A gift of vision, generosity
Sheetz’s donation to Penn State Altoona will benefit manySteve Sheetz knows how to grow a business. He started working for his brother, Bob, who founded Sheetz Inc. with one Altoona store in 1952.
It took 11 years until a second store, a "Sheetz Kwik Shopper," opened in Altoona, and another five years for the third.
Then the pace picked up.
Today, the Sheetz family has created a widely respected and growing chain of more than 350 stores in six states, not to mention enterprises to service those retail locations with gasoline, merchandise and prepared food items. Sheetz employs more than 12,000.
That's why Friday's announcement that Steve Sheetz, chairman of the board of Sheetz Inc., and his wife, Nancy, are committing $2.5 million to develop an entrepreneurial fellowship program with Penn State Altoona in a downtown location is so exciting.
If the entrepreneurial program is even a fraction as successful in growing business leaders as Sheetz has been in increasing stores, this will be a tremendous asset for our community. And having the program based in downtown Altoona is a win for a section of the city that has been hit hard by the move of retailing to outlying areas. Penn State Altoona already is helping lead a resurgence downtown. The entrepreneurial program will be another plus.
The program will look to use local and outside business leaders to teach students the skills they will need to help make their businesses success, such as ethics, leadership, critical thinking and more. We encourage Penn State Altoona to use Steve Sheetz as much as possible in developing the course of study. That practical experience stemming from years of leading the convenience-store chain is invaluable and can help draw the best and brightest of tomorrow's business leaders to Altoona. Exposing business leaders to our beautiful area can only be a plus.
One of the challenges of economic development is getting noticed. The entrepreneurship program will help put central Pennsylvania on the map.
Chancellor Lori Bechtel-Wherry said the $2.5 million commitment is the biggest gift ever to Penn State Altoona. Even more exciting is what this gift has the potential to create.
Steve and Nancy Sheetz have supported Penn State Altoona and the community in many ways over the years. Friday's news underscores their vision to see the benefits of giving others the skills to start and grow their own companies.
Only by sowing the seeds of entrepreneurship can we harvest the benefits of business growth. The Sheetz family has shown what can be accomplished. And developing more business leaders like them will be great for our children and grandchildren.
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homerbeep
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09-05-09 12:03 PM
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Hey malarky--nobody forced Sheetz' customers to buy anything at their stores! They worked tirelessly to get to where they are now! BTW, how can you possibly consider yourself to be a "Republican" when you say that "the wealth of any community should be shared equally among its members" and that "no one 'owns' anything"? News flash-- Marxism HAS NOT, DOES NOT and WILL NEVER work!
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MDM1989
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08-27-09 9:17 AM
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And the people who don't work are ON welfare.
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malarky
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08-26-09 9:01 PM
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What works, MDM1989, is class warfare -- revolution!
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MDM1989
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08-26-09 1:58 PM
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Ahh yes, a perfect world would be nice, don't get me wrong, but until then I'll stick with what works.
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malarky
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08-26-09 12:42 PM
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No, MDM1989. The wealth of any community should be shared equally among its members, as should the resources of the earth among nations. No one "owns" anything. We should strive for equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity. Perhaps that ability (resulting from a larger brain) is what might eventually separates us from the other animals. But so far we have only proven that we are still just self serving monkeys like the rest of the animal kingdom.
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MDM1989
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08-26-09 11:21 AM
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Now I understand, the employees should be the ones making all of the money, not the owners. That makes perfect sense. While we're at it lets start paying the cart guys at wal-mart rate.
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malarky
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08-26-09 10:57 AM
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PART 1: To the contrary, MDM1989, the “first thing” about business is knowing that there is a sucker born every minute. All of the “first families” of Altoona are well aware of that. And they are more than willing to exploit all of those suckers as customers. They are also all anxious to enlist them as employees at close to minimum wage. After all, the people who actually do the work shouldn’t share in the wealth. And the “Altoona Rear View Mirror”, it is more than happy to make phony heroes of these business owners since that’s where their advertising dollars come from. As to the nickel candy bar…if these guys had their way the minimum wage would still be where it was “back then”, as you put it.
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malarky
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08-26-09 10:56 AM
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PART 2: And to you, “TheWizardOfOZ“ , thanks for starting the “one-upmanship“ that I predicted would start in my post yesterday. Is it really that hard to be “EXTREMELY generous” with the money you’ve extracted from other people’s pockets over the years? Why these families’ collective virtue put Mother Theresa’s to shame! Let’s call the Pope and submit that list of names of yours for canonization! Back in the real world class struggle will continue.
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MDM1989
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08-26-09 9:34 AM
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Malarky, going by your comments here it sounds like you don't understand the first thing about running a business. Buy merchandise and sell it for more than you paid for it and as for the nickel candy bars, I'm pretty sure minimum wage was a little less back then.
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TheWizardOfOZ
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08-26-09 6:52 AM
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Agree though...for as many prominent and wealthy families that there are here in Altoona, not many have stepped up donation wise. DeVorris?? Lawruk?? Patterson?? the slew of Fiores?? Benzel?? Kranichs?
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TheWizardOfOZ
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08-26-09 6:47 AM
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Beg to differ...Wolf Family has been EXTREMELY generous to may cause over many, many years. And I say family....several members of the Wolf family have given mucho bucks...not like Sheetz where its just Steve or Corporate. I agree when you look at other 'first families" in other areas...for how much Sheetz family makes and takes out of this area, their contributions can't compare....consider Frank Pasquerella from Jtwn...major donations to the city and surrounding colleges...including St Francis...UPJ...Notre Dame....etc. His contributions dwarf the Sheetz'.
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RazMnaz
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08-25-09 4:58 PM
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I guess that "Frikkin' Chikkin" sandwich will taste a bit different now/ That's all nicey-nice what the Sheetz family did. Kudos to them. Now, if they have so much coin to throw around, why don't they pay their poor personnel better for putting up with the daily crap from all the idiots? They are the ones that really deserve it.
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malarky
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08-25-09 4:52 PM
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Yeah… We’re all waiting to see how those other “first families” of Altoona can show their one-upmanship over the Sheetz’s. Let’s see… these guys all employed non-union labor to build their businesses, and then sold their merchandise back to those same underpaid employees (as consumers) for how many years? $2.5 million seems a bit parsimonious after years of collecting at both ends of the food chain. But yeah, it’s a beginning. So what will these new college educated entrepreneurs learn? That one can become very affluent by underpaying the employees and overcharging for their merchandise?
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rayrick
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08-25-09 1:13 PM
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I commend the Sheetz family for this. How many other "high profile" families in this area have done anything like this. Fiore, Patterson, Wolf, etc. Sheetz started small and built the business up to what it is today. They are giving back.
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malarky
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08-24-09 7:50 PM
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I guess all those overpriced candy bars add up over the years. Let's see, when the government taxes you it's theft; when private businesses do it with overpriced junk it’s “entrepreneurial development“. Then when the government gives back it’s welfare. When the Sheetz family gives back it’s “harvesting the benefits of business growth”. Funny, I don’t ever remember voting for this dynasty. If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather have the nickel candy bars back.
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166482
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08-24-09 7:38 AM
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Sheetz is very generous and has done a lot for this area. If those well educated young entrepreneurs would only stay in the area we might be getting someplace. Really great step though in investing in the community.
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