Cranio Care Bears
Cranio Care Bears was chosen by Scott Smith as his charity because it is near and dear to the PSI Capital Management family. The son of PSI's Marketing Coordinator, Tara Cruz, was born in December 2019 with a rare condition known as Craniosynostosis. He has since undergone two Cranial Vault Reconstructive surgeries in 2020 and 2021. The support from Cranio Care Bears provided a community and care packages for the long hospital stay.
Craniosynostosis is a condition in which the sutures close prematurely, causing problems with normal brain and skull growth and premature closure of the fontanelles (soft spots). Premature closure of the sutures may also cause the pressure inside of the head to increase and the skull or facial bones to change from a normal, symmetrical appearance. Cranio Care Bears started with 2 cranio moms (Summer & Shelby) who’s sons had craniosynostosis and underwent surgery. The moms decided to try to touch as many lives as possible and make this surgery just a little bit easier to go through with care packages.
The care packages are hand packaged with love and encouragement for families facing craniosynostosis surgery. They try to put items that will be both comforting and useful before, during, and after surgery.
Gold Together!
Gold Together is the American Cancer Society initiative dedicated to increasing awareness of childhood cancer, supporting families facing a diagnosis, and raising funds to end childhood cancer. Funds raised directly support childhood cancer research, education, advocacy, and services, as well as promote cancer prevention efforts targeting children to help them reduce their risk for cancer later in life.
The Gold Together movement was created by childhood brain cancer survivor Cole Eicher, whose dream was to have a Gold Together team at every Relay For Life event, starting with his event in St. Petersburg, Florida. His vision was to raise childhood cancer awareness, support families facing childhood cancer, and connect those families to a lifetime of resources through the American Cancer Society.
Childhood cancer is the leading disease-related cause of death for children and adolescents ages 1 to 19, and 1 in 266 children and adolescents will be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 20. Through Gold Together, you can give kids hope by joining a community of like-minded survivors, volunteers, and supporters who believe that the future can be free from childhood cancer. The fight against pediatric cancer needs you now more than ever. The American Cancer Society is a united force against all cancers. We’re on a mission to save lives, celebrate lives, and lead the fight for a world without cancer.
Cranio Care Bears
Our mission is to spread awareness, support & compassion through loving care packages to families of children facing surgery for craniosynostosis. Our care packages include items for the child & family to relieve the stress accompanying this very serious surgery.
Gold Together!
As the American Cancer Society’s childhood cancer initiative, Gold Together empowers individuals to help raise funds to directly support research, education, advocacy, and services, as well as promote cancer prevention efforts that could reduce children’s risk for cancer later in life.
Scott Smith | Founding Partner, Advisor + Avid Hiker
Scott began long distance hiking almost 20 years ago. During this time, Scott estimates he has walked over 2000 miles of trail. His impressive hiking resume includes the following adventures:
- Over 700 miles of the Appalachian trail - the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Great Smokey Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina, and everything between Central Virginia and Vermont.
- Over 100 remote miles in the North and South Glacier National Park
- Several hikes in the High Sierra’s including parts of the Pacific Crest Trail, Yosemite, and the John Muir trail, summiting Mount Whitney which is the highest mountain in the continental US standing at 14,505 feet.
- The 93-mile Wonderland Trail which encircles Mount Rainier and has over 22,000 feet of elevation gain/loss.
- The 140-mile Tahoe Rim trail which encircles Lake Tahoe and includes 8 summits over 8000 ft. elevation.
- The Sawback trail which travels between Banff and Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies.
- The Dingle Way which travels the entire Dingle Peninsula of Ireland.
- The Portuguese Way Camino, starting in Valenca and ending in Santiago De Compostela Spain.
- Two of the Great Walks of New Zealand…The Routeburn Track and the Rees-Dart Track which included being dropped by helicopter into the New Zealand rainforests of the South Island.
Having hiked in so many parts of the world, Scott commented on this 100 mile journey…”Even though this hike will be in my own back yard, in some ways it will mean more to me than all the others, because this time I will be hiking for something greater than my own experience. Somehow that gives this walk its own special magic.”