By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



Two Gardendale elementary schools have smiles for sale.

The smiles are in the form of smiley-face buttons that can be purchased to help the Just Keep Smiling Foundation.

Foundation member Patrice Brooks said the two schools have raised more than $400 so far for the foundation which provides assistance to families with critically ill children.

The bright yellow “Give a Smile” buttons can be obtained through a $1 donation.

“We were brainstorming one day and I just thought, ‘What if you bought a smile?’” Brooks said. “We were looking for a way to continue fund-raising.”

Brooks, whose son Trey has muscular dystrophy, said the idea is similar to the shamrocks that many businesses sell to support the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

The school involvement happened after Snow Rogers Principal Karen White invited foundation members to speak at the school late last month as part of their “Be a Hero” program.

“We talked to them about small ways and big ways to be a hero to somebody,” Brooks said. “We started taking the smiles up there and they’re still selling them.”

The “Buy a Smile” campaign was then picked up by Kimberly Spires, a fourth-grader at Gardendale Elementary School.

Brooks said Spires spread the word to her classmates by appearing on the school’s morning television program.

“Kimberly asked me about the program and has always been interested in Just Keep Smiling,” she said. “She asked me if she could help and she talked to the principal.”

Local businesses Jim ‘N’ Nick’s and Studio One Twelve also have the buttons available for a donation.

The foundation has designated the use of the “Buy a Smile” proceeds for a project near and dear to their hearts. The money will be used to furnish a home in Forestdale that will allow critically ill children on a transplant waiting list and their families a place to stay.

The home was a parsonage for the Hillview Church of Christ and was given to the foundation about three weeks ago.

“It was a dream of ours to always have a house,” Brooks said. “We’ve taken the funds from this campaign and helped to furnish it with linens, towels and pantry items.”

She said the cardiac nurses at UAB Hospital also pitched in and gave a shower for the foundation to help furnish the house.

One of the first residents of the house is a child on the heart transplant list. Patients have to be within a certain distance of the hospital where the transplant will take place in order to stay on the list.

Because the child lived in Mobile, he was taken off the list. However, access to the Just Keep Smiling House allowed him to be placed back on the list, Brooks said.

“After this family moves on, another family will be able to use the house,” she said. “There are a lot of families that come in and if they’re having transplants, they need a longer term location.”

She said the foundation is grateful to the schools and businesses that have helped with the “Buy a Smile” campaign.

“We just appreciate the community support,” she said. “They don’t know how huge it is for these families.”

For more information about Just Keep Smiling, visit www.justkeepsmiling.org.