The room went dark when Jacob Weber got up to speak. Army air cavalry veterans and their loved ones snapped glow sticks to life, casting an orange light across the crowd’s silhouettes and the iconic Stetson each veteran wore, as he began to talk.

Holding a glow stick over his head, Jacob asked the audience to join him in saying the name of someone they knew who died because of Agent Orange exposure.

“I just had goosebumps because you heard everyone say a name,” his mother, Lori Weber, said. “Then it went quiet.”

Jacob broke the silence by asking everyone to say, even louder, the name of someone they know currently fighting the effects of Agent Orange, “because they need your help right now and all of our prayers,” he said.

“I’m just crying at that point,” Lori recalled. “To see a dark room just light up orange and hear the names … it was very powerful to see.”

Jacob shared how Agent Orange had affected his grandfather, Don Schoenemann, who was in the room. A veteran of 7th Squadron, 17th Air Cavalry Regiment—the “Ruthless Riders”—Don had served in Vietnam in 1968. His Parkinson’s disease diagnosis is linked to his exposure to the herbicide.

Jacob also talked about the medical complications his mother, Lori, experiences from spina bifida, a condition in some children of Vietnam veterans that the Department of Veterans Affairs presumes is caused by veterans’ exposure to Agent Orange.

After Jacob’s speech, Ruthless Rider veterans presented him with his own Stetson and made him an honorary member.

One veteran later commented on social media about the 2025 presentation: “His love and concern for us at the reunion banquet will be one [I] will always cherish.”

A lifetime of service

For the last several years, Jacob has been doing outreach events like this to bring awareness to Agent Orange. It’s his latest initiative in his broad portfolio of volunteering for veterans.

“I saw it early on that he was very caring, very kindhearted,” Jacob’s grandmother, Helen Schoenemann, said. “You could be in a store, and if he saw a veteran wearing his hat, he would stop and run up and tell them, ‘Thank you for your service.’ He was in elementary school, so this has been going on his whole life.”

Jacob’s passion for helping veterans started when he occasionally accompanied his grandfather to VA appointments. Jacob has always been close to him and would frequently ask about his service.

“It still amazes me how just something inside him wanted to know what things were about and hear firsthand,” Don said.

Those conversations and visits to the VA piqued Jacob’s curiosity to learn more and grew his appreciation for all veterans. He wanted to show his gratitude, so his grandfather suggested writing letters to veterans.

“And that’s what he actually started,” Don said. “He wrote letters to guys in the hospital.”

When Jacob learned that a group of Vietnam veterans met at a coffee shop near his house every Friday, he got permission from his middle school to skip homeroom and joined them for donuts each week.

“He is 100% remarkable to me,” Don said.

Those early relationships Jacob formed were the catalyst for what followed. In eighth grade, he had to log volunteer hours for the Junior National Honors Society. Serving veterans was his instinct, so he decided to restart a candy collection drive—Treats for Troops—that his mom had started when she was a teacher at Winchester Elementary School in Northville, Michigan.

Lori’s students had collected candy and created care packages for veterans at the VA hospital in nearby Ann Arbor. But when she had to retire from teaching because of her health, the program stopped.

Since 2018, Jacob has collected candy from students, sorting it and delivering it to the VA. He said candy is a touchpoint that opens the door to conversations and relationships.

In 2019, he started Stockings for Soldiers, bringing holiday stockings, each filled with treats, activities and care items, to veterans to help them during their hospital stays.

Cards That Care started the following year, getting more people involved in writing notes, full of thanks and encouragement, like when he was younger. T-Shirts for Troops came in 2022 when Jacob learned that shirts were one of the most-requested items by veterans staying at the hospital. He also regularly collected pantry items to restock the nearby Fisher House.

Each initiative compounded what he was doing, and he has often spent his own money to help fund any shortfalls.

In 2023, Jacob was named the top DAV Scholarship recipient for his volunteer work, earning $30,000 for his education. During his acceptance speech at DAV’s national convention, he promised he’d continue serving and was pursuing a career where his skills could help veterans.

He’s kept his word.

Carrying the flame

Jacob graduated from Michigan State University in May and has accepted a position at Ford Motor Co., a corporate partner of DAV that helps supply vehicles for the DAV Transportation Network.

“Jacob is an extraordinary young man whose efforts to honor veterans and families ensures they know their service and sacrifices are not forgotten,” said DAV National Adjutant Barry Jesinoski. “He’s a great example of the type of leaders who are inspired and supported by DAV Scholarships. The lives he’s touched and recognition he’s given our cause and heroes is immeasurable.”

Jacob continues to regularly volunteer any chance he gets.

“It really kind of proved that it wasn’t about Honor Society or getting hours,” his former elementary school teacher and family friend, Ashley Noonan, said. “It was more of a passion that drove him.”

He wants veterans to feel seen, but there’s also a sense of urgency in his actions as he advocates for and brings awareness to the sacrifices veterans make and how their service can affect generations of their family.

DAV supports the Molly R. Loomis Research for Descendants of Toxic Exposed Veterans Act, which calls for a monitoring program to track birth defects among descendants of toxic-exposed veterans of all eras and to expand research into the topic. The bill is named after the daughter of a Navy veteran exposed to Agent Orange. Like Lori, she was born with spina bifida.

“I could potentially have a birth defect that we don’t know of yet, because they didn’t really show in my mom until she was about 30 years of age,” Jacob said. “So I feel very connected to them, and I also feel like they were wronged at the same time.”

Jacob knew the transition from student to professional would be a challenge, so a few years ago he began shifting his efforts toward recruiting and encouraging new student volunteers at his elementary and middle schools.

“These students are reaching prime points when they can really carry on the flame,” Jacob said.

With his guidance and support from Noonan, Winchester Elementary’s student council now runs near-autonomous candy drives. The students organize the collection, track the progress, and count and sort the candy, just like Jacob used to do. He encourages them through video updates that play on their morning announcements. In 2025, they collected 130 pounds of candy for veterans for him to drop off at the Ann Arbor VA.

At Liberty Middle School, in Canton, Michigan, a former teacher of Jacob’s has helped continue his Cards That Care initiative. Last year, students wrote more than 200 cards for veterans.

His grandmother and friends in her sewing circle have helped expand his Stockings for Soldiers care packages. People continue to donate items to his T-Shirts for Troops annual campaign.

“It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life. Seeing someone continue what you’re doing is the ultimate form of respect,” Jacob said.

With each initiative and each year, more people in the community are joining Jacob in his efforts—simple acts of service that have big impacts. Even as he enters a new season of life after college, he shows no signs of slowing down—his light, unlike the orange glow sticks that eventually fade, continues to shine brightly.

“I feel like I couldn’t stop if I wanted to,” Jacob said. “There’s just too many awesome people I’ve met along the way.”

Know a deserving student who is interested in supporting veterans or may qualify for volunteer recognition? To learn more, visit davscholarships.org.