In 2006 there was a bar bet between friends: How much money can you raise for a sick child?
“Someone said, ‘Hey, I bet we can’t raise $5,000 for this kid,’” said Michael Barton, president and co-founder of Silly Smiles Inc., 117 S. Batavia Ave. It took off like a fighter jet, as men started making other bets to top one another.
“One guy said he’d shave his mustache if we raised $6,000,” Barton said. “And he’s from Wisconsin, so he looked like one of those Bears Superfan guys (from the ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit).”
The group ended up raising $12,000 in the first year, its goal for 2009.
On March 7, Barton and what he hopes to be seven or eight other photographers will take silly photos to raise money for Sammy Rogers, a 6-year-old in need of a miracle.
Q What is Silly Smiles for Sammy?
A Silly smiles is crazy, man. The corporation is Silly Smiles Inc., which is a federal nonprofit (no employees; all funds go to medical bills). The fundraiser we’re doing is benefiting a child named Sammy, who is the son of a good friend of mine. Sammy has a chronic kidney disease called FSGS (focal segmental glomerulosclerosiscq). It’s a chronic kidney disease that basically just goes under the radar. There’s a lot of great doctors that are working on it. What we’re doing is try to help kids pay medical bills. We’re the more practical end.
Q How do you raise the money?
A As photographers, we invited people to come in and do what they’re not allowed to do during a regular session. It’s an absolute blast, we have so much fun doing it. We ask for a $40 donation, and people can give more if they want. We did this last year and managed to raise $2,500 in 12 hours at this store, and $12,000 with six other studios and donations.
Q How does it make you feel to know you can help with this cause?
A The way I see it, it’s one thing to help a kid out that I don’t know, and that’s a great thing to do, but to be able to look a kid in the eye and see that I changed his life; it’s indescribable. Anyone that’s around Sammy, it just changes your life. One thing I know about this world is that as hard as we work, I don’t think we’re ever going to take care of every kid out there. But we’re going to do what we can.
