ROB SCHEER
ROB SCHEER RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS
QUESTION 1: You have deep commitment to helping people in need. It is interesting that in life we all have the opportunity to walk away from helping others, and it is equally interesting that some people don’t take those steps away from others in need. What were the main factors in your life that encouraged you to walk toward people in need and devote a significant part of your life to helping others? Please elaborate some about each factor.
RESPONSE: Forty three years ago, I entered the foster care system as a child who had lost both parents. I was brought into a house with all of my belongings in a tattered and torn trash bag. When our 4 children, who are now our daughter and 3 sons, arrived on our doorstep through foster care I was shocked that they had nothing more than a trash bag filled with torn and tattered items. How, after all of these years, were children in the foster system still carrying their life in a bag used for trash? After my husband and I searched for a means to provide dignity to kids in care, an idea was born. With the vision of assembling cases for youth in need, an invitation was extended to the community for family and friends to come together. It was our kids that drove me to devote my life to kids in care.
QUESTION 2: When you started your nonprofit, what were the main challenges? Please explain the main challenges and how you overcame them.
RESPONSE: I am a corporate guy, I have been in banking for over 27 years and when the opportunity came up to start our non-profit I did what I had done for all my companies. I ran it like a business so the only obstacle we had was trying to convince social workers that our Comfort Cases cost nothing to them.
QUESTION 3: What suggestions would you give to university students who are committed to helping others in need and are considering starting a nonprofit?
RESPONSE: First I would let them know it is the most rewarding thing you will do in your life. Then I would tell them to take their passion and turn it into a purpose. We all must remember that our role here is to serve to make tomorrow better than it is today.