“Working with Antis is like being a part of a family, so having Antis support something close to me, just shows how important each one of us are at the company”, said Jess Loera, Customer Service Representative.

Antis wanted to begin a program supporting employees who are actively involved in non-profits that are important to them. Jess Loera walks every year for March of Dimes in honor of her cousin Jaxon James Martinez. His mother Laura had a very high-risk pregnancy that began when her water broke at 11 weeks, leaving her with 1.4cm of fluid, which meant she would most likely miscarry. Her doctor wanted the parents to know that in cases like this to prepare for the worst. But despite the odds Jaxon’s heartbeat kept beating strong. He was given 2% chance of survival. And if he did survive they were told that he would have no lungs due to no amniotic fluid. He was in the same fetal position for the entire pregnancy. To everyone’s surprise Laura went in to labor at 31 weeks 6 days. At 3:22am on January 30, 2014 Laura had an emergency C-section, due to umbilical cord prolapse. Jaxon came out screaming!

“He had lungs! He was truly a miracle baby and is why I walk! Premature birth affects about 380,000 babies here in the United States. Our family walks in the March for Babies to get the message out so more babies can get the strongest start possible”, said Jess Loera. “I am so thankful for the support that Antis gave my family. Antis sponsored the shirts for our walk team. It was important to me to have Antis by our side during this event because I am proud to work for such an AMAZING company. Whenever I get the chance, I rock my Antis gear – I get such a great high, like yup, I work for Antis! At Antis, we believe in ‘the more you give, the more you grow.’ This has not only impacted my work ethic, but also my outlook on life.”