Savannah Smiles

In preparing for our quarterly board meeting this weekend, I know I wanted to have them watch this beautiful video we had done back in 2022 highlighting the only fundraiser we do for the year.

In "copying and pasting" it gave me the option to place it here on FB so I thought I'd take the opportunity to plant the seed.
We've helped 156 families already this year with over $87,000 in funeral expenses. June alone, there were 40 children who left this earth for Heaven, and we ser e a very small portion on the state. It's an unbelievable number!

It's a sad number.

That's 156 families carrying a tremendous burden of grieving the loss of their child. A large percentage of those deaths are stillborn, sweet babies who will only know the comfort of their mother's womb and now the glory of their Savior.
Thank you to those who play in our tournament!

Thank you to those who do hole sponsorships and donate food and donate prizes and thank you to our volunteers who do the heavy lifting that day with Jody and me. We are usually pretty tired by the time we get to the actual day with so much preparation.
I'd like to plant a seed for you to consider doing something in honor of or in memory of someone you love.

Consider a hole sponsorship for the event. It's only $200 to place a sign, designed appropriately for you or our business.

Registration will open at the beginning of September, the tournament date is Thursday, November 7 @ Beau Chene Country Club in Covington La.

Mosty, I ask for your prayers! I was blessed today by a call I received from a pastor in New Orleans. He called to see if we could help one of his members in the loss of their 1-day old baby. We talked for a moment, and I introduced myself as Savannah's mom and he just encouraged me. He prayed with me, and I felt the Lord had sent him because I needed the reassurance that though this is a hard assignment, it's the right one and I was chose for it. And I'm not alone!

Savannah Smiles 2022 Golf Tournament A fun, purposeful day, raising money to help local grieving families.

In preparing for our quarterly board meeting this weekend, I know I wanted to have them watch this beautiful video we had done back in 2022 highlighting the only fundraiser we do for the year.

In "copying and pasting" it gave me the option to place it here on FB so I thought I'd take the opportunity to plant the seed.

We've helped 156 families already this year with over $87,000 in funeral expenses. June alone, there were 40 children who left this earth for Heaven, and we ser e a very small portion on the state. It's an unbelievable number!

It's a sad number. That's 156 families carrying a tremendous burden of grieving the loss of their child. A large percentage of those deaths are stillborn, sweet babies who will only know the comfort of their mother's womb and now the glory of their Savior.

Thank you to those who play in our tournament! Thank you to those who do hole sponsorships and donate food and donate prizes and thank you to our volunteers who do the heavy lifting that day with Jody and me. We are usually pretty tired by the time we get to the actual day with so much preparation.

I'd like to plant a seed for you to consider doing something in honor of or in memory of someone you love. Consider a hole sponsorship for the event. It's only $200 to place a sign, designed appropriately for you or our business.

Registration will open at the beginning of September, the tournament date is Thursday, November 7 @ Beau Chene Country Club in Covington La.

Mosty, I ask for your prayers! I was blessed today by a call I received from a pastor in New Orleans. He called to see if we could help one of his members in the loss of their 1-day old baby. We talked for a moment, and I introduced myself as Savannah's mom and he just encouraged me. He prayed with me, and I felt the Lord had sent him because I needed the reassurance that though this is a hard assignment, it's the right one and I was chose for it. And I'm not alone!

Send a message to learn more

I wanted to express a huge "Thank you" to Benji Fielding and the staff of E.J. Fielding Funeral Home & Cremation services as well as Pinecrest Memorial Gardens & Crematory.

This donation was a one of many they've committed to Savannah Smiles through a very unique way of fundraising.

I had the privilege of having lunch with them about 2 months ago at Benji's request where we discovered our values are very similar and the desire to care for grieving families well, is most important to both of us.

♥️This staff loves this community.

I can see in Benji, compassion, humility and a desire to want to serve this community better than they already do. (We actually took two pictures, one with the check and one without because he didn't want to seem too businesslike, I'm choosing to post the one with the check because I'm so very grateful for the unsolicited funding ♥️)

He has ideas and I can see him being very thoughtful about the future of the funeral home and how he can steward well, the leadership he's been given.

I'm excited about the partnership with Fielding FH and am looking forward to sharing more with you in the future.

