Adalynn Hicks, of Creating Smiles is simply, Creating Smiles one child at a time. Every child deserves to wear a smile!! With her platform, her goal is to help all children in need. All monetary donations go towards creating smiles bags, clothes, birthday/ Christmas gifts and even sports sponsorships. Anything that might be needed.
If you are wondering what a creating smiles bag is… Creating smiles bags, will be donated to school counselors to give to children who need a little something to make their day better. As adults do, children battle with their mental health on the daily. Adalynn shared, “I want to make sure they know, they are loved and appreciated when seeing the counselor.”
Creating Smiles was created in November of last year for Adalynn Hicks pageant platform. Her family has always been big on helping any child in need and figured it would be fitting. She says, “Because our goal with creating smiles, is to make sure every child wears a smile!”
Girls eagerly anticipate beauty pageants and proms, envisioning themselves in stunning dresses. However, it’s no secret that fulfilling those dreams can often come with a hefty price tag.
In February of this year 2024, they decided to do “Creating Smiles Dress Closet”. Adalynn participates in many pageants, and they understand how pricey it can be to rent or buy a dress. They wanted to make sure every little lady in our town and surrounding areas could wear the dress of their dreams at no cost for a pageant or any formal event. All they ask when renting a dress is to please return it in the same shape, it was rented. All rentals are completely private. No one will know where the dress is from unless the renter themselves share. Currently, their sizes in dresses range from little girls’ size 4 to women’s size 20!
Adalynn has also organized a toy drive for DHR and a softball/baseball donation drive for South Bibb alongside Creating Smiles. Now, they are rallying the community to join them in creating “Best Day Boxes” to donate to DHR and school counselors. These boxes will be handed out to children, allowing them to celebrate their birthdays at home with their families.
One day, Adalynn hopes to have enough support from our community and surrounding areas to be able to have a small shop in town for girls to find the dress of their dreams. Being that they are just starting out, they currently have all the dresses stored in her home. When contacted for a dress rental, parents or child will inform her of their size, and she will gather dresses from that size and a few around the size to make sure there are several to choose from. Currently the meeting place is at Hunny J boutique for rentals. Adalynn shared, “I am so grateful for Julianna Stamps and her kindness for allowing us to do so. I am also thankful for all donations. Rather it be dresses or monetary. As of right now, I have been covering dress cleanings and paying to have dresses altered with my own money. So that can sometimes be a little pricey. But I’m not complaining one bit. Because it’s for such a great cause. We recently done a raffle to raise money for the dress closet, with the money donated, I was able to buy 3 dresses!”
You can reach Creating Smiles on her Facebook page, “Creating Smiles” & “Creating Smiles Dresses”, or email at creatingsmilesorganization@gmail.com
Or drop your donation off at Square1 boutique. The sweet girls there will place the dresses in the back and notify her of your donation.
