Background Information

One of Sara's friends was Scott, a plush distributor. Dan and I came across Scott at a local bookstore buying Father's Day cards. This is shortly following Sara's death. I explained to Scott that I wanted to create a Sare BearŽ because that was what we always called our Sara. My wonderful husband attempting to comfort me tried to persuade me against it. I was persistent, however. You see, God had placed a tiny little dream in my heart to put a Sare BearŽ in the arm of every grieving mommy before she leaves the hospital. My dream was so tiny and so fragile that I dared not share it for fear it would get crushed so I had not explained this to Dan or Scott. Scott suggested we get together in the fall after he went to several markets. In September I arrived at his office with 15 bears, each with a different attribute I wanted on the Sare Bear.Ž

Scott measured and took notes as I explained the foot size, thumb feature, head size, etc. I was trying to create the most cuddly bear that would fit a woman's hands. I knew the style and size was very important. My desire was to create the most precious bear possible because this would be the only bear that mommy's child never held. It wasn't until several months later when Scott brought the first prototype to my office and I fell in love with the golden little fellow that I gladly explained my plan to my family and to Scott.

During the process of setting up a non-profit company I met with accountants, corporate attorneys, trade mark attorneys, etc. My accountant requested a Sare BearŽ because his dad was dying. My attorney was dying of cancer and requested a Sare BearŽ for his family. As you know, my heart is for the mommies and it never occurred to me that grown men would desire a Sare BearŽ. That's when I discovered how universally comforting our Sare BearŽ can be.

Each hospital has a different group of people involved in the decision making process for their grieving programs. Possible people involved include President of the Auxiliary, Vice President of Patient Services, Director of Nursing, OB Director, ED Director, Peds Director, NICU Director, ICU Director, Chaplain, Social Services Department. Any combination of the above is welcome to a meeting you may schedule. Often times I have one meeting for the nursing and one meeting for the auxiliary. After I present our Sare BearŽ with our intentions of comforting those that need comfort then each hospital develops their own program to best fit their facility.

I share our brochure and email letter that tells our story with each person I meet. I also explain the parts of the Sare BearŽ showing the foot that is hand sized, the hand has a thumb and the back of the head is the same size as my hand. I also explain that the Sare BearŽ has a little butt and it sits nicely on my arm. I share the Sare BearŽ with everyone in the room so they can feel how soft and cuddly they are. Each Sare BearŽ has a condolences card attached that has a portrait of magnolias on the front painted by an artist in Parker, AZ on the reservation and the inside of the card says, "May the God of all Comfort hold you." Because the card does not actually refer to loss it can be used for any necessary comfort situation. There is a space at the bottom of the card so the hospitals can personalize them.

Grieving mommies exist in Labor and Delivery, Nursery, Emergency, Peds, NICU, ICU. Often in times of crisis the family builds a fast bond with the nurse caring for their loved one. After a child passes away the nurse necessarily must interrupt the grieving process to give the parents their child's belongings and go over the very important papers the family must sign regarding disposition of the body. This process is very difficult for the nurses as well. We have received feed back from hospitals that offering the parent a Sare BearŽ is very helpful for the nurse, too.

We hope that hospital gift shops will consider retailing some of the Sare BearŽs to offset their costs of giving them away to the grieving. We are receiving requests for Sare BearŽs from individuals and our desire is to direct someone who calls to their local hospital gift shop to purchase a Sare BearŽ for their loved one and in this way support their local hospital. This is good for Sara's Smile, Inc. and good for the hospital.

The reason we suggest working with hospital auxiliaries is because they are also non-profit. Hospitals can be for profit or not for profit, but all hospital auxiliaries are not for profit. We wrote up our paperwork with the IRS that we would whole sale the bears to the hospitals. We realize that hospitals have many funding sources for the Sare BearŽ program and that is up to each hospital.

Many hospitals have an established program for grieving parents for the Labor and Delivery Department. Often times they offer a memory box, professional photos of their infant, a layette for the burial, etc. These are all wonderful and very helpful to the grieving family. We don't wish to detract from their established programs at all. We do wish to address the mommy's "aching arms". We believe the Sare BearŽ fulfills that need by putting something nice in mom's arms. I have not located any established grieving program in the other departments so we are hopeful the Sare BearŽ program can be used in these other departments as well where we know grieving parents exist. Walking out those hospital doors leaving your beloved child behind is incredibly difficult. My hope is that putting a Sare BearŽ in mom's arms will help if only a little.

We have been asked by some of the hospitals if those needing comfort after mastectomy, amputation, chemotherapy, etc. can be given a Sare BearŽ. These are wonderful ideas and we're thrilled the hospitals are comforting all those that hurt in this way. One hospital also gives them to the mom's that relinquish their babies for adoption. We are hopeful someday to make a Sare BearŽ available to those recovering from post-abortion syndrome as well.

Financial Information

Let me address issues regarding profits for Sara's Smile, Inc. To date we are still a very young company. We wish we could provide all the Sare Bears for free but we do not have that kind of funding so we must wholesale the bears. We wholesale them to the hospitals and funeral homes and other facilities that care for grieving mommies for a requested donation of $8 each . There are no minimums to order, and we have the bears prepackaged in units of 12. We ship via UPS ground, net 30 days on approved credit. We give 10% of all gross income to other ministries for God. We are hopeful to some day be profitable, at which time 80% of our profits are earmarked for the American Lung Association because it was our Sara's lungs that died. We've learned that seven more have died in our state with a similar viral infection that has not yet been identified. We're confident it will be identified and controlled in the future and we would like to be able to contribute to that cause. You can imagine how dear that is to the hearts of those in our family.

I really appreciate your willingness to be an ambassador for Sara's Smile, Inc. I hope the above information is helpful. Feel free to call me at any time if you have further questions. Our local phone number is (623) 374-6420 or toll free (877) 873-SARA. Our fax number is (623) 374-6420.

Thank you,