8 minute read
One Smile at a Time
BY LAUREN FILIPPINI (ALPHA CHI, BUTLER UNIVERSITY), MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
In the pediatric cancer units of dozens of hospitals across the country, plastic buckets are providing much-needed joy. These buckets are filled with toys and treats appropriate for the age of their recipients – teething rings for babies, coloring books for preschoolers and fidget spinners for teenagers – along with gift cards to restaurants and gas stations around the hospitals for the parents of these childhood cancer patients.
These are Buckets of Smiles, the output of the nonprofit by the same name founded by Ella Kate Nichols (Epsilon Zeta, Auburn University) in 2017. Now in college, Ella Kate is continuing to expand her Buckets of Smiles organization to make an impact for even more children year after year.
FIRST STEPS
Cancer touched Ella Kate’s life early. Her uncle had passed away when he was 14, before Ella Kate was born, and she watched several friends throughout her childhood go through cancer treatments.
“After seeing all those different people in my life having to fight cancer and seeing what they’re having to go through, I started fundraising for childhood cancer research,” she says. She explains that when she learned that only 4% of the budget of the National Cancer Institute (the government agency for cancer research and education) goes toward pediatric cancer, she knew she needed to find ways to direct more money to this area.
“I’ve been fundraising for research since I was about 9 years old through a lot of different organizations, and then by the time I was 15, I decided that I wanted to make a direct impact on the lives of patients,” she says.
So Ella Kate created Buckets of Smiles to make a difference, starting in her local community of Andalusia, Alabama and then expanding to the rest of Alabama and nearby states. The organization’s mission is to bring a smile to the face of every child fighting cancer, advocate for children with cancer and their families, and fundraise for research for better treatments with fewer side effects and hopefully, one day, a cure.
The buckets themselves are a key part of Buckets of Smiles. With fundraised dollars, Ella Kate purchases hospital-approved activity items and comfort items to deliver to cancer patients in her signature buckets. While some hospitals have policies that require her to drop off labeled buckets with staff, at others, she’s able to hand buckets directly to patients.
Also in some of the buckets is a copy of the children’s book Ella Kate wrote and published this year, Happy Henry Hippo and the Sad, Sad Snake. The animal characters are learning to process their emotions and teaching their preschool-aged readers to do the same. Ella Kate says she hopes the book can be a resource for the kids while they’re in the hospital experiencing new and overwhelming feelings, and she’s glad she can provide this personal touch to her buckets.
Ella Kate has made dozens of deliveries in the five years since she founded Buckets of Smiles, but one of her first still sticks with her. She remembers handing a bucket to a young cancer patient and watching him dump out the contents on his bed. “He looked at me and said, ‘This is everything I’ve ever wanted,’” Ella Kate recalls. “That is what made me realize that’s why I do what I do. He really left an impact on me, and that’s a memory I will always keep with me.”
MAKING IT OFFICIAL
Dreaming big, Ella Kate knew she wanted to expand Buckets of Smiles beyond her community. One important step of that was making the organization into a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
“I wanted to make it an official nonprofit so that, honestly, people would take me a bit more seriously, in addition to getting more of a response from my community,” she explains. After filing paperwork with the IRS, Buckets of Smiles received official 501(c)(3) status, which allows her to provide tax-deductibility to donors, particularly businesses.
“There are so many businesses and people within my community that are eager to get involved,” she shares, pointing out that even in her small Alabama county, more than 20 kids have been diagnosed with cancer in the last 20 years. The passion to help is strong, and she’s seen tremendous support from her community.
For example, each year Buckets of Smiles holds a team-roping fundraiser, a rodeo-style event where two people on horseback try to rope a calf faster than the other teams. Money from this community fundraiser goes toward purchasing items for the buckets, to organizations that research pediatric cancer and – new this year – toward a college scholarship for a childhood cancer survivor.
“This was the first year we were able to do that,” Ella Kate says of the addition of a Buckets of Smiles scholarship, “and I’m excited to do it again next year.”
CONTINUING TO GROW
Another benefit of being an officially recognized nonprofit is the ability to extend the organization’s reach beyond Alabama and bring in volunteers to make an impact in communities nationwide. Buckets of Smiles Ambassadors across the country host donation drives, fundraise and deliver buckets to pediatric cancer patients in their area. Currently, there are Ambassadors in 21 states and Washington, D.C., and Ella Kate’s goal is to expand to all 50 states!
“It’s really simple and really fun,” Ella Kate says of getting involved as a Buckets of Smiles Ambassador. She asks each Ambassador to fundraise for and deliver at least 10 buckets to patients, but she also points out that there are even smaller ways to get involved, such as donating via the Buckets of Smiles website, that make a profound difference. She shares, “People can make an impact on their own local communities.”
Community support is an important part of Buckets of Smiles, and one community that continues to show up is the Epsilon Zeta chapter of Alpha Chi Omega.
“I could sing praises about Alpha Chi all day long, but with Buckets of Smiles in particular, any time that I let them know that I’m doing anything, they’re just right there … wanting to be right behind me,” Ella Kate says. She adds that her chapter sisters are always asking, “How can I help you? How can I support you in this? How can I make sure that everybody knows the incredible things that you’re able to do with your organization?”
Support has also come from the state of Alabama; this year, Governor Kay Ivey signed an official proclamation declaring April 17 as “Buckets of Smiles Day.” Not only does the proclamation recognize the work of the organization, the day itself provides awareness, with April as the fourth month representing the 4% allocated for pediatric cancer spending and the 17th day representing the 17,000 kids who are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. each year.
“I was just so humbled and so excited to be able to have a day like that to really commemorate all that Buckets of Smiles has done,” Ella Kate says. “It really makes me reflect and see how far I’ve come.”
In managing her nonprofit on top of college courses, Alpha Chi and other extracurriculars, Ella Kate says her biggest lesson has been remembering her “why.”
“There are a lot of times that it does get hard because it’s so much bigger than yourself, and it does take a lot of time and effort to be able to do all the things that go into it, but what’s important is to keep your ‘why’ at the forefront of everything you do,” she says.
Ella Kate has seen this same lesson play out for herself and her Alpha Chi Omega sisters in their philanthropic work with domestic violence awareness.
“There are so many more people that are affected by domestic violence than we realize, and I feel like that kind of goes the same with childhood cancer,” she says. Being involved in the Epsilon Zeta chapter’s philanthropic efforts, Ella Kate has learned about different ways to fundraise and how to draw in new supporters for a cause – takeaways she has brought back to her Buckets of Smiles work.
She’s also continuing to learn from her classes as she pursues a career as a child life specialist, along with a minor in philanthropy and nonprofit studies. As she has delivered buckets, she has seen the impact of child life specialists in helping patients and parents navigate their treatment and hospital stays, and she is hopeful to increase the impact of Buckets of Smiles by doing this work after graduation.
Ella Kate sees the limitless potential of Buckets of Smiles, and her goal is simple: “to keep it going for as long as I possibly can.”
Learn more at bucketsofsmiles.org.
