Hearts for Smile Train

Fundraising with Hearts 

Special Thanks to Hillel Rzepka 

As mentioned in previous posts, one responsibility as a Smile Train student ambassador is to raise money. Raising money can be done in many different ways. One way that I have chosen to fundraise is through selling colorful hearts that have been made by burning glass. The artist who does this, Hillel Rzepka is based out of Laguna Beach Caifonia, and he calls himself a heartist which I find very fitting. Not only is he an artist who uses hearts to express himself creatively, but he also does this process with a lot of heart and compassion. He cares very deeply about philanthropy and giving back to the world, and he uses his art to do this. In this fundraiser, each heart is $20 and half of that goes to the charity that he partners with. In my case, we are working together to do a Smile Train fundraiser. I am very appreciative because giving 50% of the hearts proceeds to charity is an incredibly generous and thoughtful thing to do, especially considering the cost of materials and the time that is put into each and every heart. I am selling 10 different colors with a special custom heart that is blue and white mixed ($25). In only 3 days of attempting to sell these beautiful heart, I have already sold 6 hearts even with asking a limited amount of people. The hearts can serve as a personal treat or as a gift for loved ones. I look forward to selling more hearts and working more with Hillel, who is already doing so much for me and Smile Train. 

Thanks for reading 💙