When I was four years old I asked my parents what happened to the children that didn't have homes on Christmas. They told me that sometimes people help those children and Santa still brings them gifts, but maybe not the gifts like I would receive. I remember at that moment that I wanted to help others, especially other children. I thought how unfair it was that I got things, and they didn't. With the help of my family and church, I raised $600 to help get food and water to a tent community in Indianapolis IN. From that point on I wanted to help others whenever I could.
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I helped to serve at our local soup kitchen and gathered donations to make care packages for the homeless and less fortunate. I loved seeing them smile from the goodies that were inside. Then I found out about a friend of mine at school. She was a foster child, and told me about how she was taken out her home because her parents were doing bad things. She told me how scared she was. I decided to begin making Smile Bags to help other children like my friend, or children that have been in other situations that the police had to take care of them. I first donated bags to the police department in Greenfield Indiana, then to the Hancock County Sheriffs Department. When word got out about the Smile Bags, my mother was contacted by other departments. I knew this was something special and wanted to help as many children as I possibly could.
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With the help of people and organizations around my community, I was able to make over 100 bags for police departments throughout Central Indiana. This past year my family relocated to Northwest Indiana and I began making Smile Bags for our local police departments. In the first month of 2020, I will have two more police departments carrying Smile Bags and have had requests from many other departments throughout the region.
I am so excited about how much this has grown and hope to have my Smile Bags in many more police cars throughout the years.
