By Eddie Stewart, CEO

When you start a business, it’s hard to think beyond that month, much less beyond a year or 10 years, so it’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that it’s been 25 years since I started Stewart Transportation Solutions. I think about the fear and uncertainty that surrounded my decision to take this leap of faith. Sometimes I think I was a little crazy for risking it all. But if I’ve learned one thing over these past 25 years, it’s that you will never get anywhere without taking a few risks.

I’ve also learned that the community and people who surround your company are a huge part of whether you succeed or fail. Because of this, we’ve decided to celebrate our 25th anniversary in a big way (because it’s kind of a big deal!). Yesterday marked the start of “Random Acts of Kindness” week so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to announce what we’ll be doing. We have asked our entire company to participate in 25 Acts of Kindness by the end of 2015. We want to give back to the communities that have made our success possible.

Here’s how it will work.

First, we asked our employees what they would like to do and what organizations they would like to support. Based on their responses, we put together a plan.

Both our Seattle and Nashville offices will participate in five, office-wide significant acts of kindness. Toronto will participate in one significant act of kindness. This puts our company total at 11. Beyond that, we have asked everyone to commit to at least one additional act of individual kindness by the end of the year. This will put our office total well above 25, but who’s really counting?

In addition to our 25 Acts of Kindness, we’ll also be publishing a series of blog posts related to our 25th anniversary. We hope to cover an array of topics based on some of the things we’ve learned in the past 25 years and what we think entrepreneurs should consider when starting their own business.

As we start this new phase, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has made it possible for STS to be the company it is today. We are who we are and where we are because of the people who have helped us get here. So thank you and I hope you’ll follow us throughout the year and beyond as we celebrate this important company milestone!