by Dawn Franks | Sep 26, 2013 | Family, Next Generation
As a kid, I can remember the excitement of lining up at recess to begin a race and the teacher saying those exact words, “Ready, Set, Go!” We were all supposed to take a moment at the chalked starting line to get ready, set our tennis shoes in the most...
by Dawn Franks | Sep 9, 2013 | Family, Giving
That was the question she asked me in a casual conversation recently. It started as the common “how are things going?” conversation. She asked about our organization’s name change again, “Your something?” I reminded her it was “Your...
by Fred Smith | Aug 7, 2013 | About Your Philanthropy, Family, Guest Blogs, Next Generation, Wealth
My family moved to Tyler in 1984, and I almost immediately began teaching a Bible study that had been going for 20 years. The couples had begun as young parents and kept meeting weekly through all the stages of raising children and seeing them go off – and then...
by Dawn Franks | Jul 18, 2013 | Donors, Family, Giving, Next Generation
Steven Rogers was raised in Tyler, Texas, in a family that is serious, but quietly active in the giving community. Today he works as a business consultant and has been working with clients both in the U.S. and Mexico. When he was in his senior year at Wheaton College...
by Dawn Franks | Jul 18, 2013 | Donors, Family, Giving, Next Generation, Wealth
At a family reunion this past weekend, I learned my father used to pay his younger siblings a nickel for their chocolate pudding when he came home on military leave. He loved chocolate pudding, and I was raised on it – the homemade kind my mother cooled down in a...
by Fred Smith | Jul 18, 2013 | Family, Giving, Guest Blogs
When my father died I was named the executor of the estate. While I had read through some articles on the subject, I was not prepared for the actual work required of me for the next full year. I could not have imagined the complexity involved and the maddening...
