An assembly line like no other!

September 13, 2014

• After a long summer break from SWS, we get to start again!
• Corinne was scheduled to speak about her trip to Guatemala, but had to cancel because her Grandma passed away so our amazing friend Elaine stepped in at the last minute to share her family's experiences traveling around the world and in particular their time serving the Leprosy Colonies in India.  Her stories of love for those in need and seeking to understand people's needs was touching and helped us all understand that we can all make a difference wherever we are.  Thanks Elaine!

• List of table projects completed: 2 baby quilts, 24 value bracelets, 6 loomed hats, 49 origami figures, 2 picture books, 6 bead geckos, 25 book marks and 9 girl dresses!  Go team!!

May 10, 2014

• Heidi is with Eyes 4 Zimbabwe, a very inspired and dedicated organization that has literally lifted the circumstances and spirits of hundreds (maybe thousands) of Zimbabwe people.  They specialize in bringing eye surgeons to heal the epidemic of eye diseases that impact so many youth and elderly people there.  They also specialize in building the LDS youth of Zimbabwe and giving them the opportunity to attend week long conferences and assisting them to serve missions with their church.  
• What an honor to hear from such a special lady.  Thank you Heidi!!

Heidi describes the living situations in Zimbabwe and the miracles that have helped them.  She tells the youth to thank their parents for teaching them to serve.

March 15, 2014

• We were able to make 100 newborn kits to be given to our friend Kristi Rogers and her foundation Smiles For Central America to take to Honduras for their humanitarian dental mission there.

• Richard Sharrah from "Kid History" was a guest speaker and told his story about his new foundation "Kid History Foundation"

December 7, 2013

Sam Penrod from KSL news  came to talk about Humanitarian work in his field and some experiences that he has had helping others after Hurricanes in Oklahoma.  We were all inspired by his insights and experience. Thanks Sam!

• 150 humanitarian kits were made for local homeless shelters and to our friends helping the victims of Typhoons in the Philippines.

October 7, 2013 SWS Youth collection for Zimbabwe

With only a very short notice, the SWS youth group pulled together an extremely successful "emergency collection" for the people in Zimbabwe through Eyes 4 Zimbabwe.  Oh how we love them!  

With only days to prepare we collected....184 School kits, 51 hygiene kits, 40 emergency kits, 8 newborn kits, 10 quilts, 1 bag of jackets, 2 boxes of girl clothes, 5 boxes boy clothes, 1 box baby clothes, 3 boxes of toys, 1 box of sheets, 32 ABC books, 2 boxes women clothes, 1 box men's clothes, 3 boxes of shoes and some canned food!  My suburban was filled to the brim (not accurately shown in picture).

Awesome helpers!

Eyes 4 Zimbabwe in the collection warehouse  in Salt lake City

One of the warehouses used to organize the donations

We have sent supplies with Eyes 4 Zimbabwe many times but this is the 1st time that I truly understood the drive and goals behind this amazing organization.  3 Angels started this organization.  We'll call them Lolly, Reeve and CC.  They are professional golfers and they are Mormons.

Reeve (center) is from Zimbabwe and long story short, she became Lolly (left) and CC (right) golf coach.

"For The Strength Of You" conference in Zimbabwe 2013

• We're back and on track!
• So blessed to hear from young Elizabeth Garces talk about her experiences serving in an orphanage in Ecuador with the OSSO organization. (picture please!!)
• We completed 100 school kits and awesome Evan donated 100 more school kits for his eagle project!  Good work!

This is the "Origami Lady" and she taught our SWS Youth group how to make origami like a pro!

March 9, 2013 6 Year Anniversary!

What a project!  We made 100  kits and collected clothes to donate to Ghana, Africa!

7:45 a.m.  Set up
 

 

8:00 am Youth Group

This is how we started!

Sweet girl is an inspiration of service and love.  Good job!

We are ready to assemble!

Left kit:hygiene kit for Ghana. Middle kit: Ella kits for local hospital. Right kit: hospital kits for kids

Who's that handsome man?

Assembling Ella kits

These precious kits are named "Ella" kits. They are taken to hospitals for Mothers who have lost their babies too early

Thanks for coming!

January 12, 2013
Shelley Elementary collection

Shelley Elementary Service Club

Thank you!

Band-aid donations for our hygiene kits

Each classroom competed to

•  It is amazing what the Shelley Elementary Service club accomplished this year!  They collected....40,000 band-aids and 1100 boxes of crayons.  Thank you!!