-Jen

Executive Director
Savannah Smiles
and Savannah's mom🦋

(Parker and Gracie came with me today ♥️) I love that Savannah's sisters and now nieces, are a part of this ministry!

I come to you in this post as a fellow grieving parent.

Savannah Smiles is a ministry that I am still on the front line of.
I do have help, my precious sister in Christ, Julie, who ministers to families in a different part of the area we serve, but I still take calls from grieving families myself.

The load is still heavy and the burden is great but my God is so strong and mighty and goes before me and continues to give the strength for the heavy lifting.

Mother's Day, a bittersweet day for so many.

I called my mom this morning completely aware that many of my friends wish they could call their moms but they've left this earth already.

I had lunch with my girls and my mom, we laughed and then shopped and then spent the day together.

I know someone is missing from the conversation but I didn't go Into today thinking about being sad.

Savannah has been enjoying the splendor of Heaven for 17 years now. She's completely satisfied and whole and full of joy and peace and contentment, worshiping (along with my mom's mom) Jesus. What could be better!!??

This is where I was ambushed. This afternoon, in looking for a bathing suit for my granddaughter, my daughter grabbed one of Savannah's old ones. (Yes I still have some of her things, recently washed and ready for my granddaughters to wear if they want to)

Well the elastic is dry rot, of course it is, so I told Lily we'd find another and I just needed to throw that one away.

Tonight, I was picking up after everyone left and I went to do just that and I just couldn't.

I just couldn't! It's been 17 years, my heart is healed, I'm joyful again but I was ambushed by grief. I just cried and folded it up and put it in my top drawer.

And that's ok.

That's what I want you to know.

I'm not stuck, I'll be fine in the morning. I'll wake up and function normally but tonight....for just a moment...I'm sad.

I love her still and a good cry is very healing♥️

It's like ripping the bandaid off and bleeding a little but each time the gash that was your heart, has healed more.

I love my life, I'm thankful to the Lord for His love for me.

I have edited this message to keep the family's Identity private but wanted to share, again, the impact you have with your gifts to Savannah Smiles.

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

" I don't know how to find the words great enough to say Thank you... it never seems to be enough in this situation. The loss of my grandson, was beyond devastating. Immediately followed by the fear of losing our daughter after bleeding so much during birth. We're blessed with amazing friends and family to stand in and take over the role of emotional and physical support whenever we can.
..Your organization has made the closing out of this mourning process just a little bit easier by removing the financial needs from it. I tell you the house has been filled with tears for a couple of weeks now, but today it's a combination of blessed smiles and tears. Thank you is just never enough... I wish all involved with your organization, peace and grace... strength and courage... and the will power to withstand all that presents itself in your path.
..from the bottom of my heart. Thank you dearly."♥️♥️♥️

So I echo his remark, from the bottom of my heart,Thank you!

- Jen
Ex Director and Savannah's mom🦋

We wanted to highlight and give a Big THANK YOU to Adam Bowen and Donald Mendoza of LEGACY BUICK GMC here in Slidell, for continuing to give to Savannah Smiles and this community.

We've never asked, yet each year for the past few, they've reached out wanting to support the difficult work that we do.

I told them that their gift helped 5 families last year and this one will too♥️🦋

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

I'm so very grateful to live in a place whose business men and women are so very generous and truly love their neighbors.

Thank you again Adam!

Giving the gift of time...priceless!🦋.The couple learned during Holly’s 20th week of pregnancy that Fred had a degenerative disorder called Trisomy 13, or Patau’s syndrome, and might not survive long after delivery.

"We weren’t sure how long we would have, so we wanted to make the most of every second,” Holly Parker said. “He was wonderful, the light of our lives. It was the greatest experience for us to have him, hold him and love him.”.after suffering from multiple miscarriages, she knew about a "cooling unit" and wanted one available for Fred, her first baby carried to term.

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To help make the donation possible, the Parkers and Jeffries reached out to the Saul’s Light organization, which supports Louisiana bereaved families after stillborn and other infant loss. Saul’s Light enlisted the help of the Slidell-based Savannah Smiles organization.

Machine gives the gift of time to grieving parents Baby Fred Jeffries Parker was born Jan. 13 last year to Mandeville parents Holly and Robert Parker. The little one lived only 37 hours, but thanks to a cooling device

Thank you to the 5 new friends who have set up their accounts to join Savannah Smiles in supporting what we do financially.

