlie. We're going to stay out of your wheelhouse because you already used about five words that I don't even know what they meant. You know something? Okay. Stay away from Charlie. Stay away from Charlie.

[B]

I think the important thing to know, Jeff, is that, you know, we're a business that's relatively new here in Temple, but we're really excited to be part of the community and excited to talk more Just like, what does that mean to us to be part of the community fair?

[A]

There's your question. And so we are not going to leave Charlie out. I'm just messing with him. It's hard to do that. Yeah, I was going to say, he's like, that's not an option. Sorry, you want to point it out? That is not an option.

[C]

I'm Dan with Rowan. Actually, I run the construction and engineering group in. So, you know, my folks are the ones that are here in town to put together the large project that we have. And it's super fun. Really, really excited about being in temple. I actually come from northern Utah, come from a little town called Camas, Utah. And the organization that's here comes from lots of different places, including Temple, Texas. We're really excited that we have several folks on our team, on Rowan's team that reside in temple and are building the big project that we get a chance to do that. But we really are excited about actually giving back to, like, we're going to be here for 30. We're going to be here for a very long time. And part of Rowan just our ethos is to be in the community, really understand how we can help, how we can provide. Lots of resources that we bring to the community is not jobs, but also just generally resources in our time, which is really super cool. I mean, it was fun to be able to be involved with your organization downstairs and just helping feed. And that is so just cool for us to be able to have a chance to do that. So I'm excited about it.

[A]

Agreed. Okay.

[B]

Awesome.

[D]

Nathaniel Brown. I lead communications for Rowan. I'm actually from Portland, Oregon, but I'm always jumping at the chance to come to temple and excited about this work. You know, it's something that's been instilled in me since I was a kid was public service and always asking how you can serve others. And sometimes you're lucky enough to have that be your day job, but always making sure that you have opportunities to do that. And so we're here in the community to really. To connect with folks and see how we can best serve everyone here.

[A]

Okay. And note to self, we put the guy who's in charge of communication the furthest away from the mic. Like the guy. What in the world? In our cd, like, uh, oh, no. Okay. And I guarantee I didn't think I'd start the day for somebody saying, I'm from Portland, Oregon, and I'm always dying to get to Temple. Texas. Didn't see that one coming today.

[D]

The Sunsets are better here.

[A]

Okay. They've been nice and then ready, you know what's tonight? Correct?

[D]

Is it the blood moon?

[A]

This is the first. This is the only time in our lifetime that this will occur is like, so it's whatever, once everybody, 70 something years. This particular moon is supposed to be spectacular tonight. So something to say, that's a whole other deal. Yeah, agreed. And then it's supposedly they've got. We won't go down that path. So many. This is one that all the conspiracy, whatever, whatever world we're in now. But so many ill things have happened on this moon. Okay, so this is one they look at in back in history. Whatever. Okay, so here we go. One more introduction.

[E]

Well, today seems like a good day for the moon because we're getting some good work getting done.

[C]

We will break that track.

[A]

I agree.

[E]

I agree. So I'm Martin Romo and I lead our economic development and external affairs team at Rowan. And that's really kind of community development, how we engage with the communities that we go into. And it's really been an incredible kind of journey so far with Rowan. And that's really because we see ourselves as a community first developer. So we build infrastructure, critical infrastructure that's necessary for the world that we live in now. But that's just, you know, we're. We're really building a part of the community and we're helping to amplify the communities that we enter into. So that can take many shapes. It means, you know, tax revenues going into the community to help issue grants for great, you know, organizations such as Feed My Sheep that can leverage those kind of public revenues. Also helps to create opportunities for jobs, for investment and really open up a huge supply chain of just different opportunities. And that's really been a passion of mine as a professional and something that I get to do every day when I work at this company.

[A]

Okay, well, then after this going around, it is pretty obvious to me what the question that we're going to talk about here, because everybody has said it pretty solid, okay, we are very different organisms. I don't do technology, but okay, we're doing technology. We've got a podcast. We're in different fields and we're in different realms of what we do. And if somebody said, jeff, what are your main thing you're about? I said, community. We are about providing and invoking the community to come together and to do these things together. It is community. We've gone around this room and we have said the word. Y' all are a whole different Community. We're about empowering communities. We're about investing in communities of community. Community. Community. Why is it important? Why in the world is community important?

[E]

Community is everything.

[A]

What does that mean?

[E]

You took everything. Anything that anyone does is becoming part of the puzzle of the social fabric that people are in.

[C]

Right?

[E]

And so everyone goes through their own journey. Everybody works for somebody, and everybody is adding to that.

