Smith Grants Wish to a Child in Need

For nearly four decades, Smith has been in the business of mitigating challenges and providing solutions, but that commitment to helping others extends beyond our customers and into our greater communities around the world. Recently, Smith had the opportunity to make a positive impact on a Houston-area teen by making a $10,000 donation to Friends for Wishes to grant her wish.

Friends for Wishes fundraises on behalf of Make-A-Wish Foundation, a nonprofit organization that grants requests to children with critical illnesses. Janet Williams, Operations Supervisor – General Component Inspector, has participated with the organization for four years and recently started a fundraising campaign as part of her volunteer efforts. It didn’t take her long to reach out to Smith.

“Smith gives to so many different organizations and helps so many people,” Janet said. “This was another way to help a child in need, so I thought ‘Well, ask! They can only say no.’”

After submitting her request for a contribution, Janet got the surprise of a lifetime: Smith agreed to donate $10,000 – the entire cost of granting a wish to a child.

“I had chills,” Janet said, when she learned of Smith’s donation.

But the surprises didn’t end there. When Janet’s colleagues in Operations learned she was collecting money for Wishes for Friends, something special happened.

“People started pulling money out of their pockets,” she said. “I raised $300 just by people pulling money out of their pockets. Those who didn’t have cash asked for the website to donate; those who didn’t have money to give asked for other ways that they could help.”

Then came the hard part: selecting a recipient. All of the children on the list – four pages of names – had compelling wishes, like a child who wanted to use the money granted from her wish to go shopping for all the other children staying with her at Texas Children’s Hospital.

“Some of these kids want to go to Destin or get a playground in their backyard. They just want to get away from the medical environment that they’re always around,” she said.

Though it was a tough task, Janet pared the list down and made her selection: a teenager named Jessica who wants to go to speech therapy. She reasoned that speech therapy would open up new doors for Jessica so that she could get a job, communicate better with her friends, and move past this chapter in her life once she is done with her treatments. Ultimately, Janet recognized the opportunities she’s been afforded at Smith and wanted Jessica to have those same kinds of opportunities in her future career.

“Smith is a good, family-run company that looks out for their employees and gives back where they can,” Janet said. “That’s why I’m still here. I’ll be here 18 years this month. It’s a great company to work for.”

Learn more about Smith’s other CSR efforts here in our Newsroom or on our Instagram (@smithweb).