Getting involved in the Growing Smiles Community Outreach Program is simple, and every step carries meaning.
How it Works
Request Your Seeds
Reach out to us by email to request your sunflower seeds. Each request is reviewed to ensure every seed goes to a real person ready to take part in something meaningful.
Plant with Purpose
Plant your seeds in your yard, garden, or community space. As they grow, they become a quiet symbol of hope, strength, and connection
Dedicate Your Planting
Choose how your sunflower will represent your story. You may plant in memory of someone, in honor of someone, or in support of someone who needs to be reminded they matter.
Be Added to the Map
Once your seeds are planted, you can submit your dedication to be placed on our Growing Smiles Trail of Hope Map, helping us create a visual reminder of hope across the country.
Growing Smiles Trail of Hope Map
Each sunflower placed on this map represents more than a planting—it represents a life, a story, and a moment of connection. Across the country, individuals and families are planting seeds of hope, and together, those individual acts are creating something far greater than any one of us could do alone.
This map is a growing reflection of that impact. Every marker tells a story—planted in memory of someone deeply missed, in honor of someone’s strength, or in support of someone who needs to be reminded they matter.
As the map continues to grow, so does the message behind it: hope is still being planted, and no one is as alone as they may feel.
Add Your Sunflower
If you would like to be part of the Growing Smiles Trail of Hope Map, we invite you to share your planting with us. Each submission represents a life, a story, and a moment that deserves to be seen.
Once received and reviewed, your sunflower will be placed on the map as part of this growing movement of hope.
Why It Matters
The Growing Smiles Community Outreach Program is about more than planting seeds—it is about creating connection in places where it may feel like there is none. Each sunflower becomes a quiet reminder that someone is seen, someone is remembered, and someone still matters.
In a world where many people carry things silently, small acts of care can reach farther than we realize. A single seed, planted with intention, can grow into something that represents strength, remembrance, and hope.
As these sunflowers rise across communities, they form something greater than a map—they become a living reflection that people are still showing up for one another.
2025 Growing Smiles Recap
Before this year’s seeds are planted, we pause to reflect on where it all began. The 2025 Growing Smiles Community Outreach Program marked the start of something meaningful—where simple seeds were shared, planted, and grown with purpose.
Sunflowers were planted in memory of loved ones, in honor of those still fighting, and in support of individuals who needed a reminder that they matter. What began as a small outreach quickly became something more, as each planting carried its own story, its own reason, and its own quiet impact.
From those first seeds came not just growth in gardens, but growth in connection. The 2025 season laid the foundation for what is now becoming a wider movement—one that continues to reach beyond state lines and into the lives of people who may never meet, yet are connected through a single act of hope.
As we move forward, we carry those beginnings with us, knowing that every seed planted has the potential to reach farther than we may ever see.