[A]

That puzzle.

[E]

So it's all those pieces that come together that build that social fabric, and that is community.

[A]

Right.

[E]

So you referenced earlier, there are governments that help to fill in some gaps, and then there are gaps that can't be filled by government that nonprofits help to fill. There's. There's the stuff that the private sector does that brings that investment that helps to amplify that social fabric. And then there are the folks that live their private lives within, you know, in their households and come and do what they do in with what they deem as community. But all of it together, whether you're directly a part of what somebody does or somebody's life experience, you're part of that broader community. And so we all know that we have a way to fit in to this broader notion of community. I think it binds us all together.

[A]

Okay, fair. So I would agree, like, whether we like it or not, whether we realize it or not, our stories are somehow now intertwined together in some form or fashion. That's right. We are now connected at this level. Now what we do with that, okay, that's on us. Community.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And so in our world that I look at right now, there's so much connectedness. Okay. So, like, in it, so business wise, you could be, hey, we are a business in temple. You're connected to temple. How is that different than being in community and communion with a community, an area? So I'm in temple. You're connected. So like much individual people. Oh, I've got X number of friends on Facebook. Connection. How is connection and community different in the business world? Can. Because business, at the end of the day, you got to make profit. You go broke, it don't matter how nice you are, you ain't got a business. Okay. I mean, it's just that simple. Why invest in community in your business? Because that probably doesn't necessarily equate to dollars and cents.

[C]

I was gonna say it actually does.

[A]

Okay. Why?

[C]

Very much like, I'm the engineer, constructor guy, right? So brick and mortar is what I've done for my whole career. But the community around the brick and mortar is really more important than brick and Mortar itself. The buildings we're building are creating jobs and economic opportunity for, for us, but also for the community, which is the important thing to us. We need this community to be part of our projects. We need this community to be part of how we operate these facilities. We need to be able to lean into the community and make sure that we're helping the community, you know, frankly, engage with us as we. We're going to have hundreds of jobs here. So how do we help define what those jobs are, help define how that community can help us and how we can help the community itself. The brick and mortar is kind of pretty boring, frankly. The community is what makes the brick and mortar kind of come alive and be fun and exciting. So, you know, from my perspective, that community is just really engaging and it is a revenue driver, frankly. It just is for us. We need this community to be able to build these buildings, to be able to operate these buildings, be able to, you know, just. Just make them function as a part for our customers and our tenants. So it's just, it's a huge part of it.

[A]

Huge part. What do you think?

[B]

I think that use the word connection versus community to draw that distinction. I think that the business terms that translate into that is, you know, transactional versus long term partnership.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And, you know, we are really committed to being a long term partner and not just transactional. And so what does that mean? It means you have to understand the people around you. You have to build trust. And that trust is hard earned with the community. And we've been finding, you know, that Temple's really open and receptive to that. If we're willing to kind of lean in and understand. And you know, for our project, of course, we kind of start with what are the needs of the city. But now we're at this point where we want to go a level deeper than that and say, well, what are the broader needs of this region and this community?

[A]

Okay, interesting. Two different businesses. We're not even remotely close, but we're remotely close in that. If you said to me, okay, if you went down in the line and you go, hey, here's what I'm going to do for you. Anybody in the line, and it may be something really good, hey, I can do this life changing thing, guess what they're going to do. I don't care why they don't know you and you don't have their trust or their respect. So then I'd say, hey, get to know them before you try to solve everything for them. And then once you get to know them. You realize I can't solve everything for them, but I can. So this same deal you. You invent, and not for the sake of investing in that. Hey, I'm going to get to know you because in short order, I'm going to do everything for you because I really need to get to know you. And so I can do this, and I'm going to do this for me. Now I get to know you, and we have this thing called a relationship. So out of that relationship, depending on how deep it is, is how strong it is, same thing. So what I would say is, like, what we do, so much of what we do. We just talked about somebody who went to rehab. I won't say his name, because people, whatever I don't want to embarrass, had many days in that relationship that were not so good, some that were good, some that were okay. We had a lot of years of relationship where we're able to have a conversation. You know what? You can do whatever you want to do, but just go ahead. Shawshank Redemption 101. Get busy living or get busy dying.

[B]

Love that.

[A]

Yeah. Because you're not doing either one of them right now. Okay? Either live or die. You make the choice. You know what? And this is not how you're. We had enough time and enough space together. He's like, man, I don't really want to die, but I'm not sure I can go back and undo. You can't undo anything, but you can start anew, you know? And so you go, okay. And he's trying so out of that. This. You can't come into a business. I don't know. Business. I ain't a. You can't come into a community that you don't know and tell the community exactly how you should do stuff.

