HANCOCK COUNTY — Tami White was taught from a young age that giving back is just what you do.
Whether she’s distributing thousands of dollars to local nonprofits through her family’s foundation or serving meals to teens at The Landing Place in Greenfield, White has made an indelible mark on Hancock County, say those who are familiar with her work.
“Tami has a beautiful heart for others,” said Mary Gibble, president of the Hancock County Community Foundation, which manages the White Family Foundation fund. “She is a thoughtful, caring, generous person who serves quietly yet powerfully.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Community service is a value White shares with her husband, Keith White, who operates Pride Investment Partners in Greenfield along with his sister, Stephanie White-Longworth.
The family, which owned and later sold Gas America to Speedway, has done plenty of giving over the years.
It’s a discipline White has instilled in her two daughters, who have often volunteered and served alongside her. They young women now run the family’s foundation along with their cousins.
“We have been so very blessed by such an amazing and supportive community, so giving back is important to us,” said White, who worked as a licensed nurse prior to working with her husband and sister-in-law at the family business, where she serves on the board.
When she’s not working or managing her family’s 4W Ranch in Indianapolis, she’s serving a number of entities throughout Hancock County.
As the pandemic gripped the nation this year, White organized a team of volunteers to supply food and personal needs to local churches, the Hancock County Food Pantry, the Kenneth Butler Soup Kitchen and the Talitha Koum recovery house.
She also implemented a Dine to Donate Program benefiting local nonprofits at Leo’s Market and Eatery in Greenfield, which her family owns.
An avid horse lover, White has served on the board of the Indiana High School Rodeo Association and Indiana Junior Rodeo Association.
When she was invited to join the board for The Landing Place, a refuge for troubled teens in Greenfield, she researched the organization to see what it was all about, and instantly knew she wanted to get involved.
“It is such a needed service in our community,” she said.
As a board member, she’s helped raise funds for the nonprofit and has devoted time interacting with the teens. She’s helped prepare meals there, and rallied others to help.
White said she has the utmost respect for the kids who gather at The Landing and the volunteers who counsel and support them. “Those kids are amazing. When you leave there you have this humbled feeling, like you were incredibly blessed to be able to be a part of their world for a very short time that day,” she said.
Many of the teens who gather there are artists and musicians and show an extraordinary amount of talent, White said.
“Even though they’ve been subjected to some very unsavory things in their lives, they are doing the very best to turn it around, focusing not only on themselves but their peers as well. They support each other and have really created their own little community to get through whatever it is that they’ve been subjected to in their lives,” she said.
“When you leave that building, or you leave a night where they get baptized or they have a coin ceremony (celebrating addiction recovery), you just don’t feel worthy,” White said.
The Landing is one of several local nonprofits White supports through Pride Investment Partners, which donates money and resources to organizations like Changing Footprints and the Women’s Resource Center.
“It is very important to our family, and it’s very important to me,” White said.
“The community has always been so supportive of us, and we feel so blessed to be in a community such as Greenfield. They support us, and we love to support them,” she said. “That goes back to my father-in-law and mother-in law, when Gas America first wanted to get involved in the community. We’ve been able to pass that down to all of our kids now, and show them what that looks like to give back.”
Linda Ostewig, director of The Landing Place, is thankful for all that White and her family do for the community. She’s been especially impressed with how White jumped right in to support teens at The Landing.
“Her heart to help people and give back to the community is a blessing to so many of us. She gives 100% to what she believes in,” said Ostewig, who said White’s family helped install the kitchen at The Landing, and has provided Thanksgiving dinner there many times.
White is a frequent fixture at the teen refuge, where she offers wisdom to teens in their times of need, Ostewig said.
“She is a great listener, and her faith spurs others on. She uses her gifts the Lord has blessed her with to bless others,” she said.
White says she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“When you have the ability to help someone else, it’s just the right thing to do,” she said. “There’s a lot to be said for being a good human being. We never know when we ourselves might be in a time of need.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About this series” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
In this era of extraordinary upheaval, quiet gestures of grace and generosity are helping define a holiday season like no other. A series of stories in the Daily Reporter, “Angels Among Us,” introduces you to some of the people whose efforts are brightening the season in our communities. Today’s story is the last installment in the series.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
