Sydney Elaine’s Smile, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, grew out of Shelley Campbell’s desire to help others going through grief. The initiative creates beautiful handmade prayer cards for those experiencing a loss or going through a traumatic situation. Its mission follows the wish of the Campbell family to leave people better than when they found them. It also has the goal of steering individuals to a path of improved mental health.
Sydney Elaine Campbell had just graduated from Carmel High School a year before, when she was tragically killed in December 2011. She and her boyfriend were walking across a street when she was hit by a car driven by a woman who was texting. The worst thing that can happen to any parent is the loss of a child, and for Sydney’s mother, Shelley Campbell, the pain was indescribable.
“I wanted to end my life,” she says. “I knew God didn’t cause the accident and I had to keep going forward. It’s not about me; the lord gets to use us. Nine months after Sydney died my brother-in-law passed on, and then a few years later my 53-year-old sister, Jan Ann Struck, who I leaned on so much, suddenly died. It was a lot to deal with in the span of a few years.”
“I didn’t start Sydney Elaine’s Smile until almost five years after she passed on,” Campbell adds. “It took me a long time to get my head around what had happened. During those years I got phone calls from other parents who had lost a child, wishing to talk about how they could get through their grief. I remembered that about six weeks or so after Sydney died, a pastor from my church gave me a prayer card that spoke to my heart. I got the idea to start a ministry making prayer cards and sending them out. My daughters, Shea and Mia Campbell, are also involved.”
A prayer card is a booklet of seven individual cards, one for every day of the week. There is a Bible verse for every day. “The ones for women tend to have more flowers and the men’s ones are more masculine,” Campbell says. “I pray for inspiration as to what verses to use, and sometimes google to get ideas that would help for different situations. Looking at a Bible verse each day gets it deep in your soul and it becomes innate.”
Campbell hopes to expand the number of people who could be helped by receiving a prayer card. Recently, with the help of more than a dozen members of her church, Campbell was able to give 175 cards to first responders in Morgan County. Prayer cards were also given to members of the Bible club at Martinsville High School.
“Mental health is a big issue right now,” Campbell says. “I am big on Christian counseling. Many kids feel that they are not loved and they don’t belong. I would love to have a locker in the high school where kids who are hurt and suffering could go and get a prayer card. You must have hope to go forward.”
Campbell owns Campbell Healthcare Consulting, a business that helps people navigate Medicare upon turning 65 and the years following. Each year health care plans and options change, and she reviews the choices with individual clients and employers who pick plans for their employees. She has plans for Sydney Elaine’s Smile when she leaves the industry.
“When I stop working full time, I would like to mass produce the cards and place them in funeral homes for directors to give out if they are led to do so,” she says. “I am also working on a 365-day coffee table book that I hope to publish by the end of the year. I might not get to water it or see it grow, but I can plant seeds for people who need help.”
“Sydney was a good kid,” Campbell says. “She played five instruments and was in marching band. I’m sad she didn’t get a chance to grow up, but I honor her memory by helping people who are suffering.”
Donations can be sent to: 3058 Bay Berry Court East, Carmel, IN 46033.
