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Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Springfield soon will have $5,000 more to help children because a former resident climbed to the roof of Africa.

Dwight Smith, 54, a Columbus businessman and philanthropist who attended Springfield's Highlands and Lincoln elementary schools and Franklin Junior High, has made the money available as a challenge match for this weekends' Big Brothers/Big Sisters Bowl for Kids' Sake.

The event will begin at 9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday at Victory Lanes.
A 1974 graduate of Northeastern High School, Smith has been involved in efforts to help children at Lincoln, where Big Brothers/Big Sisters has one of its school-based mentoring programs.

Volunteers screened and supervised by the agency meet with students for an hour a week during the school year for up to three consecutive years.

"It's about mentoring, not about tutoring," said Linda Shaffer, agency president. "We're there to be that positive reinforcement that says to kids, 'Yeah, you can.'"

Because of his connection with Lincoln - and his regard for the Promise Neighborhood program now operating there - Smith made Big Brothers/Big Sisters a beneficiary of his fundraising trip to Mount Kilimanjaro.

At 19,340 feet above sea level, the Tanzanian peak is the tallest point in Africa.
Through sponsorships and pledges, Smith's September climb raised "a few nickels short of $60,000," for his Thanks Be To God Foundation, which is associated with the Columbus Foundation.

Half the proceeds will go to children's programs in Africa and half to charitable projects in Central Ohio. The local Big Brothers/Big Sisters challenge grant is from the latter.

Smith, who covered his own expenses on the trip, called the climb "the hardest thing I've ever done."

But he said the seven-day climb to the summit, nine days without a shower and beset by altitude sickness, also had its benefits: "You come out of your tent in the morning, and you're looking down on the clouds and up at the glaciers."

Said Smith in a web posting, "It is not often in life that we have the opportunity to combine activities that we enjoy with causes that we are passionate toward."

Having reached the summit, Smith will be at Victory Lanes on Sunday with his family, including aunts and uncles from Springfield, to take part in the event.

Shaffer said those unable to make Bowl for Kids' Sake in person can help by raising money as "virtual bowlers" by clicking on the BBBS Springfield link at www.bbbscolumbus.org.

Added Shaffer, "We're always looking for people who have an hour or 45 minutes a week to provide that extra support our kids so desperately need."

Call Big Brothers/Big Sisters at (937) 390-9900.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0368.
 

On May 5, 2012 The Annual Capital City Half Marathon will be held in Columbus, Ohio.  This event, while titled as a “Half Marathon” will also include a Quarter Marathon event, a 5K walk/run and a Kids Mascot Chase event. Last year some 10,000 runners and walkers participated in the event. This year the goal is 12,500 participants and similar to last year’s event will likely be sold out.

For the past seven years, Dwight Smith, Thanks Be To God Foundation supporter, has walked the Half Marathon. The event is exciting and fun filled. This year, for the first time, The Thanks Be To God Foundation is asking those who love our Lord, support the foundation, and enjoy walking/running to come out and join our team. You can register for the event at www.capitalcityhalfmarathon.com.  There are no additional costs associated with joining our team. All members of the team will receive a gift, a small token of appreciation for their support.

The objective of the foundation’s team of walkers is simple --- Glorify The Name of our Lord and also to share with others that the foundation exists to serve our Lord in our support of children and entrepreneurs. See our website at www.tbtgfoundation.org. 

Thank you and bless you…..Dwight Smith – Your Brother in Christ

The Thanks Be To God Foundation announces its support for The Acumen Fund as a financial partner.  The Acumen Fund is a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. Acumen seeks to prove that small amounts of philanthropic capital, combined with large doses of business acumen, can build thriving enterprises that serve vast numbers of the poor. Acumen’s investments focus on delivering affordable, critical goods and services – like health, water, housing and energy – through innovative, market-oriented approaches. For more details please visit www.acumenfund.org

Supporting Acumen is consistent with The Thanks Be To God Foundation’s (TBTG) commitment to supporting entrepreneurs both locally and globally. As our TBTG Kiva team provides small loans to individual businesses around the world (www.kiva.org), The Acumen Fund supports much larger opportunities that are scalable to the degree that each idea/investment has the potential to impact thousands or even millions of people. 
 

The Thanks Be To God Foundation (TBTG), working in conjunction with The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), announces its support for a financial literacy program for high school students. The objective of the program is to promote financial literacy for students by initially providing education on the basics of budgeting and money management. The second objective is to provide a real life experience centered on exposing students to investing in the stock market.

As the completion of the literacy program the students will be invited to form, or to join, an investment team. The team will provide recommendations and actually manage a portfolio funded by an anonymous supporter of the TBTG Foundation in the amount of $10,000. The students research various markets, industry sectors, and individual stocks and then make recommendations to purchase or sale portions of the portfolio. As the end of each school year the portfolio will be valued and 100% of any gain in the portfolio will be directed by the students to support organizations such as FCA or other programs at their schools or in their communities.

It is our hope that this type of experience will broaden the student’s exposure to potentials careers in financial services and/or at a minimum help the students to understand the importance of budgeting, saving, and investing at an earlier age. In addition, and as the result of the approach being utilized, the requirement to “give back” the increase supports the basic theme of The Thanks Be To God Foundation -- the requirement to share one’s blessings with others.

It is the hope of the TBTG Foundation that other supporters will make available a portion of their personal portfolios to provide students in a number of schools with a similar experience. Imagine, as the result of scaling this initiative, that students in middle and high schools are managing portfolios and making financial recommendations based on research while at the same time re-enforcing the importance of giving back.