Operation Smile - 3-30-14

This Sunday I got to experience one of the coolest outcomes of the project so far. A sixth grade girl I have worked with all this year in the middle school youth group approached me about a problem she was having. She explained that she is not popular in her standards and that she has felt left out a lot lately at school and youth group. As much as this broke my heart to hear I knew that I needed to listen and then assess the best way possible. After explaining how much I thought of her and how much she was cared about by me and plenty of others, I got to see that play out the rest of the evening. A new student showed up and didn't know anyone, but the girl that I spoke to didn't skip a beat. She was the first one up introducing herself and getting the new student connected for the night! Not only did I notice her actions, but so did all of the other adults and even some of the other students. I was so proud that I was able to be a voice in her life during a hard time, but even more to see her be able to see it in herself after an evening of including someone else! Operation smile is really showing me how some of the littlest of things can be absolutely life changing and how much of an impact I am able to make on the people around me every single week!

Operation Smile- 3/25/14

This week operation smile started the beautiful movement. There are post-it notes in all the women's restrooms around the college of Good Samaritan Nursing that I have been able to find. The notes say things to the women of this college such as you are amazing, you are unique, you are beautiful. Although I do not know the direct outcome I can assume that they are making them feel just as good as the notes made me feel when I was making them. I know how stressful school can become and that can effect the way we think about ourselves. These post-it notes serve as a way to remind each girl in our school how special and loved she is even if she doesn't think she is! 

Operation Smile 3-22-14

This week I was unable to do an Operation Smile deed. Unfortunately my work schedule was doubled on top of my school schedule. I was really disappointed because this was suppose to be one that was bigger than the previous deeds. I plan on making this up by doing two this coming week and getting others involved to keep me on track. Although I wasn't able to do a deed, a family at church heard about my Operation Smile revolution so they wanted to thank me by creating a college survival kit! It is really cool, the basket was full of food, pens, post-its, and even some stress relief masks! The whole point of me starting Operation Smile was to start a revolution of bringing one smile at a time. I can't believe that my revolution is actually catching on and people are joining in on the movement. It was really nice to have someone else make me smile!

Operation Smile- 3/10/14

These pictures are of me and my best friend Mia. I met Mia last year at the University of Cincinnati through the commuters association. I never thought that over a year ago I would be meeting my new best friend. And that sounds absolutely cliché, but we both had been going through really difficult times with our previous friends after starting college. Mia became someone I could trust, talk to, and care about. She has been by my side through everything and I couldn't thank her enough for all she has done. But I think I found a way to show her how much I appreciated her, below you'll find pictures of us together. She lives in Columbus, Ohio and goes to school at The Ohio State University. By some freak accident we ended up with the same spring break and after starting Operation Smile I knew that I wanted to do something for Mia, but she lives so far away making it really difficult. So I decided to set it up with her Mom that during spring break I would drive up there to surprise her with a surprise birthday date! Her birthday was March 10, so I packed my car up and took my nice little two and a half hour drive up there. Our first stop after kidnapping her from her Mom's work was Sky Zone an indoor trampoline park for all ages. We spent two hours jumping, laughing, and soon after aching. The first picture you see is us drinking slushies to cool off after our jump. Next I whisked her off to get ready for our big surprise, which is the second picture of us taking a mirror picture. After that we headed off to a surprise dinner for Mia. Mia has her Cincinnati friend which is me, and she has her Columbus friends such as Yen-Fin and Somwaya. I wanted to end the separation so I contacted the both of them to set up a surprise dinner for Mia with the three of us. We arrived at Red Lobster that evening to a table full of balloons and friends coming together. Not only did Mia not stop smiling, but she actually cried. She told me that she had never had a friend that went through that much trouble for her and that she was beyond happy that I could do that for her. The last picture you see is Mia celebrating her 20th birthday with all of her friends! It was really awesome to see her so excited and happy to be pampered and cared for by the people she loves. It was as small as a birthday surprise that was able to make her feel special and that is everything that Operation Smile is about.

#OPERATIONSMILE

Operation Smile- 3/6/14

Operation smile wanted to say thank you to a few people that usually get over looked and seem to be walked by without any acknowledgement. So I brought the, Good Samaritan Hospital valet parkers donuts at seven in the morning on Thursday. They were elated and surprised that someone took time out of their day to say thank you for being you. I have now started a friendship with people I never expected.  And below is the perfect smile I got when he picked his donut!

The first week of the project went very well! I did personal items to start off with in this project! The first thing I did was writing a letter to my boyfriends cousin. Her name is Clare and she is like my little sister, I have watched her grow up over the past seven years and this past weekend was her confirmation weekend. I wrote a letter letting her know how proud I was of her and encouraged her to continue to be exactly who she is and to continue doing what she loves. At first I didn't expect anything back from her, but about an hour after her confirmation I got the most heart warming phone call. She said that the letter I sent was really touching and that she was so excited that I was able to send her that letter. It was the absolute smallest thing that I could do and it meant the most to her on that day. And although I couldn't see her face, I could just tell from her voice how joyful she was and for sure there was a smile on her face!

The second thing I did was little bit bigger. My older brothers entire family came down with a bad stomach virus so, I went to the store and bought them Gatorades and pedialyte to help keep up with their fluids. I did not go into the house to prevent me from getting ill so, I surprised them and left them on the door step. After I left I sent them a text message to let them know there were things on the door step for them. My brother called later that night to tell me how much the gifts helped and I even got to talk to my nephew who never stopped shouting, Aunt Honey where are you (I am aunt honey to my Nieces and Nephews).

It was really cool to think that the little things that took me only a few minutes of my time really impacted those individuals. I know that they seem so small, but I really think that the smallest of things can be altering in a persons outlook and attitude during serious times of their lives!

I can't wait for this weeks items they are a little bigger and I believe the individuals will be really surprised, stay tuned!!

#OPERATIONSMILE