Gilford students form nonprofit to support mental health of kids in hospitals

GILFORD — Students at Gilford High School are turning a school project into a nonprofit organization, seeking to support the mental health of children who are hospitalized. 

Operation Smile was born through students engaged with the GHS DECA program, which, as part of a broader movement, teaches principles of business, finance, hospitality, management and marketing.  

But the students in Gilford are taking their education one step further, by creating something tangible that could make serious impacts in their community. The focus: supporting the mental and emotional health of hospital patients. 

For Amelia Costea, president of Operation Smile, it’s personal.

“I personally have struggled with that,” she said Wednesday afternoon. She was at one point paralyzed from the waist down for four months in 2020, due to an unknown medical problem. Her medical care was top-notch, she said, but she realized afterward there wasn’t much care for her mental health.

“My mental recovery was overlooked.” 

Through the GHS DECA program, Operation Smile was created in April, Costea, Vice President Sopia Comeau and Treasurer Jiya Patel wanted to create a community giving project along the lines. Costea said she hoped to go into hospitals to visit families with children receiving medical attention, but hospitals worried about potential health risks in doing so. So they improvised.

“I just think mental health is really important to bring awareness to,” Comeau said.

“We pivoted toward care packages,” Costea said.

Operation Smile, among other activities, is creating gift baskets for hospital-bound patients at the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon. The baskets include items to make a patient's stay more comfortable, like blankets and fuzzy socks, and decks of cards and coloring books. Each comes with a personal touch, like handmade bracelets and sympathy cards.

“They’ve been super receptive,” Comeau said. They’re in the process of receiving and organizing all of the items to be included in the baskets, and will create a sort of assembly line to finish them off in the coming weeks. Their next target: oncology patients, possibly at local hospitals.  

And their idea is catching on — what started in April as a group of 15 or so students at the high school has blossomed into a group of 70, and galvanized students at the elementary and middle schools, and members of the public, too.

The group attained nonprofit status in New Hampshire in September, and the trio hopes to help students at other schools start chapters of their own. They’re already in contact with other school districts, and are looking to form relationships with other medical facilities, particularly in the Lakes Region.  

“We’re working on getting that all together,” Costea said.  

Along the way, they’ve learned a lot about business, and about people. Comeau, for example, learned she’s particularly interested in the marketing aspect of running a nonprofit.

“To take this extra step, this goes beyond a DECA project,” GHS DECA adviser Andrew Thurston said. “They are passionate about it, and doing things above and beyond.”

“This can really take off,” he said. “This is something that will really make a difference in a lot of lives.” 

For Patel, the marriage of causes is obvious — she’s interested in working in pediatric medicine in the future, and hopes to open her own practice. Learning business finance is a decent bonus. 

“It’s been easier, because I’ve made a spreadsheet,” Patel said, crediting Thurston with assisting her along the way. “We just opened up a bank account.”

While the group offers sponsorships to raise money, much of their fundraising has come by way of community events. A “pajama day” fundraiser, for example, was particularly successful. The students coordinated with school district leaders to allow students to wear pajamas to school for a day in return for any donation to Operation Smile. It was a resounding success — they earned nearly $1,000.

“In total, we have $2,000,” Costea said. “We chose PJs specifically as an awareness component.”

The Gilford school community has been broadly supportive, too, and lots of students are enticed to get involved with volunteering. They’re able to earn volunteer credit hours through their participation in the organization. And another teacher at Gilford High, Michelle Fridlington, has volunteered her time and attention to helping the club, too.

“A lot of it is about awareness,” Comeau said. 

“There was pride in the elementary and middle school to take part in something like this,” Thurston said. 

The club is always looking for donations, both of material items and of funds. Those interested in contributing to, or learning more about, Operation Smile can send an email to operationsmileofficial@gmail.com, or to Thurston at athurston@sau73.org. Checks can be made out to Gilford High School with “Operation Smile” in the memo line. Visit their website at sites.google.com/view/operationsmileofficial/home. 

“Keeping this up in the future,” Patel said, when asked what she’s excited about. 

“I like driving back up to that hospital, not as a patient,” Costea said. “It’s really powerful for me.”