Blogs

2012 is underway and so is the planning for a great year with the Sydney & Nolan Smith Foundation. We have many goals for this New Year including an expanded voice on social media, incorporating new programs to involve youth, and other initiatives to support our cause of letting kids be kids.

With Nolan now establishing a base in Portland, the Foundation has expanded as well! We’ve begun to look into holding special events for kids in the Portland area and hope to announce plans soon.

Close to Nolan’s heart, the Durham, N.C. area is still an important part of the foundation. Currently we’re working to plan a summer camp for boys and girls in both Portland and the Durham area for 2012 so be on the lookout for more information.

For those close to Nolan and Sydney’s home base of the Washington, D.C. metro area, we’re anxious for March 10 when Nolan and the Trail Blazers will face off against the Washington Wizards at Verizon Center. Help give him a warm welcome by coming out to the game!

Our continued presence on social media is of the utmost importance. We want to use this as a way to reach a large audience including those in need of support. Check out the Foundation’s Facebook page for photos of Nolan in action with the Portland Trail Blazers and special upcoming videos. A strong Twitter account allows us to collaborate with other organizations specializing in grieving and spread our message even further! We’re busy planning and hope to use questions, facts and giveaways to engage everyone.

As always, feel free to send along comments and suggestions to info@sydneyandnolan.org. We love your input and want to include everyone in the Foundation!

Hi Everybody!

Welcome to the blog portion of our site! This will be one of the many unique sections of our site that we hope will allow you to connect with Nolan and I.

We hope you are as excited as we are about the launch of our Foundation. This has been something our family has dreamed of for a long time, and we are thrilled to see it finally come together.

For those of you coming to the site for the first time, let me start by telling you about us and our foundation. The mission of the Sydney and Nolan Smith Foundation is something that is very dear to our hearts. We lost our farther when we were 10 and 8 years old while we were on a family vacation. Our father died the last night while we were at a family dinner. He died of a heart attack. he had an undetected heart defect. It was the most heartbreaking and life changing moment in both of our lives, as our father meant the world to us.

It has been 16 years since our dads passing and through his legacy and the strength of our mother we are where we are today. Nolan and I have both graduated college and are now both pursing careers in what we love. (As time goes on we will be sure to give you guys more on the two of us, but I will keep it brief for now!) We have had the most amazing support system through all of the hard times and realized that now, at 25 and 23 years old that we can provide that same support system for other kids, as our family and friends provided for us.

Through our Foundation, we hope to inspire, empower and give anyone who has ever lost a loved one strength, the strength to persevere through all the tough times that will come; and most importantly offer the many kids who have lost a loved the chance to remain kids through.

With this blog, we hope to really connect with you, whether you have lost a parent or just someone close to you, we are sure you can relate the the many topics we will discuss. Regularly, Nolan and I will make posts whether together our individually and we welcome you to respond to us. We definitely want to know what you are thinking.

We will feature guest bloggers, video, and cool content so definitely stay tuned and welcome to our blog!

- Sydney & Nolan Smith