Welcome to the Sara's Smile, Inc website. Please take some time to look around. We hope to provide some of the tools you are looking for as you comfort grieving parents. We want you to know how grateful we are that you care for the hurting. You are a special person and all your efforts towards comfort are gratefully appreciated. Please always remember if the deceased child was of any age what so ever to ask the bereaved parent to "tell me about your son/daughter." Especially if you see this person infrequently, you may be the only one who asks.

For hospital grief supporters please know that grieving parents exist in many departments including Women's Health Services such as Labor and Delivery, Nursery and Nursery ICU, as well as Pediatrics, Emergency and ICU. Child loss occurs due to miscarriage, infant loss, SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), pregnancy loss and neonatal demise as well as accident and disease. We have offered some helpful hints to get through this time addressed specifically for each parent which you can access from here. Our main goal is to place a Sare BearŽ in the aching empty arms of the grieving mommy.

We are a non-profit agency and we operate solely by donated funds with volunteer staff. We operate Sara's Smile, Inc. from our hearts utilizing the nurturing maternal energy made available by the absence of our beloved child. Sara was a beautiful child both in body and in spirit. Just as I could speak at length about my children (living and deceased) so can most other grieving parents. We wish to encourage you to ask the parent to tell you about their beloved child. You will find the bereaved parent readily responds to this simple inquiry.

We wish to be available for you as the grief support person as much as possible. As we discover helps for you we will include them in our web site. We offer links to other helpful sites you may find beneficial.

It is certainly understandable that a grieving parent would have a broken heart. A broken heart is in physical pain. This physical pain in your chest is also understandable. What is surprising to us as grieving mothers is the physical pain in our arms. Our arms literally ache. They ache to hold our beloved child. They feel heavy as though we are unable to lift them. This phenomenon takes us off guard, we were never taught this could also occur.

As a baby grows in a mother's womb it develops a sucking reflex. For this reason an infant is given a pacifier in the hospital to comfort himself between feedings. I testify just as the infant develops a sucking reflex so does the mommy develop a cuddle reflex. I have found that it does not matter the age of your deceased child. Most every mother suffers from this phenomenon of aching arms, but there are no pacifiers for the mommies. We created the Sare BearŽ to be that pacifier.

When a patient has open heart surgery the hospital provides that patient with a pillow. Often the pillow is heart shaped and the name of the hospital is stamped on the front. The doctors and nurses and therapists encourage the heart patient to cough using the pillow pressed tightly against the chest. This activity promotes the healing process. I suggest that the grieving mommy who holds the Sare BearŽ close to her heart while crying also promotes the healing process.

For me when my husband and my son saw the Sare BearŽ in my arms they knew without my saying a word that my day was a hurting day. I was in pain. This was a cue to them and they would be especially tender toward me.

We wish we could provide Sare BearŽ's completely free without recouping any of the costs but that's not possible. For care givers such as hospitals, funeral homes, support groups, Hospice and others we offer the Sare BearŽ at the lowest possible cost. We offer no minimums to order and have available units of 12. We ship UPS ground, FOB Lake Havasu City, AZ and include the shipping cost in the invoice for you. A few days after your order is processed we send the invoice separately asking that payment be returned within 30 days net. We work regularly with Purchasing Departments, their P.O. #s and are available to fill out any IRS forms as your Purchasing Department requires. We hope to answer most of your questions within the web site. Please feel free to contact us directly if you have further questions using our toll free line 877-873-SARA (7272). You can also fax your Purchase Department's order form with P.O.# to us at 928-441-2632.