OZARK (KFSM) -- Her shirt reads “Share a smile every day,” and 10-year-old Jaydon Davis is doing more than just that.
She has spent the past several weeks collecting stuffed animals, but they are not for her.
“They'll go in the back of police officers’ cars, and when there are wrecks or house fires, anything tragic like that, they'll give a stuffed animal to a kid and make them feel really good,” Davis said.
Jaydon and her mom dropped 129 stuffed animals off at the Franklin County Sheriff's Office and donated the rest to the Altus and Coal Hill Police Departments.
“I got a lot more than I thought I was,” Davis said. “Our goal was 150. We got 600 stuffed animals.”
Jaydon hopes to help children feel comforted when they need it most, just like she needed that comfort about a year ago.
“It really helped me and I had to go in an ambulance and it was really scary and it really helped me,” she said.
“It's just an amazing thing that she's doing, to be such a young girl and having such a giving heart and caring heart,” Sheriff Anthony Boen said.
Franklin County Jail Sgt. Tina James said she knows firsthand the small gesture makes a big difference.
“A year ago or so, I had a child come in that was hurting severely, and I went and got her a teddy bear and it put a smile on her face,” James said. “I got to thinking after that, that you know, that may be the only thing a child gets to hug at night.”
“We tagged them with these tags,” Davis said. “It says here's a gift from me to you sending you a smile when you are feeling blue.”
Jaydon says she has another project in the mind for next year. She said she's thankful for the teachers and students at her school who helped add to her stuffed animal collection.