Granger Smith Donates Over $200,000 to Texas Hospital

$218,791 was raised in memory of Smith's late son, River.

Written by Chris Parton
Granger Smith Donates Over $200,000 to Texas Hospital
AUSTIN, TEXAS - JUNE 25: Granger Smith and Amber Smith present a donation in memory of their son, River Kelly Smith, to Chris Born, President of Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas on June 25, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images)

Country singer Granger Smith and his wife Amber have donated more than $200,000 to the Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas, following the tragic death of their three-year-old son, River.

Presenting a check for $218,791 during an emotional ceremony on Tuesday (June 25), Smith remarked that the donation was “just the beginning” of what he hopes to raise for the hospital. The money was raised through sales of a T-shirt made in River’s memory (which the couple wore during Tuesday’s event), and it was doctors at Dell Children’s who did their best to revive River after his accidental drowning at the family’s home in early June.

“Let this be a small token of the gratitude that we’ve got for you guys,” Smith said, according to CBS Austin. “I’ll never ever forget it. The first thing we wanted to do was start giving back to Dell Children’s.”

“We watched you through our eyes, through our grieving eyes, in the worst of times, we watched you speak to our little boy like he heard you and we were hearing it,” he went on. “You were speaking to us and it mattered.”

“I pray that nobody else ever has to go through what we’ve gone through, but if they do, I hope they come here because y’all were incredible,” Amber added. “We don’t understand why this happened and we’ll never understand, but I promise that we’re going to figure out the good. We’re going to bring good from it.”

Smith has returned to the road — bringing his family along with him — and delivered a stirring, soulful rendition of his tune, “Heaven Bound Balloons,” during last weekend’s 2019 Country LakeShake Festival in Chicago. His schedule continues with shows across the U.S. and Canada through September.