Today we’d like to introduce you to Tina Downing.
Hi Tina, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Hello, I’m Tina, the Founder and Executive Director of Small but Mighty Heroes.
I always knew I wanted to work in pediatrics. My innate love and care for children helped to guide my path in career choice, but never did I realize the path would lead me to where I am today.
Through my studies of pre-med, practice exams, and exam preps for med school, life threw me a curve ball. I was already a mother, but I learned that I was expecting another child…. This made a 12-year gap between my two boys.
With the reality of what med school would present, I chose to focus on motherhood. With the support of my husband, I took a step back from the medical field and took an extended maternity leave where I focused on the love of being a mommy but I did miss working and wanted to work with more flexibility and the ability to be home more.
This opened the door to a medical IT field that had its own nonprofit called First Hands Foundation. I truly admired their mission of offering support to children with ailments. It was through here that I was introduced to a little boy named Blakey. He was battling leukemia, but unfortunately, he passed away at the mere age of 2 years old. I remember reading the update as mom shared it on her Facebook. The images of the shattered parents clinging to him as he took his final breath….. his grandfather holding his lifeless body for the last time. These images I will never forget. I remember clinging to my own small child that day, crying heavily as if it were my own child that I lost.
I remember the words, “it’s not fair” escaping my lips over and over and over….. The reality that a small child just battled the most difficult and grueling battle that most grown men don’t battle, made me so angry. I was angry that a beautiful child was taken too soon. I was angry that a mother lost her baby boy. I was angry that a father lost his son and that siblings had to learn what death was so soon in life. I was angry that the treatment was the cause of his demise. I was so angry.
This was the fuel that ignited my fire! The passion of children always existed. The care and compassion that is innate and my training in the medical field caused tunnel vision of my path. Feb, 2016 I was introduced to an incredible family and their little boy, by Feb 2017, I decided to create a nonprofit to support children battling cancer. This idea evolved and in October 2019, Small but Mighty Heroes (SBMH) became a 501(c)(3).
Becoming an official nonprofit at the beginning of COVID was a very difficult start for Small but Mighty Heroes, but we remained dedicated, committed, and determined to continue to help children through their battle and their families. Many obstacles presented themselves in our path, but we remain resilient and creative. My passion and dedication are strong, despite what is thrown at us, we will continue to grow and move forward as everything that we do is for the children who battle a hellish fight. These children deserve all of the love and care that this world has to offer.
Today, we work tirelessly to bring the community together to help us in our mission as it takes a village, and no child fights alone. March of this year presented the new chapter of Small but Mighty Heroes, where we opened our cafe headquarters called Mighty Heroes Cafe. Here, we offer coffee, tea, lemonade, shakes, and more where the net proceeds go to fund the programs that we offer to the children and families that we support. This is where we do our daily operations, fundraising and events. We get the privilege to meet amazing supporters, and volunteers who come here to give a helping hand and we get the honor of meeting amazing children battling cancer and their siblings. Since we opened our doors, we have hosted several events, partnered with many local businesses, and connected with many community members. Today, we currently support over 350 children with applications coming to us daily. This is just the beginning of Small but Mighty Heroes’ growth.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Nothing about our journey has been smooth.
It’s been very difficult with constant obstacles, neigh sayers naysayers, lack of funding, COVID impeding our public appearances and community outreach, and now faced with long days and long nights while we work tirelessly to build awareness and customer support for our cafe headquarters.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a childhood cancer nonprofit with a mission to spread awareness, advocate and provide tailored support to children battling cancer and their families.
We interview the family to learn of the child battling cancer and turn them into a superhero. If they have siblings, they get turned into a sidekick and from there, they will have our support through the entirety of their journey. We may be a small organization, but we believe in support of all kinds, no matter how small or big that may be. We advocate for the child and family for things that we may not have the budget for, but we offer help that is intended to alleviate the stress of the parents by offering them a helping hand such as application processes, phone calls, arrangements that will help the family, and a way to help a family not be met with a dead end.
Through the processes, we focus on tailored support so that we can offer the help that they need, not what we THINK they need. We focus on 3 main concepts: Are we being impactful, are we being relevant, and are we being constant?
We are integrated into the community daily and we really focus on bringing the community together to help with a cause greater than ourselves. We have a unique operation of having a cafe headquarters where we offer coffee, tea, lemonade, shakes, and more all for the cause. Here, you will find that we dress in superhero suits and gear. As we grow and become busier, we will be in our suits and gear daily. We hope to spread the word of our cafe headquarters and see the amazing faces of the members of our community to help us with our mission by ordering a drink or item off our menu. Every sip you take supports children battling cancer.
It takes a village and no child fights alone.
Contact Info:
- Website: smallbutmightyheroes.org
- Instagram: instagram.com/Smallbutmightyheroes19
- Facebook: Facebook.com/Smallbutmightyheroes
- Youtube: Small but Mighty Heroes
Image Credits
SBMH
