Sugarcreek Township residents Jessica and Shon Anderson have built a life focused on faith, family and paying forward their blessings. Growing up in the lake community of Shawnee Hills near Jamestown, Ohio, instilled in them small-town values and a Christian faith that has laid the groundwork for their charitable giving.
“At every stage of our lives together, we have felt God has blessed us so much. God calls on us to be charitable through 2 Corinthians 9:7: ‘Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver,’” Jessica and Shon said. “It’s important for us to honor God in this way and be good stewards of His resources.”
The Andersons support charitable causes important to them through the Jessica and Shon Anderson Charitable Fund, which they established with The Dayton Foundation in 2019. Shon, president and chief wealth strategist for Anderson Financial Strategies, also regularly recommends the Foundation’s services to his clients.
“While Jessica and I have always incorporated charitable giving into our lives, I first discovered how efficient using The Dayton Foundation was through my professional work with clients,” Shon said. “My firm regularly connects clients to the Foundation to incorporate strategic giving into their financial lives, for reasons such as convenient reporting, ease of distribution, tax efficiency and asset administration. These reasons also make sense for Jessica and me.”
In addition to their charitable giving, the Andersons, together with their four children, volunteer through Fairhaven Church for various community initiatives. Jessica has become involved with the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Community Support Center, including spearheading such activities as a kids’ costume drive. Shon also serves as a trustee for Central State University, a board member for the Miami Valley Hospital Foundation and a member of the Wright State Planned Giving Council. He credits his grandmother, Vita Anderson, who was always generous with her time and money despite her limited finances, as an inspiration
for giving back.
“God blesses everyone with different resources to be able to give to the world. Developing a ‘spirit of giving’ not only helps others, but creates harmony and balance in life,” said Jessica, an attorney by training and contracting officer for the United States Air Force Department of Defense. “We incorporate this into our kids’ lives by encouraging them to donate items, money and time.”
The Andersons’ love for Greater Dayton also drives their giving. “Dayton is a special city with a rich history of people pulling together to support one another. As we say in finance ‘the entity is greater than the sum of the parts,’” Shon said. “By combining resources with the Foundation, we also are made aware of many organizations in our community that we may not have heard of otherwise.”
Above all, the Andersons hope to be remembered as a Christian family that supports their “CommUnity.”
“Helping others is important to us because God has blessed us so much and calls on each of us to do good and share with others,” Jessica said. “Being part of The Dayton Foundation family is inspirational because you can really feel you are a part of something bigger than yourself.”