SPARK ⭕ Domestic violence knows no bounds - Seeds of Happiness

SPARK ⭕ Domestic violence knows no bounds

SPARK ⭕ Domestic violence knows no bounds

May 05, 2025

I have to wipe back the tears. What a lovely, lovely letter, but I am no ones hero. I appreciate the words, but they just don't fit. The heroes in my line of work are the women who are brutalized and beaten, but still find a way to go on with their lives. Can you imagine what a life that must be? To be constantly battered and bruised by someone that is supposed to love you? It's unimaginable.

Please tell all your employees "Thank You" for the kind words. It is really nice to hear. Many people who have never experienced domestic violence cannot understand why a woman would stay in a relationship like that. Do you know that a woman is 75% more likely to die LEAVING a relationship than if she stayed. Unfortunately, it happens more than people can imagine. One in four women experience DV at some time in their life. Domestic violence knows no economic boundaries. I have worked with the very poor and the very rich.

We spend so much time teaching our children to beware of strangers, not to do drugs or drink, not to text and drive, etc and all of those are important lessons, but do we ever think to teach our daughters to beware of the men they fall in love with? Most times we don't. We need to start making that a priority. We need to teach our boys it is never, ever cool to hit a girl. Please don't get me wrong, I have helped many, many men, but this is statistically a crime against females.

I certainly didn't mean to go into the preaching mode, but when I hear someone is the least bit sympathetic, well I just don't seem to have an off button. Education is the only answer to this horrible crime.

I know everyone that works for you have a wonderful sense of community and what a joy it must be to go to work everyday to make "smiles". After 16 years of working with victims of crime, it would be my dream to work somewhere like Seeds of Happiness just to see more smiles. Giving out your "seeds" definitely helps me get through.

Thank you all for what you do and for the beautiful letter. It is so appreciated.

Sincerely,

Sherry


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SPARK ⭕ Difficult times

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I sent seeds of Happiness to a family that lost a child. Here is the note I sent along with it.


Dear Heather,

I wanted to say I am so, sorry to everyone in your family. A good friend of mine, Mark Borella, made Seeds of Happiness for a dear friend of his and the family who lost their son.

Mark gave his friends a handful of smiles and explained he felt helpless because there was nothing he could say or do to take their pain away. So he made them a handful of smiles, thinking they could hold onto them until they got their smile back. The family loved them and it actually helped bring a smile back to each of them. I'm hoping that these will do the same for you.

With my deepest sympathies

Charlotte and family

Thanks Mark. You guys are the best!

Charlotte

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SPARK ⭕ Gems of a puzzle

May 05, 2025

My name is Mark. I am from St. Louis. I went into the Seeds of Happiness store where I was picking up smiles to share on a cruise that my wife and I were taking with another couple. We've been vacationing with this other couple almost our entire adult life. Come to find out Mark, the Seeds of Happiness guy and I, in the small world fashion, our lives overlap. I work with Mark's wife from time to time.  That was enough for Mark to treat me like I was an insider at his studio. He asked me to try something out. Mark took me back in the studio, he dug through a few boxes. He  comes up with these four triangular-round blue and red puzzle pieces made of clay. I watched as he puts the four pieces down on the table and start spinning and turning them until they make a four inch Seeds of Happiness logo. He says to me, give one to your wife, one to your buddy, and one to his wife, and Mark told me to keep one for myself. He continued, during your trip, when you're going to dinner or if you're going to do something fun,  make sure when you guys all get together before you eat or before you do whatever you're going to do, put your puzzle together so you start that event off with a smile. Understanding that if everybody does not bring their piece of the puzzle, the smile is not complete.

Honestly I left the studio with the smiles that I was planning to give out on the cruise, thinking “whatever” about the puzzle. Me being a guy, I thought it seemed a little corny. Well, I got home and told my wife about the puzzle. She loved the idea. At the airport prior to leaving we divvied up the puzzle pieces. We told our friends that Mark said to put these together before we do anything fun or adventurous. So there, at the airport for the first time, we assembled the smile. Well, let me tell you, it was the funniest thing! We all absolutely had a ball with it. At two points during this vacation, somebody forgot their piece of the puzzle. Let me tell you, with all the joy Mark intended, they ran  back to their room to get their puzzle piece so that we would start our excursion with a smile. It was hilarious! It was fun! It worked! It was part of our trip! We vowed that we would never go on a vacation without our pieces of the puzzle. I can't wait for our next vacation. Who knows we might complete our smile in some other country.

I went by the Seeds of Happiness studio with my buddy, the husband in the other couple. We both told Mark that never in our imagination would we have guessed how big of a part of the trip this would become. Mark responded, I just gave you a reminder on how to start your days. You are the ones who made the memories. You see, you never know what one little creative act of kindness might lead to. He then said, it usually leads to another act of kindness. Think about it, two  couples confined on a cruise ship, nothing but fun and no problems? That tells me, you start and finished each day feeling kindness towards each other! 
We told Mark he should sell these little “gems of a puzzle”.

A little side note. Mark told me he had made these for companies for meetings, as a metaphor! You see, of the people that work in a department could put their pieces together to make a smile. This then sets a tone of understand that every job is important, and if you're missing one piece to the puzzle, the company’s happiness is not complete. 

 

I thought this was brilliant.

 

So thanks again Mark. I'll keep you posted on our next trip.

 

Mark

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SPARK ⭕ Big things can come in little packages

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I keep a bag of Seeds in my car at all times. I share them with my circle of friends or complete strangers. It is a great inexpensive way to Touch somebody's heart and create a life lesson. Big things can come in little packages. 

May the Lord bless you and all of the rest of the work you do!

Dana

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