We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katie Haynes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katie below.

Katie , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Our founder’s name is Katie Haynes, She is 24 years old and is from Youngsville, North
Carolina. She is a NC native and loves every bit of what this wonderful state has to offer. The
founder is a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University. She went to school to become a
professional photographer and hopes to go on and work for Disney World or NASCAR.
She has many chronic illnesses that include AGG, Gastroparesis, MCAS CRPS, and many
more. It has always been a big mission her whole life, even before getting sick, to make an
impact on people’s lives. She is making this mission come alive by doing toy drives, care
packages, and awareness videos, and plans for more in the future as the non-profit grows.
Making an impact on other’s lives is what she loves to do and believes that this mission will
continue to grow. Our care packages are for individuals with chronic illness and special needs
from birth to 26.

Katie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Making an impact on others lives is what she loves to do and I believe that this mission will
continue to grow and continue to help many others in the future! Smiling While Sending Hope
creates care packages for individuals with chronic illness and special needs from birth to 26. In 2023,
we started offering caregiver and family outings throughout the year in hopes of providing a safe space
for everyone to gather and feel a sense of connection.
We love being able to bring joy to kids’ and teens’ faces while making them feel at ease while they face
big obstacles in their lives whether that be during chemotherapy treatment, a transplant surgery, or some
other health challenges. We have done all of these types of things for about 11 years now and enjoy
giving back.
Each and every person we get to meet has a story to tell and we are blessed to be able to
provide a smile and experience. Our long-term goal is to grow and make what we do bigger
each year. We find people’s stories that speak to us and try and meet with as many people as
possible.
In December 2015, we launched a project where we send smile packages and masks to people
fighting chronic illness. We also created a Facebook and Instagram page to help grow our
project in January of 2017 it became Smiling While Sending Hope.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

She has many chronic illnesses that include AGG, Gastroparesis, MCAS CRPS, and many
more. It has always been a big mission her whole life, even before getting sick, to make an
impact on people’s lives. She is making this mission come alive by doing toy drives, care
packages, and awareness videos, and plans for more in the future as the non-profit grows.
Making an impact on other’s lives is what she loves to do and believes that this mission will
continue to grow. Our care packages are for individuals with chronic illness and special needs
from birth to 26.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

In December 2015, we launched a project where we send smile packages and masks to people
fighting chronic illness. We also created a Facebook and Instagram page to help grow our
project in January of 2017 it became Smiling While Sending Hope.
In August of 2018, we started sending sensory packages as well, for people with special needs.
Our founder was honored in 2019 as the Me Fine Foundation “Hero For Life” recipient. Each
and every person we get to meet has a story to tell and we are blessed to be able to provide a
smile and experience.
In 2023 we created events to help create a growing need in the special needs/chronic illness
community. We host these private events 1-2 times a month in the Raleigh area. We also host a
few events in the triad, eastern, NC, and greater Charlotte area.

Statistics:
-2022/2023 Care Packages: 450
-Annual Christmas Toys/Food Drive: 2,500 Items Collected
-Toys/Food: 1 Moving Truck and a 6×12 Utility Trailer Full
-Private Events: 50-100 people in attendance
-6 News Interviews (Newspaper, magazine, Local News)
-6 Hospital Visits/RMH Donation Drop-Offs
-Multiple New Partnerships

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smilingwhilesendinghope/?igsh=MW4xcHd4c3ljY3MwcQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmilingWhileSendingHope
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY2-EcXUQQG0SPtcpscoRLQ

Image Credits

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