Hello everyone. I’m Jack Williams. My wife Marci and I want you to know how thrilled we are to be honored by such a great organization as CASA.

It has been an interesting journey we have been on since I created Wednesday’s Child in 1981. Marci and I had been looking for a way to say thank you to the people who New England for the loyalty and support they had shown to us. We wanted to concentrate our efforts, instead of endorsing so many of the worthy causes out there.

We decided that special needs children was the perfect focus for out efforts. In 1981 there were thousands of these children, and we thought they were largely ignored.

And so it all began. There were a lot of sceptics, even social workers, worried that these children would be exploited for TV ratings. I agreed to do the tapings on my own time, write the scripts and edit and deliver the final product. It turned out to be an instant success. By the way we decided to call it Wednesday’s Child because the segment would be aired on Wednesdays.

Almost immediately, Marci and I came to realize that most of the agencies and group homes dealing with special needs children were in desperate need of financial help. So, another path on our journey opened and we started to raise money. We volunteered our services and surrounded ourselves with others who just wanted to help.

Over the years we raised over $15-million and set up the Jack and Marci Williams Endowment for Wednesday’s Child. Money was given to agencies helping find homes for special needs children and group homes who took care of them while the search continues. We soon discovered CASA and the wonderful work being done to protect children in courtroom settings.

We thank all of you for coming out tonight to support CASA.

By the way, I have been the frontman for all these years of Wednesday’s Child, but my wife Marci has been with me every step of the way, watching over everything. When we held a raffle to give away brand new, donated Volvos, Marci sent handwritten thankyous to everyone who bought one of the $100 raffle tickets, She quietly has been the heart and soul of what we have done.

A few days ago, we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. I am a very lucky guy.

Again, thank you to CASA for the great honor you are bestowing on us.

Paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw: “Some people see things as they are and say Why. I dream things that never were and say Why Not!”