If there is one thing that small-business owner Jason Schmidt understands, it is family. He has been a part of his family's business, Home Telephone Co., most of his life. His parents were always demonstrating the importance of helping others and opened his eyes to helping fight hunger nearby. Now, as an adult, Jason not only gives regularly to Feeding America, but also made the commitment to helping future generations by making a planned gift.
Jason says: "When I was growing up, my dad offered the office space of our family business as a place to hand out surplus commodities to those in need. There was something about seeing the huge lines to get help once a month that really stuck with me.
In my case, our business is directly connected to our community. Giving back to the community is very important to us. I like the idea of helping on both a local and national level - hunger doesn't know boundaries, so wherever there is a need I'm happy to do my part by making gifts to Feeding America.
I see the tremendous need for the services that Feeding America provides. It's not something that's always in the headlines, but you see people struggling to get jobs and take care of their families and I feel a responsibility to help out as much as I can to help alleviate hunger."