• It's a new year and we have new aspirations and goals.  But before we move on, we talked about the things that we have accomplished this year.   In February 2012 we were able to hear from Wendy Bird from Pearl With a Purpose and we gave them 100 dresses, geckos and bracelets.  In March 2012, we worked with the Shelley  Elementary Student Council, under the direction of Mrs. Kukahiko to present a special "Alice in Serviceland" play for the students of Shelley Elementary.  This collection was so successful that enough supplies were donated to make over 400 hygiene kits!  In May 2012 we had our huge 5 year anniversary project which was a great success with 500 emergency kits created and we were honored to hear from Becky Douglas from Rising Star Outreach.  In September 2012, Daniel Hampton did his eagle project and organized the creation of 100 special hygiene kits for the Utah Food Bank.  In September 2012 we also donated 1,100 humanitarian kits, clothes, geckos, bracelets, ABC books, picture books and more to Zimbabwe.  In October 2012 we started collecting supplies for our upcoming Christmas project.  In December 2012, we assembled 60 kits kits, 20 Mom kits and 20 baby kits for our annual Christmas kit project.  These were donated to the Utah Food Bank, Indian Reservation, Crossroads homeless shelter and Hearts Knit Together.

December, 2012
Thanks to Linda Simmons from Hearts Knit Together for sharing her experiences and love to all of us!  At this time of year, it is wonderful to learn from people like Linda about how we can use our time and energy to bless people who need a lift and love.  

September 24, 2012

• Daniel earned his Eagle Scout award with SWS and organized an awesome project to assemble 100 special hygiene kits for the Utah Food Bank.   This was a great experience to see this young man who has been coming to SWS since he was a little boy, put together such a great kit complete with shampoo, lotion and toilet paper!  Never stop improving!

• The blessing of sharing with people around the world, people who are truly in need is joyful!  Take a look at some of these lovely people from Zimbabwe who have been helped by Eyes 4 Zimbabwe.  We donated 1,100 humanitarian kits and numerous other item donations to this organization.  Take a look at some of these pictures to see if anything looks familiar!!

Inside the hospital

Notice the newborn kit!

All these wonderful and beautiful women!

Newborn kits are so appreciated!

Adorable!

 June 2, 2012
We worked hard but had a relaxing project to try and recuperate after our huge anniversary project!

May 19, 2012

 All 3 branches from American Fork, Saratoga Springs and Pleasant Grove came together to work for 2 hours and be edified with the message of service.  200 people came and showed their desire to make a difference locally and world wide.  We made an astounding 500 kits that were given to the Utah Food Bank and Zimbabwe through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The children made dresses, geckos, fleece blankets, bracelets, quilts, blankets, picture books, ABC books and more!  Good work team and thank you for being the change in this world!

Arrive at the doors of Shelley Elementary

Registration for one of the 3 branches

Hall of pictures

Enter Service City!

Picture books are precious for school children all over the world!

Bead geckos make anyone smile!

Beautiful beads galore

Serving With a Smile!

ABC books help children to learn alphabet

even older kids enjoy coloring the books!

Serving With a flrbt

Pictures for local Retirement homes are always appreciated by our neighbors

Quiltting is no longer a lost art with these kids!

Our SWS kids can sew with the best

The goal was to make 500 emergency kits!  We made it! They included bandaids, small toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, washcloth, granola bar, chapstick

Geckos come in all styles

So fun to work alongside the Saratoga Springs and Pleasant Grove Branches!

 

Yes, our SWS boys are real men

Full house

 

This is the SS branch's specialty!

First time quiltting?  Great!

I absolutely love these dresses that Shauna and crew made for Pearls With A Purpose!

Getting the kits ready!

SWS Youth group shows Becky Douglas our cheer!

"SWS let me tell you what it means....."

Becky taught us about the compassion that drives all of our efforts and showed us pictures of the precious people in India and inspired us to keep giving all we can for love of others!  Thank you Becky!

MARCH 10, 2012
I don't have pics of this project but it was a great time because we started learning how to make dresses from girl shirts and fabric.  This will be an awesome way to improve our skills and service!  We also practiced the SWS Cheer.  You can see the lyrics for that on the home page


Serving With Smiles is so very grateful to local schools, Legacy Elementary and Shelley Elementary for their generous donations!  The Shelley Elementary Service Club was recently documented in the Daily Herald for March 21, 2012 paper.  Here are some pics from Barbara Christensen at the Daily Herald.  Shelley was amazing!  They put on a skit that I wrote called, "Alice in Serviceland" and did an amazing job!  The school of Shelley Elementary donated an astounding 4,000 items to SWS!  These items will assist us in making approximately 500 hygiene kits!  Thank you Shelley Elementary!