You know who you are and I appreciate it!

-Jen

To protect this family's privacy, I removed names and locations, but I wanted to share just one of the hundreds of requests we received this year. This is what they look like:

🦋🦋🦋
"Hello, my name is _____. I went into early labor yesterday morning and gave birth to my son, but he was stillborn. I was told by the hospital that I can’t just take him home and bury him and I can’t let the hospital cremate him and take his ashes. It tears me up to not be able to have some piece of my baby to have with me forever. I was referred to Savannah Smiles by multiple people, including the hospital and ___ funeral home. I really need help because I can’t afford the services on my own. Please contact me as soon as possible please, I really would appreciate any help you can provide."
🦋🦋🦋

I spoke to this mom, called the funeral home because she couldn't handle leaving him at the hospital when she was being discharged. It's things like this you don't think about. To hear her voice cracking on the phone completely broken...

Of course, we are helping!! I continue to have the privilege of helping because of the continued support from others.

I have a very specific request; We have several people who give monthly to support Savannah Smiles which allows us to respond to mommas like this with Hope, not just financial but eternal.

I always speak from a place of understanding, I cry with them sometimes, I pray with them if they'll allow me to and I send resources to them to help them navigate this terrible new road.

So here is the request, I am looking for more people to consider committing to giving monthly to Savannah Smiles, any amount you feel is the gift you'd like to give towards helping hurting families like this one.

Personally, I'm convicted, I waste so much money with monthly subscriptions!! I'm doing a reset, looking at our budget as well to trim some fat and focus more on giving towards eternal things that matter.

I've never really asked like this before, and I know God will continue to provide for us and if and when He quits, I'll know we've done what we were assigned but for now, all I see is green lights to continue to meet people in the darkest place of their lives to offer the Light of comfort and Hope that we had in our journey.

-Jen
Savannah's Momma 🦋

Savannah Smiles | We are a non-profit organization founded to help families with final expenses of their children as well as emotional support for those grieving families. HELPING HURTING FAMILIESOn December 10, 2006, our family and our lives were changed forever. At nine years old, God saw fit to call home our precious daughter Savannah. Through this most awful time, the response to her death from our friends and family was tremendous. We were loved physically, emoti...

Three weeks ago, I had the privilege of being at the "ribbon cutting" for a cuddle cot at St. Tammany hospital. Savannah Smiles partnered with Saul's Light and the family of and in memory of baby Fred to donate this special cooling bed for babies born still.

It gives the families more time to be with their baby after the unthinkable.

Once again, it's an assignment and a piece of equipment I never want the hospital to need, however, I know they will.

Time with your child who has passed, either this way or before they turn off life giving machines like in our case, is priceless! ♥️

Thank you to those who keep giving to Savannah Smiles. This is the impact you make 🦋😊🙏🏻

Check out my list on Amazon

Wanted to share an opportunity to support the upcoming golf tournament if you don't play golf.

We are looking for donations of prizes for our participants 🎉

I have put together a "wish" list of ideas from indicidual door prizes to our big ticket SPECIAL door prizes.

If you wanted to get together with family or friends and go in on the bigger items, that's an idea 😊

If you own a business, provide a service you'd like to donate or something on this list sparks an idea, please feel free to reach out via PM and I'll send you the contact info.

We truly look forward to another beautiful day full of friends, food and fun honoring the sweet lives that have been touched by Savannah Smiles 🦋

If you are a family that we have served, please leave your name and your child's name in the comments. I'd love to share them with our golfers at the dinner after the tournament ♥️

Check out my list on Amazon

https://youtu.be/uIVrl5zlio8
We recorded this video last year as part of creating resources to help other families.

Kayla, Grace and Maddie share what it was like to be a grieving family, what their grief looked like based on the ages they were and their relationship with Savannah and how everything changed in a moment.

It's meant to be a resource to share. Some of you have lost a sibling and now you're an adult and can relate to what the girls are sharing.

