Distributor Perfection Promo (PPAI 461838) and industry organization The Partnering Group have demonstrated their commitment to professional development and the success of the promotional products industry through higher education with pledges to the Promotional Products Education Foundation (PPEF). Perfection Promo has pledged $6,000 to the Tomorrow Fund over six years, and The Partnering Group has pledged $12,000 over six years to the Tomorrow Fund and $6,000 over six years to the Bill Schmidt, Sr. Scholarship.

The Tomorrow Fund was created 16 years ago as a way to ensure ongoing funding and support of PPEF scholarship programs, which promote education and achievement within the promotional products industry. PPEF established the perpetual scholarship in the name of the late Bill Schmidt, Sr., CEO of Largo, Florida-based supplier Hit Promotional Products, last year. Originally funded by a personal gift of $50,000 from Schmidt’s wife Liz and son CJ, Hit’s president, the Bill Schmidt, Sr. Scholarship is only the fourth perpetual named scholarship in PPEF history.

“I love working in our industry and am grateful to my partner suppliers throughout the country,” says Harry Ein, owner of Walnut Creek, California-based Perfection Promo. “I wanted to do something to donate back to all the hard workers from the supplier side and help their children have the opportunity to go to college and the parents have less of a financial burden for this education. I am grateful to have some amazing customers and a solid business in our industry and this wouldn’t be possible without our fantastic partners.”

Doug Dobbe, president of The Partnering Group and group member company Strategies Ltd. (PPAI 107244), an Appleton, Wisconsin, distributor, says, “The Partnering Group backs PPEF’s mission 100 percent. Hopefully, through this program, future graduates will take a long look at our wonderful industry and consider putting their roots down in it.”

Regarding the group’s donation to the Bill Schmidt, Sr. Scholarship, Dobbe says, “CJ Schmidt and his entire Hit family are a key supplier partner of ours. They support us in every way. We are honored to be a supporting partner of theirs in creating this legacy scholarship in memory of Bill Schmidt, Sr.”

Funded by PPAI and donations from the promotional products industry, the scholarship program enables youth and professionals to continue their education on a collegiate level. The Association and industry patrons have a long-standing commitment of service to the promotional products industry, and this fund supports those who demonstrate the same commitment.

PPEF awarded $175,000 in academic scholarships for the 2017-2018 school year. See the recipients here. Since its inception in 1989, it has awarded more than $1.7 million in financial assistance to 1,013 recipients.