Shelley Elementary Service Club

Corinne and daughter Morgan.  Elizabeth and daughter Sharisse

Everyone that came to the project was so glad that they were in attendance to hear a special lady, Wendy Bird talk about the people that she helps in the Philippines and India.  Her organization "Pearls With A Purpose" is changing lives for many families in these areas and we are so happy to be a part of the answer.  We were very inspired to learn that not only does Wendy's organization help people, they give them the tools to become educated and earn a living.  Thank you Wendy!

JANUARY 21, 2012
It's a new year and we decided to ask the children of SWS their opinions about how they like the way SWS is run.  From the results of the questionnaire the concensus seems to be that the projects are too short, they love all the guest speakers (especially the "famous" ones) and trying some new table projects would be fun.  We're always trying to make things better and worthwhile so that everyone feels like they are using their time for good and productive uses.  Thanks to all the Serving With Smiles kids for your service and example!  You are an inspiration.



DECEMBER 3, 2011
In keeping witih SWS tradition, we assembled 50 girl and 50 boy kits for the Crossroads Homeless shelter in Salt Lake City, UT.  This is always a very special and fun project because although we usually give supplies to people far away, we remember that there are also people close to home who need a leg up.


NOVEMBER 12, 2011

All the Serving With Smiles participants were very inspired by the wise and gracious words or our dear friends.  They reminded us that regardless of size, age, money or power anyone can make a huge difference.  Last year when she heard about the horrible Tsunami in Japan, she wanted to help them.  She had $5 and a huge desire to make things happen.  With the help of her good family they raised enough money to assemble and donate 800 hygiene kits!  That is amazing!  Thanks for your example and courage!

OCTOBER 15, 2011

• We love it when soccer season comes to a close!  When soccer and other sports start to slow down, then SWS has more participants!  This morning was our first time starting the SWS youth before our normal 9:00 project.  It was very successful because the SWS youth got busy making blankets, quilts, preemie blankets, geckos and hat looms before the project even started!  So cool!  At the end of the project the SWS kids had completed 2 quilts, 4 preemie blankets, 4 school bags, 20 value bracelets, 15 bead geckos, 3 hat looms, 5 picture pages and 20 ABC books.  Whew!  THEN, for the grand finale, in 15 minutes flat they assembled, boxed and labeled 100 school kits!! 
• Thank you so much to all the SWS heroes who give their time, talents and genius to make these inspiring projects a success!.....now we just need to find a place to send all our stuff:)
• Some fun with Shelley Elementary Student Council and Legacy Elementary Service Council.  These hard workers made 50 ABC books for us.  Then we got to see the creators of the online sensation "Kid History" share their thoughts on service!  Too Fun!  Thanks to Mrs. Kukahiko for letting us help.

 

We feel really cool to be next to the Kid History actors!

SEPTEMBER 10, 2011

• This was our first SWS Youth project for older SWSers and we had fun sewing, talking, looming and laughing!

AUGUST 27,2011

• What a great way to start the new school year!  We all had a break for the summer and now we're ready to go!

APRIL 23, 2011

APRIL 7, 2011

• Shelley Elementary is wonderful!  This elementary school gathered enough hygiene kits supplies to help make enough hygiene kits for 2,000 people!!  Thanks Shelley!

MARCH 5, 2011

• Another success!  We were missing 4 directors so it was a little tricky, but of course people swooped in to help and everything went great.  Jessica and David received the SWS service award.  Great job guys!

 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
FEBRUARY 12, 2011

• Super fun!  I think we completed another 80 school kits! 
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• It's a new year!!  We completed 80 School kits and several other completed projects.  Our guest speakers were....ourselves.  Elizabeth & Corinne showed the children of SWS some of the highlights from 2010.  Let's take a look!  *January 23, 2010 was a project dedicated to helping the victims of the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti.  We supplemented the hygiene kits with peanut butter and water packets.  We also heard from our friends the Arringtons who adopted their 2 children from Haiti.  *May 12, 2010 was our very special 3 year annviersary project that we did with our Saratoga Springs compatriots.  We were honored to hear LDS vocal artist Jenny Phillips sing to us and tell about her experiences in Africa.  We also completed our 3,000th kit!!  *December 2010 was very rewarding when we received a thank you letter from the Crossroads homeless shelter in SLC telling us that every single child received a Christmas gift because of our work!!  So cool!

