September 2018

30/09/2018 1 By Smile For ME

Smiles

We sent 12 Smiles this month taking our new overall total to 632 smiles. Items included flowers, books, bookmarks, blankets, candles, socks, make up and a cinema voucher. All lovingly wrapped in our signature blue and white spotty wrapping paper and decorated with ribbon to make it extra special.

We love seeing pictures of you receiving your smile presents! If you have any pictures we would love to see them please tag or send them to us (we can’t see tags and mentions on social media from private profiles)

Updates

You might remember a few years ago we sold various Smile For ME Christmas cards which were designed, photographed and chosen by you. We have a few packs left so we decided to put them back on sale to raise extra money for Smile. They are available in packs of 10 for £3.50. We have two designs left, a snowy pack containing 5 deer and 5 owl or a pack of 10 Jesus Light of the World cards. Buy HERE.

 

Smile of the month

This month’s smile came from you. I asked on our social media what made you smile recently and these are some of the responses.

Shop of the month

This month’s shop of the month is Evie’s Handmade Gifts by Lucy. She sells various handmade crochet toys from bears to dinosaurs, giraffes to elephants, as well as personalised non toxic crayons. Here’s more about Lucy and her shop in her own words.  Hi all

My name’s Lucy and I recently set up a business called Evie’s Handmade Gifts.

I was diagnosed with ME when I was 15, along with fibromyalgia, although I had symptoms from 12 years of age.

I left school and went to sixth form and whilst my attendance remained below 50% I achieved AAB at A level and secured a place at The University of Nottingham to study Finance Accounting and Management. Unfortunately my health continued to deteriorate and I had to leave and return home.

I have tried many different jobs ranging from shop work, office work and waitressing, but they all put too my stress on my body leading to 6+ week flares and having to leave.

I was lucky enough to have had beautiful daughter 15 months ago, which although has tested the limits of my pain and fatigue, it truly is a dream come true. I have been crocheting for a couple of years to help combat depression. In August I made my daughter a bear and posted it on Facebook. Many people loved it and wanted to order and within a week of setting up my Facebook page I had received 11 orders for crocheted toys from bears to dinosaurs, giraffes to elephants!

I CE test my bears and only use materials that have relevant safety certificates. I also make personalised non toxic crayons ranging from names to Christmas crayons, dinosaurs and emojis with many more in the pipeline.

Some days I can’t do much if any crocheting, but as I run my own business it means I don’t have to work 9-5 every day and can still enjoy time reading to and playing with my little girl.

I would love it if you could pop along and give my page Evie’s Handmade Gifts a like and share, and am offering all Smile For ME readers a 10% discount if you quote Smile For ME when ordering ?

Thank you Lucy for my Smile For ME blue teddy!

Many M.E sufferers aren’t able to work due to their health but some people run online shops from their home/bed so we would love to be able to help support M.E sufferers business in a small way by shining a light on their shop. If you have a online shop you can recommend to us, run by an M.E suffer or carer please email us at smileformecharity@gmail.com with the information and it may be used in a following month.

Thank you’s

  • A big thank you to Katie for running the Truro Half Marathon on your 40th Birthday. Really appreciate your kindness and hard work. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday. You can donate to Katie’s fundraising page here.
  • Thank you to everyone involved in the In her name Lucie fundraiser including Sam and Ray from Warrington Mortgage Centre who ran the English Half Marathon. A big well done and thank you. 
  • Thank you to everyone who has donated money to us. We can’t thank you enough for helping us continue to send smile presents. Your support really does means a lot 🙂

Smile For ME

xx