Photo: Jamie West
“It was a kindness I’ll never forget,” Jamie West said, recalling the kindness she encountered every time she visited a White Castle restaurant. As a homeless teen, she had changed foster homes 94 times before running away to live at a homeless camp. She was 16 when she walked into a White Castle restaurant for a glass of water. She remembers being warmly greeted by an employee and being offered sacks filled with slider hamburgers. She sobbed and grabbed the food, unsure “whether it was real.” The same scenario happened repeatedly at various White Castles across the country, and this touched West deeply, as she felt “treated like a human being". So, about 25 years later, when she became engaged to Drew Schmitt, West knew exactly where she wanted their wedding: a White Castle that had recently opened in Scottsdale, about 20 miles from where they live. For her, it was a way of showing her gratitude. She chose to walk up the aisle to the music of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” and she recalls thinking about all of the strangers who helped to feed her and got her to that happy moment. “I want other girls out there who are going through what I went through to know that it’s going to get better, and they can find hope.”
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