• Christmas project was another special treat because we have made it a tradition to supply Christmas kits to Salt Lake City homeless shelters.  Over the last 2 years we have donated our Christmas supplies to The Crossroads Shelter.  This year Serving With Smiles gave them kits complete with items specifically for girls, boys, moms, babies and men. We completed 50 boy kits, 50 girl kits, 20 mom kits, 50 dad kits, 13 blanket kits and 12 baby kits.  So awesome!!

Thanks so much to Dr. Paul Baird, local chiropractor and
humanitarian for sharing your wonderful pictures and
stories about the people in The Dominican Republic!





Young and old can make a difference!





Serving With Smiles!





It's a family thing!





Giggles are also allowed





Our youngest SWS super kid!





Our oldest SWS super hero!











Suzanne Rogers & Corinne Allen are soooo excited
about these beautiful blanket kits to be sent to
The Crossroads homeless shelter in SLC

NOVEMBER 20, 2010

• It was marvelous success with tons of enthusiasm!  We were honored to listen to LDS artist Liz Lemon Swindle tell about her work in Africa.  The children especially loved hearing about Kennedy, the little boy depicted in her famous picture of the Savior holding a small african boy.  Thanks Liz!  Thanks to the recent award recipients for their wonderful example and hard work.  You are awesome! Thanks also to the local primary class who donated money to SWS from their recent bake sale! 

• It was a new start after such a long break!  We were excited to reinstate our SWS excellence award to kids who have inspired us with their lives of service and kindness.  Way to go!

• AMAZING!  This was a project to be remembered!  First of all, we were so grateful to have the Saratoga Springs branch team up with us and be our guests.  Because there were so many people, we moved to a larger Stake building and were glad we did!  We normally hold our projects from 9 - 10 but decided to exted this project until 10:30, which in the end we were wrapping things up at 11!

• The project started out much the same as usual except we have about 8 more project tables available for the kids to choose from.  We enjoyed seeing some of the variations that the Saratoga Springs branch were doing at their projects.  Some of the exciting things that we did differently was the newborn kits and 3 quilt frames AND this was a lofty goal, but thanks to the amazing Suzanne and family and all the donations we received....we completed 300 humanitarian kits!!  We wanted to do 300 kits to declare our 3,000 kit completion at our 3 year anniversary project.  So awesome!!

• One of the highlights of the morning was the privelage of listening to Jenny Phillips, LDS vocal artist, talk to the kids about her testimony of service and the work her choir has done in South Africa.  She sang some very special songs that she wrote about her experiences while a slide show ran showing pics of all the wonderful children and leaders of SWS.  Thanks so much Jenny!

• What's a party without a raffle at the end?  We handed out prizes and special take home thank you's with a seed representing the seed each SWS child has planted in their hearts for service.  Saratoga Springs brought the most awesome looking (picture anyone??) cake with a SWS logo on top!  Wow!  What a great day!

• Thanks so much to Jen Paulson and her SWS Saratoga Springs branch for joining us for such a special day!  You guys are awesome!

 JANUARY 23, 2010 

• This project was very special because just 11 days before, the terrifying earthquake in Haiti struck and you can bet that we were on the job!  We weren't suprised, but very grateful for all the donations and outpouring of love that the SWS members and even non-members showed to help the people in Haiti

• Now it's time to talk about the events in Haiti.  We listened to Corinne talk about Haiti and why we are helping them, then my husband Joel who went to Haiti in March and served the Haitian people on his LDS mission told the kids about the conditions there and why it is so important to serve people who are desperate.  Then we listened to our friends Shelby and James Arrington introduce their 2 children whom they adopted from Haiti and how grateful they are for Serving With Smiles. 

•  Now it's time to put the hygiene kits together!  This time, because of special circumstances in Haiti, we knew that people were desperate for water and food so we added peanut butter and water packets to our hygiene kits.  We hope to do this more!

December 2007

This precious lady, Roseanne Gunther taught us on amazing lessons about using what we have; time, things, money, talents and give it to help others.  This beautiful quilt was a perfect example of this principle.  This quilt is a beautiful, bright quilt that was made from scraps that were about to be thrown away.  But her friend decided to use the scraps to make something marvelous!