[C]

Absolutely.

[B]

That's right. Jeff, can I ask you, like, what. You know, what should. Like, businesses that are operating in temple. Like, what should we know about this community? Like, in that. In that spirit of getting to understand, like, what should we know?

[A]

Well, okay, first off, you just broke the number one rule. You don't ask me questions. You post me on this spot. Okay, we got five minutes. I will tell you. The number one thing you will learn about temple is Temple cares about the people of Temple. You know, we're all family here. It's a small. It has. This is a big town. Temple is now big. But if you go watch how interaction occurs in temple. So I will say this. This old temple, okay, everything, you trace it to how I know this person on an individual basis. Oh, you're so and so. Oh, yeah, yeah. Didn't your brother, he played for the 92 team? Yeah. Oh, here. Oh, your uncle. Didn't he used to have this. Oh, how do I know this person individually? And so it's about that. And then people in temple won't admit this, but they'll say, people in temple don't want somebody to come and tell them how they're supposed to have done something. There is pride in that. Who are you? You coming in from Dallas and you're going to tell me what the small town complex, lack of it, like.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How are you going to come tell me what we're supposed to. Or not supposed to do? But like this, you want to see temple. Temple's also square in that you treat somebody square, you're going to get treated square. People, you know, it's. I'm a redneck, so I can say it's redneck 101. You look some like this, how we're interacting. You look somebody square in the eye and you say, if a rabbit's going to lay an egg, then I better go build a nest because you said it. So. Yeah, your word matters a ton. Yeah.

[C]

I think the other thing is we're coming in to learn as much as we possibly can agree almost quietly, like, purposefully. I'm looking at Martin as I say this like, you know, we've been in the community now for a couple of years.

[A]

Years.

[C]

We want to learn about this community over time and not, you know, just really understand it so that we can be part of it. We again, we have a lot of folks on my team that live and grew up in Temple. I was driving here today and the person, my safety director who's was with me in the cars. Well, yeah, I remember that, you know, this family used to live there and we used to have barbecues outside their house just down the street from our project.

[A]

That's Temple and yet.

[C]

And yeah, absolutely. And he's excited to be here and be building, you know, in temple, which

[A]

is really cool and that like, even, like the building we're in right now. So where we're sitting, this was the old. So Scott and White Hospital.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Big mothership. That's what Temple's all about. Scott and White Hospital was not always there. It was right over there. Okay, so Scott and White Hospital was right over there. This is where all the resident doctors live. That's why we have 11 addresses in this building. Is this was a resident family's room there was their bathroom. Okay. This is where a doctor stayed. This was the first strip center in temple. They had a pharmacy. They had a restaurant. So that's why down's. It's that everybody next door, that's Don's barbershop. Not that anybody out there listening, but that if you were a fisherman in temple, you went to Don's barbershop because you heard everywhere that people were catching fish, and you sat in the barbershop and he cut hair forever. And then Coach McQueen here in Temple, if you want to know temple, you better know Coach McQueen. Okay, so like, Coach McQueen, all the males that are my age and older and probably 10 years younger, every one of them would say, hey, I learned how to be a man from him. You know that? Like, and then you go, okay, and that temple cares and that. And then ready? The thing you're also going to learn about temple. And here we are going to forever change how the homeless situation is done. The whole country is going to come look at Temple Texas and try to figure out what they did differently and how they did this and how people were brought to life and life abundantly without some giant ship of an organism trying to carry them there. Individual people investing in individual people. So appreciate you all being here. Really a joy to have y'. All. Y' all got a busy day today. We're going to cut this one short. But if ever we want to have more discussions and appreciate what y'. All. Y' all have and what y' all are doing here in temple, for sure,

[C]

we appreciate you, Jeff.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Amazing organization.

[A]

No, it's something we're trying. You know, we're trying. And so out of that, we. And then like this for y' all and the people, they're going to ask tomorrow, why did those people come to help us? And I'll say, because they care about you.

[B]

Huh?

[A]

They don't know me. That doesn't matter. That doesn't matter. You know they do now, right? They do now.

[C]

It'll be fun to watch your journey, too, as you. As you kind of change.

[A]

Agreed.

[C]

It'll be really exciting.

[A]

Agreed.

[C]

To watch that and be part as much as we can.

[A]

Agreed. Agreed on that one. And same. Same. We're in the same boat. We're in the same business, and it is community. How it looks to us is very different.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

So appreciate it.

[D]

Thank you.