Smith’s Service Spotlighted Again with AFP Philanthropy Award

University of Findlay Pharmacy Student Dallas Smith accepted the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy award at an Association of Fundraising Professionals Northwest Ohio chapter lunch attended by almost 500 members and guests. The Thursday event was held in honor of National Philanthropy Day.
Now in his sixth year of the UF’s pharmacy program, the Defiance, Ohio native has committed his academic career not only to intensive study, but also to service learning. Some of his efforts have included organizing service trips to developing countries and assisting regional residents.
In 2012 Smith and three other students founded Oilers Serving Abroad (OSA), which enables students to travel to the Dominican Republic and Haiti to help school children and refugees. Smith is working on ways to expand OSA and promote it as a prototype for other higher learning institutions to incorporate into their study abroad programs. Also at UF, he helped establish the Graduating Class Philanthropy Honor Cord program and helped raise funds for the 2016 senior class gift, which collected nearly $4,000 to create the Findlay Fund Class of 2016 Scholarship.
In 2015 he volunteered to construct fences in Canada through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, and in January he served as a pharmacy clinic volunteer for the West Ohio Conference Medical Mission Trip to Mexico.
Locally, Smith has served community dinners at St. Paul’s Methodist Church monthly since 2014; assisted in organizing more than 10,000 pounds of food for UF’s Mobile Food Pantry, which benefits 179 families annually; participated for three years in the Nature Club’s Blanchard River Clean Up; and was a volunteer referee for the Salvation Army’s Upwards Basketball Program.
Additionally, he has also contributed to his pharmacy studies in various ways, such as collecting data from past students for improvements in various curriculum aspects, performing Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences site visits in Detroit, Michigan, and leading consultations at Toledo’s Center for Health Services diabetes clinic.
“Dallas Smith is an amazing, exceptional young man,” said Marcia Latta, vice president for advancement. “For the past three years I’ve had the pleasure of watching the bright, humble pharmacy student organize and lead service trips abroad with his fellow classmates to some of the world’s most impoverished areas. Here on the UF campus, he also has taken the lead in promoting the senior class gift project, and has enabled others to learn the basic tenets of philanthropy and the good it can do throughout the world,” Latta said. “I know that Dallas will graduate and make the world a much better place.”
This AFP award is the second that Smith has earned for his service outside of the classroom. In October, he received the 2016 Walmart and Pharmacy Times RESPy (Respect, Excellence and Service in Pharmacy) Award for outstanding community service work. Click here to access that story.
Also receiving AFP recognition was the Charles J. and Mariann Dana Younger family, which received the Outstanding Philanthropist award. Charles is a former UF Board of Trustees member. Mariann died earlier this year. The couple substantially contributed to the University’s Mazza Museum and its Concert and Lecture Series, and to the greater community in several ways. The Youngers were nominated for the award by the Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation.

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