Debbie and Ric Scripps are part of the little miracles happening every day at Children’s Health

Couple establishes endowments to support research, child life, saying an investment in kids ‘comes back to you tenfold’

For Debbie and Ric Scripps, investing in the future is a “no-brainer.”  
 
Both retired teachers, the couple has spent years shaping the lives of children. Advocating for future generations is one of the top ways they like to give back. 
 
“Anything dealing with investing in kids, that investment comes back to you tenfold,” Ric said. “Any time we have an opportunity to invest in the future of kids, that’s where our passion lies.” 
 
For more than 40 years, the couple has been profoundly connected to Children’s Health. Before they moved to Dallas in 1980, they lived in Minneapolis, Minn., where their youngest son, Andy, was born prematurely. He was admitted to a children’s hospital there and the family’s experience inspired Debbie to sign up as a volunteer. Once in Texas, her dedication to helping children continued when Debbie joined the Women’s Auxiliary to Children's Medical Center Dallas.  
 
But she didn’t stop there. Both she and Ric have served in numerous leadership roles over the years. Debbie has chaired the Children’s Medical Center Foundation Board; served on the hospital board; held roles as president of the Women’s Auxiliary Dallas chapter and as Family Night chair. Ric has served on the Foundation Board and on various task force initiatives, including hosting physicians and their families during their visits to North Texas. The two have also dedicated their time and efforts to several other civic and professional organizations in the community. 
 
Debbie and Ric’s active involvement has only helped fuel their strong passion for pediatric health care. 
 

“Seeing all the little miracles that happen every day at Children’s Health makes me want to be a part of it and a part of the growth,” Debbie said.  

 
In 2012, Children’s Health established the Scripps Society to honor Debbie and Ric for their work as volunteers, leaders and philanthropists. The Society recognizes friends of Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) who have contributed $1 million or more and embody the mission of Children’s Health to make life better for children.  
 
That same year, the couple created an endowment to support the general operations of CRI, a leader in groundbreaking discoveries with the goal to cure people who otherwise would not be cured. 
 
More than a decade later, they remain heavily involved in CRI and the work of Dr. Sean Morrison, the Institute’s director. They’re proud of the overall growth of the Institute since its founding, the unexpected discoveries by CRI investigators and the groundbreaking research Morrison and his team pursue.  
 
“He is so brilliant,” Ric said. “We know that in 10 or 15 years we’re going to have solutions to diseases we currently don’t have solutions to.”   
 
Their three sons, Ryan, Scott and Andy, and two daughters-in-law have gotten involved too, through Scripps Society dinners, CRI receptions and donor appreciation events.  
 
Because the institution means a great deal to them, Debbie and Ric have generously named Children’s Health in their estate plans. One planned gift will support the Scripps Family Charitable Fund of Communities Foundation of Texas for Children's Research Institute to further the inspiring research conducted at CRI. 
 
Another estate gift will add to the Debbie and Ric Scripps Endowment for Child Life, a fund they established in 1999, in recognition of the incredible impact child life has on a patient’s experience. Programs like child life -- which provide coping strategies and help make life easier for those experiencing the unthinkable -- are offered throughout the hospital at no cost to patient families. 
 
With their history of supporting Children’s Health within and outside the walls of the hospital, Debbie and Ric know how important resources like child life are to holistically care for a child. This endowed fund has already helped the child life specialists meet the individual and wide-ranging needs of the children and families they serve. And, the anticipated growth of this fund will extend this impact even further as team members care for the growing number of children who rely on Children’s Health year after year.  
 
“Children are our future. Why wouldn’t we want to support something that does such a good job with the health of children,” Debbie said.