Hello everyone!

My name is Odalys Chairez and I am the current President of the UTA Maverick Terry Scholars. It has been brought to our officer team’s attention that one of our own Terrys is going through a very difficult family situation. For this reason, we have created this account in order to help alleviate some of the stress that the Smith family is facing. The donations collected in this GoFundMe will go directly to the Smith family in attempt to cover medical expenses, living expenses and all other expenses presented during Sandra Smith’s health journey.

A little background: Suzietta Smith, a 2018 Traditional Terry Scholar, is a 4.0 student entering her final year at UTA majoring in Public Health and minoring in Spanish, Psychology, and Neuroscience with hopes of working as an Immigration Lawyer one day. She supports 4 adults at home by having 3 part-time jobs. Neither of Suzietta’s parents are employed, have insurance, or higher education. Her mother, Sandra Smith, came to the U.S. as a refugee over 30 years ago from Nicaragua. Recently she has been having progressively worse health problems since the beginning of summer 2021 and needs a Spanish-speaking Social Worker, Psychologist, Neurologist, Cardiologist, and someone to offer Legal Advice regarding Power of Attorney documents.

Sandra Smith was first admitted to the hospital for panic attacks, chest pain, and anxiety on June 28th. She has since been admitted on 6 different occasions to the ER. In the previous 6 hospital stays, Sandra has been diagnosed with COVID, pneumonia, UTI, a stroke, severe depression/anxiety, and now seizures. Since then, on September 13th, she was admitted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. These health problems have landed her in a hospital over 100 miles away from her home and all forms of stability and security. Sandra is a mother of 5 and only two members of her family of 7 have higher education. At this point, Suzietta is trying to be the best emotional support for her family, but she would love any and all support from her Terry Family.

In addition to the medical journey the Smith family has undergone, the pandemic has made it very difficult for the basic things like housing, utilities, food, etc. to remain afloat because of the lack of work, finances coming in, and the result of COVID-19. Because her father is self-employed and her mother requested Disability Status and then the pandemic hit, Suzietta has helped with the bills, but they are still 10 months behind on rent for their home, not including late fees from their landlord. Suzietta is not desiring pity, but she would love empathy from her non-traditional family that was given to her through an incredible man named Howard Terry. She believes in hard work, but asking for help is an option she has slowly realized has endless benefits. Suzietta is deeply grateful for the Terry Foundation still having the ability to help fund her schooling in the midst of a global pandemic and all the connections, love, and support that comes with having Terry Scholar written on her resume. She knows no resume could ever capture what the Foundation means to her and every single person who is a part of it.

Suzietta is proud to be a Terry Scholar because she gets to break the cycle of poverty and the lack of education in her family thanks to Howard and Nancy Terry. Suzietta has also been extremely active in the UTA Terry Scholar Organization as she has served as the Class of 2018 Representative, the Terry Treasurer, and attended the Officer Retreat at Texas Tech University in January of 2020. She served the Maverick Terry Scholars throughout the pandemic and works with the UTA Student Money Management Center to conduct a majority of the Scholar Check-Ins with their office and works directly with multiple members of the UTA Terry Team to do this. She is asking for any financial, emotional, or physical help in the next steps of her mother’s health journey. Suzietta understands life events like this come up, but she also understands that the Terry Foundation has always believed in her and her dreams.

We are hoping to assist the Smith family monetarily with medical bills and living expenses during these times of illness and uncertainty. Any donation made will go directly to Suzietta and the costs associated with her mother’s treatment. Any amount is appreciated. Alternative ways to donate is through Venmo @Suzietta-SmithDuarte , Zelle using her email: [email redacted] , or the UTA Terry Cashapp: $Mavterrys please put “Smith” in the memo line.

Thank you to all those contributing to support Sandra Smith and Suzietta through this hardship. If you have questions or would like to know of additional ways to further help our Terry Family, please reach out to Suzietta Smith directly or the Maverick Officer team by using the contact option. All messages will gladly be forwarded to Suzietta Smith. Please share this fundraiser to reach more people and more support.