Gabby Petito's Parents Launch Foundation

Nonprofit makes its first donation to organizations that work against domestic violence
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 25, 2021 3:00 PM CST
Gabby Petito's Parents Launch Foundation
Nichole Schmidt, mother of Gabby Petito, speaks alongside, from left, Tara Petito, stepmother; Jim Schmidt, stepfather; and Joseph Petito, father, during a news conference in September in New York.   (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

"I don't want to see this happen to another person," said Nichole Schmidt, Gabby Petito's mother, in announcing a new foundation in her daughter's name. The organization will support other groups that try to find missing persons and prevent domestic violence, ABC reports. Petito was missing for weeks before her body was discovered in Wyoming in September. "I know that we can't save everybody, but I think that this—just awareness alone is giving people the strength," Schmidt said in an interview on Good Morning America. The Gabby Petito Foundation was created by the slain 22-year-old's parents and stepparents.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline, one of the three organizations that shared a $50,000 donation from the new nonprofit, said it has helped more 300 people who contacted it after going to the foundation's website. "We want survivors to know that they aren't alone and that there are amazing organizations ready to help," Schmidt said, per WTSP. Jim Schmidt, Petito's stepfather, added, "If we can even be a small piece of support network for somebody else in a similar situation and try to just help them get through it, that's it goes a long way." (More Gabby Petito stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X