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Wednesday's Child Endowment
Marci and Jack Williams created the Jack Williams Endowment for Wednesday's
child in 2000 to make sure there would be funding to help special needs
children find loving adoptive homes. An IRS recognized 501 © (3)
charity, it is operated out of their home and has no employees. Neither
of them takes a salary and contributes thousands annually to the charity.
"Our belief is the importance of using volunteers to help reach
our goals," said Jack. Marci added: "It goes against our nature
to pay someone to raise money for the kids. It's a feeling of accomplishment
to roll up our sleeves and try to make a difference."
Each year, the Endowment for Wednesday's Child gives grants totaling
a quarter of a million dollars. The Walker School is one of the agencies
that we have supported from the beginning.
Both Marci and Jack emphatically emphasize that the real heroes they
have met are adoptive parents, who voluntarily step forward to try to
create a safe and loving environment for these children, many of whom
have been left with psychological, emotional and physical scars. "We
try to help, but it pales in comparison to what these wonderful people
do," says Marci. "Think about it," explains Jack, "they
are literally changing the world. They are trying to break the cycle
of violence, incest, and lack of caring that too often is passed on
to the next generation."
Jack created Wednesday's child in 1981, as a way to use television to
help find homes for the thousands of special needs children in state
care in Massachusetts. The segment appears each Wednesday night on WBZ
TV's 6:00 news. In 1982, an undersecretary of Health and Human Services
under President Ronald Reagan came to Boston and asked Jack if they
could share his idea with the nation. He agreed, and a brochure was
sent to every TV station in the country, telling how WBZ was using this
idea and suggested ways they could start a similar program. Since then,
over 100 television stations across the country have copied the idea
that originated in Boston.
Jack has been honored at the White House twice, once in the Rose Garden
by President Reagan in 1986 and in 1997 by President Bill and Hillary
Clinton in the East Room of the White House, where he received the first
Adoption Excellence Award. Jack also has received eight honorary doctorates
from Massachusetts Colleges.
"But," says Jack, "the real honors should go to Marci.
She is the person with the biggest heart and cares passionately about
children in need of help. Marci always wanted me to front our efforts;
preferring to stay in the background. But, believe me, she has had a
very active role in everything we have done.
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