Josh Williams kicked off the Nashville Superspeedway weekend with a special event. He spent an extensive amount of time visiting patients at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
The Xfinity Series driver, who was a finalist for Comcast Community Champion in 2022, spent time on June 23 visiting patients and playing games. Williams also led an activity in which children left paint handprints on paper plates.
The handprints will become part of a scheme on the No. 92 DGM Racing Chevrolet Camaro later in the season. Williams has used these special schemes at Phoenix Raceway in past seasons.
During his Xfinity Series career, he has visited more than 150 children’s hospitals around the country. When COVID made it impossible for Williams to conduct these visits, he began working with OhmniLabs to continue them virtually with Telepresence robots.
Additionally, Williams has worked with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation to help build closed-circuit TV and radio studios in children’s hospitals. One of these studios is at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
“It was truly special to be able to join Josh and see first-hand the incredible impact that he is making on these children’s lives,” Matt Lederer, Comcast’s vice president of brand partnerships and amplification, told Heavy in a statement.
The Efforts Led To a Prestigious Nomination
Berk CommunicationsJosh Williams (center) has visited more than 150 children’s hospitals.
The Florida native’s efforts to brighten the lives of these patients around the country received recognition during the 2022 season. He was named a finalist for the Comcast Community Champion of the Year award alongside two other deserving figures.
The prestigious award was created with the purpose of recognizing the philanthropic efforts of individuals within the NASCAR industry. The winner receives $60,000 for the charity of their choice while the two runners-up receive $30,000 for their respective charities.
Another finalist was Sherry Pollex, a Stage 3C ovarian cancer survivor who has dedicated her time and efforts to empowering “women to know their bodies and recognize the symptoms of ovarian cancer with a focus on healthy living through holistic and integrative medicine.”
Pollex has also spent several years helping the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation generate financial support for underfunded cancer initiatives specific to childhood cancer.
The winner of the 2022 Comcast Community Champion of the Year award was CSM Production’s senior director of live shows Jes Ferreira. She made the choice to get her foster license and become a foster parent to two young girls.
Ferreira provided a stable home for the siblings, and then she went a step further by trying to support other foster parents. She developed an affiliation with Foster Village Charlotte, a charity that collaborates with 16 private foster parent licensing agencies, child welfare organizations, the community and local government so that it can serve foster parents while helping them connect with each other.
“Josh was a finalist for the Comcast Community Champion of the Year award in 2022 and it was precisely for his work visiting children and their families to show his support,” Lederer added.
“Taking part in the event at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt was a full-circle moment for me to see the impact that the Comcast Community Champion of the Year program has for the individuals and organizations affiliated with our finalists.”
Nominations Are Now Open for the 2023 Award
GettyJosh Williams races during the 2020 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
The visit with the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt kicked off the Nashville race weekend. It also coincided with Comcast opening the nomination period for the Community Champion of the Year award.
Now in the ninth year of the award, Comcast will hit a major milestone. The company will surpass $1 million in total contributions made to organizations affiliated with previous champions and finalists.
This nomination period will run through August 1 as people in NASCAR seek to recognize those that are devoting their time, effort, and money to supporting those in need. Once this period is closed, Comcast will reveal the finalists. The company will reveal the winner during Champions Week after the season ends.
The Comcast Community Champion of the Year award is open to team owners, drivers, and employees across the three national series.
The list also includes full-time employees of tracks that are currently on the schedule for NASCAR’s three series; NASCAR media members who have a Print, Broadcast, or Photography Hard Card; NASCAR officials; NASCAR partners and sponsors; family members of drivers and crew members; driver and team employees; and support industry personnel (engine builders, parts, and service providers, etc.).
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Josh Williams Kicks Off Nashville Weekend With Special Event