12/24/2025
TOLEDO, OH - Tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, seventy children in this city will receive something more than a $100 gift card. They’ll receive relief and joy, with the knowledge that their community cares and they are not forgotten.
This began with the Smith & Williams Restaurant family, alongside Assurance and the Center for Black Innovation, raising $5,000 to support fifty youth. Then I put up a simple request to the people of Toledo to help us match what we had already committed. And Toledo answered.
The rest came from neighbors with big hearts, the kind that don’t need recognition to do the right thing. Still, gratitude matters. So thank you to Daren Dashner, Hair Hair, Vita Caprice, Carolyn Sutton, Lakevia Punkin Harris and Jeanie Tietjens Knuth answering the call when it mattered.
And then there is this angel on earth pictured below Christina Miller, who went above and beyond, sponsoring an additional ten children with a $1,000 gift. That kind of generosity doesn’t just help; it restores faith. This is what community looks like when it’s real. Thank you to all who stepped up and we invite you to come to the restaurant at 3pm, to personally meet the youth who are impacting with your kindness. Smith & Williams Restaurant is located at 5038 Lewis Ave. Toledo, OH.
