Long history with Children's Health leads to transformational gift for new Dallas Pediatric Campus

More than a decade ago, Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones believed in a dream to help kids in the child welfare system. Now, they've committed $100M to help kids in North Texas and beyond for generations to come.

At 10 years old, Amelia has a lot of friends. Like a Care Bear, her greeting card is a hug, offering a big squeeze where others extend handshakes.

And among those who she counts in her close circle are her UT Southwestern physicians, who cared for her at Children’s Health℠ and have inspired her to be a doctor to help kids like her.

Born early and weighing 2 pounds and 4 ounces, Amelia spent the first few months of her life in a local NICU before entering foster care. There, her now adoptive parents, Robin and Henk, realized that she was facing several health challenges, including heart issues and cerebral palsy. An MRI showed she might never walk without her braces.

But Amelia’s clinical team at The Rees-Jones Center for Foster Care Excellence saw it as a challenge, providing early intervention from the time that she was a baby and coordinating her care across multiple disciplines within the hospital system.

Now, she can run, kick a soccer ball and explore nature — all without her braces.

And she has two more friends to hug for this lifesaving care: Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones, who helped establish the foster care center in 2012 as the only clinic in North Texas to treat the unique physical and emotional needs of children and youth in the child welfare system.

Through The Rees-Jones Foundation, the family has generously given more than $35 million to the foster care program, supporting the health care provided to more than 2,000 children each year.

And that gift inspired Jan and Trevor to do more, donating $100 million through their foundation to support the new Dallas pediatric campus.

“Through the work at The Rees-Jones Center, we have witnessed how the lives of some of the most vulnerable children and their families have been touched emotionally and physically by caring professionals,” Trevor Rees-Jones said in October when the gift was announced at the groundbreaking for the new campus.

To publicly recognize The Rees-Jones Foundation gift, the central hospital tower at the new Dallas pediatric campus will be named Rees-Jones Tower. In addition to patient rooms and unique amenities, Rees- Jones Tower will serve as the main hospital entrance and house the lobby and welcome areas for patients and their families.

“If our city and our children, who are our future, are to thrive, we need the most up-to-date medical facilities and technology,” said Trevor, Founder and CEO of Chief Energy LLC and Rees-Jones Holdings LLC, and co-founder with Jan of The Rees-Jones Foundation.

“We are grateful to Children’s Health and UT Southwestern for their recognition of this need and their commitment to build the very best state-of-the-art facilities so that our medical professionals will be equipped to deliver the highest level of care to children throughout our city and region well into the future.”

Founded in 2006 by Jan and Trevor, The Rees-Jones Foundation is a private foundation that works with nonprofit organizations in North Texas, Africa and India to serve others and improve their quality of life in tangible ways.

The Rees-Jones Foundation has also given more than $10 million to UT Southwestern since 2016 to support programs aimed at identifying risk for depression and mood disorders in youth and building mental health resilience.

“We believe every child should have the opportunity to receive the very best health care,” Trevor said.