LAURA RECOVERY CENTER - Financial woes abound

A non-profit foundation dedicated to finding missing children is in serious financial trouble and could soon close its doors.

The parents of Laura Kate Smither started the Laura Recovery Center after their daughter was abducted and killed in 1997. No one was ever charged in her murder.

In the years since, the Center has helped searched for missing children here in Houston and across the country.

“We’ve always said that while we’re supposed to be doing this work, money will come in and when the money dries up, it means God has another plan for what we’re supposed to be doing and we’ve always operated that way,” said Laura’s mother Gay Smither.

She says they would like to keep the center open, but they have just $30,000 in the bank to run the organization. The Center operates on a $120,000 budget a year and is supported by donations and private grants.

“We understand that everybody is hurting and that’s why our donations are down. We are all in the same boat, so we will do what we can to survive this particular, this situation, so we can continue to offer the services we offer,” said Smither.

The Center has helped 1,600 families from coast to coast. They have participated in several high-profile cases, including that of Elizabeth Smart in Utah.

“We feel that we really can contribute to a family because they are in panic mode. The family, especially, is in panic mode. We certainly know that from personal experience. They’re just not thinking straight,” said Laura Recover Center Founder Bob Smither.

Most recently, the center organized several searches in Spring for Ali Lowitzer. The teen went missing in April.

“I don’t know what I would have done without them,” said the teen’s mother Jo Ann Lowitzer. “They came out for two weeks straight, and then after that, several weekends and helped organize volunteers and ground searches.”

Lowitzer says that she holds on to hope that her daughter will come back because of the support she’s received from the Laura Recovery Center.

“We didn’t want to be just a number and to the Laura Recovery center Ali is not just number,” she said. “They’ve helped me so much and I don’t want to see their generosity gone.”