Some of you are the parent of a child who has passed and are trying to navigate your own grief and still care for your children who miss their sibling.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thank You to Harrison Fredericks, Savannah's childhood friend who has his own media business now but also experienced her death at only 9 years old. You, once again, captured exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for being so flexible and patient in bringing my vision to life.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
And thank you to my girls who willingly shared their heart, which I know wasn't easy. May your grief journey also help others, I love you all very much!! -Mom

Sibling Grief from their perspective It is said that children are sometimes the "forgotten" grievers when a family member dies. Kayla, Grace and Maddie lost their sister in 2006. Here they shar...

It's also Infant loss and awareness month.

You are not alone♥️🦋

If you are in this community, first of all, this is a group no one wants to join.

Second, I love to say Savannah's name and to talk about her.

Say their name 🦋

If you're willing, please just share their name with us and if you'd like, tell us how we can pray for you♥️

I told God a long time ago, "I'll keep running Savannah Smiles until the money runs out." Maybe that was disrespectful of me to say, I'd like to think He smiled and said, "Oh, is that all you need? money? Well seeing that I made everything out of nothing, and all the resources of the universe are in my hands, you will be just fine."

Meet Falen Chaisson, with Movement Mortgage in Covington. (The beautiful lady with dark hair standing next to me) Falen is also Rocky Viviano's aunt.

Rocky only knew the warmth of his momma's body and the soothing sound of her heart. He only knew joy and comfort and love in his short life. Rocky was born still on May 25, 2019.

I had the privilege of finally getting to meet Lyndsey and Eric Viviano, Rocky's mom and dad, and his older sister on Wednesday when Movement Mortage, donated 10,000 dollars to Savannah Smiles in memory of Rocky, to help future families.

We don't want there to be "future families", but the truth is, there will be.

So here we are, a foundation that started with a couple thousand dollars and very broken but obedient hearts, 16 years later, with resources that come from the Lord.

We'll be here as long as He says so and continues to provide for Savannah Smiles.

We're excited and ready for our biggest fund raiser of the year but we know not everyone plays golf. So, here is another way to support the tournament.

Browse our 2022 tournament prize amazon wish list and please consider picking something to donate for a door prize.

Thanks for your prayers for this mission and for continuing to share Savannah Smiles with your friends.

Check out my list on Amazon

We wanted to invite you to our 16th Annual Savannah Smiles Golf Tournament supporting our wonderful Charity.

Thursday, November 3, 2022
Beau Chene Country Club, Covington LA
9:30am registration and 11am start

Please take 3 minutes and watch our new video describing what we do if you have a little time - https://youtu.be/-rz0EM28x_I

If you are well, able and willing to come out and support us during a wonderful day of great golf, great food and great fun, please consider REGISTERING for the Tournament by:

Clicking on the link below and registering online (you can donate or make payment here as well)

https://forms.gle/DRcCfJ1May1VY83x7

Thanks so much and we hope to see you soon - please call or email me if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Jody Scharfenstein

Savannah Smiles

504.450.3306 / [email protected]

2022 Golf Tournament Team Registration Thursday, November 3, 2022 Beau Chene Country Club Covington La 70433 9:30 registration 11am Shotgun Start

Registration is open!!!

ITS TIME FOR CAMP 🏕

Camp Savannah is a Christ centered, grief camp for boys and girls ages 9-14. It will be help at Camp Istrouma in Greenwell Springs, LA, September 2-5, 2022
(Labor Day weekend)

It is an overnight camp full of fun and purpose.

We have excellent leaders in place for counseling, recreation, and worship time.

We are open to the first 20 participants and the registration form is below.

If you have any questions about camp, please email our director, Emily Walker at

[email protected]

Camp Savannah 2022: Camper Registration Event Location: Camp Istrouma - Greenwell Springs, LA Event Dates: September 2-5, 2022 Ages for Camp Savannah: 9-14 years old Cost for Camp Savannah: $250 per camper; scholarships available For additional information or questions, contact: Emily Walker at (225) 921-3303 or [email protected]...

There are no words. We are praying for Chris and Pam and their entire family.

It is with profound sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Bryce Kaufmann; the youngest son of Fire Chief Chris and Mrs. Pam Kaufmann. We ask that you please respect their privacy during this very difficult time, but keep the entire Kaufmann family in your thoughts and prayers!🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Bryce was struck by a vehicle on I-10 in New Orleans on Monday morning. He succumbed to his injures this afternoon. As soon as funeral arrangements are made, we will post that information on our social media pages.