From volunteering on weekdays to coaching sports on the weekends Craig Smith is wholeheartedly committed to serving the community of Upper Arlington. As an active member of the city, Smith finds purpose and joy in supporting its various clubs, sports teams and district board managements.
Smith has been a devoted Upper Arlington resident for more than 30 years or in his words, “long enough to lose track.” He finds comfort in the relationships he’s built over the years, and time spent with friends in the community makes living in Upper Arlington all the more worthwhile.
“I made a lot of really good friends in the neighborhood and around the city, and it’s great to catch up when we do get to see each other,” says Smith. “It’s just a really nice community to live in.”
An Impressive Reputation
The passion Smith feels towards his community drives him to get up and out of bed each morning. Smith retired after 31 years of working for the state. He says that 22 of those years were devoted to Ohio’s drinking water program and environmentally focused projects.
In retirement, Smith continues to be an advocate for his community and the environment.
Smith is a proud member of the Kiwanis Club of Columbus and has been part of the committee since 2010. Kiwanis is a service organization with a focus on improving the city and ensuring the betterment of children and family life.
Smith building beds for children in need
“I serve on Upper Arlington’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, I’m on the board of directors for the Water Management Association of Ohio,” says Smith. “I’m active with our local division of (Kiwanis) clubs, our district here in Ohio and our international operations.”
Kiwanis has allowed Smith to pursue his passion for helping the community he’s become so innately involved with.
“Once I joined Kiwanis, it just opened up a whole new world,” says Smith. “There were just so many other things that I hadn’t anticipated. I joined to help with their soccer program and ended up serving as district governor on international committees and things like that.”
Smith finds purpose in the daily activities he spends working on volunteer projects and efforts devoted towards beneficial impacts.
Smith presenting a Kiwanis scholarship
“What inspires me the most is, every once in a while, we have what we call Kiwanis moments,” says Smith. “It’s that moment that you see the impact of what you’ve done on an individual child and that just keeps you going.”
Smith has many memories from his years of volunteering, but there’s one story that has stuck with him for years. He tells an emotional story of the time a child in the Kiwanis Soccer Buddies program learned to open up and trust the people in his life. Smith watched as the boy went from refusing to participate to taking his hand as they kicked the soccer ball together.
“It wasn’t until afterward that I realized that was the same little boy who 18 months ago didn’t want to socialize with anybody,” says Smith. “His mom was just beaming because that’s exactly what she wanted out of our program. He socialized, he learned to trust people and so every time I think of that, it’s why I do this.”
Keeping Organized
Everyone has their own way of managing schedules and juggling the unavoidable chaos of day-to-day life. For Smith, years of community involvement and coaching has allowed him to establish his style for managing everyday tasks.
the Smith family (left to right) Cameron, Craig, Laura and Brendon
Between meetings, events and projects, Smith is calm, cool and collected. He’s a go-getter with a morning to-do list and a trusty calendar he makes an effort to update every day.
“When I worked for a living, I had to stay organized because I was jumping from project to project and task to task,” says Smith. “It’s just about sorting out and going ‘okay, this is what I can accomplish today’ and then reminding myself to take a break.”
Even in retirement, Smith leads a busy lifestyle and stays goal-oriented. He’s seemingly unphased by his busy schedule and enjoys the experience of volunteer work and building connections with the community.
“I had an accomplished career with the state, now it’s just a matter of doing what needs to be done just to keep things moving and participate in our community,” Smith says.
Smith has gone above and beyond for his community but claims the most interesting thing about his life is that he “caught a no hitter in slow pitch softball.” His loved ones and community friends would say otherwise.
“I guess the long-term goal, the only one I’ve got is: let’s keep all of these organizations vital and alive, because the community doesn’t always see us, but they also have no idea how much we do behind the scenes to help them,” says Smith.
Getting Involved
Smith is an expert on volunteer opportunities and projects around the city. For those interested in getting involved with the community, there are a variety of programs that require as much or as little time as desired.
A few clubs to consider are Kiwanis, Sertoma, Optimist, Rotary and Lions, which offer many opportunities for volunteers. Each organization focuses on civic responsibilities and community engagement through events and fundraisers.
Volunteer opportunities range from literacy projects to park cleanups to fighting food insecurity. Kiwanis, the club Smith actively participates in, sponsors several school programs throughout Columbus.
Smith restocks shelves at the Heart to Heart Food Pantry
“We sponsor a Key Club in both Grandview Heights and Upper Arlington High School and then we provide mentors for those,” says Smith. “We have a Builder’s Club in the Grandview Heights Middle School…we’re building an Action Club which is a service club for special needs adults.”
Along with these clubs are community cleanup days where volunteers can go out and remove invasive species at the parks and plant trees every month.
“There are tons of opportunities, I would encourage folks to explore your community, figure out what your passion is,” says Smith. “And if the passion that you want to follow isn’t necessarily there, one of the clubs or another organization is probably interested in doing that anyway.”
Amber Phipps is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
