Our Work
Love Dahlia was founded to honor the life and legacy of Dahlia Siders and to inspire others to
lead with kindness, creativity, and compassion. Our mission is simple but powerful: encourage
individuals to Live Like Dahlia by spreading kindness, encouraging creativity, and making our community more beautiful.
During our first year, Love Dahlia successfully:
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Established meaningful partnerships throughout the Howell area.
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Distributed over 1,000 Finding Glimmers kindness packs to community members.
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Supported youth mental health awareness initiatives.
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Collaborated with schools, community organizations, artists, and volunteers.
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Facilitated community conversations focused on supporting youth mental health and well-being.
As we enter our second year, we are building on this momentum to expand our impact and reach even more youth, families, educators, and community members.
What I Know Now:
Community Conversations
Love Dahlia is gathering our community mental health and youth advocacy partners to host conversation on our youth mental health.
Thank you to Howell Parks and Recreation for allowing us to host these conversations at the Oceola Community Center.
Our first conversation in March 2026 brought together over 150 members of our community. Our second conversation in June 2026 allowed local youth to talk to the community about what they need in trusted adult. Stay with us as we continue these important conversations.
Thank you to our community partners for participating.
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Sophia’s SOS Bag- Stress & Ouch Supplies partnership with Love Dahlia
Love Dahlia is proud to support Sophia's SOS Bag: Stress & Ouch Supplies initiative. This student-led project promotes the health, wellness, and overall well-being of student athletes, aligning closely with Love Dahlia's mission.
To support the success of SOS Bag, Love Dahlia has provided a dedicated webpage where community members can learn more about the project and its impact. In addition, Love Dahlia has contributed in-kind donations to help stock the bags with essential supplies and has committed volunteer support to assist with the ongoing maintenance and sustainability of the program.
Bridging the gap between mental health and first aid
Community Partnership with
Howell High School Hope Squad
With a grant from the Livingston Sunrise Rotary Foundation, Love Dahlia was able to further our partnership with HHS Hope Squad. At the time the grant was submitted, Howell had experienced the loss of one student in the prior school year. Tragically, in September 2025, the community suffered the loss of two Howell High School juniors within a single week. These heartbreaking events deeply impacted students, staff, and families across the district.
In response, and in collaboration with Hope Squad student leaders, Love Dahlia allocated half of the Rotary grant to purchase Hope bracelets for the entire Howell High School student population. The bracelets, designed in Howell's school colors and featuring the message,
"I Have Time to Listen, Your Life Matters"
were distributed to students in October 2025. This initiative served as a visible reminder of support, connection, and the importance of reaching out during difficult times.
In January 2026, HHS Hope Squad encouraged Love Dahlia to attended a suicide educational summit their team was attended. Kevin's Song Suicide Prevention Education Summit one day focusing on suicide prevention Youth and Schools then the second day focusing on general suicide prevention. Love Dahlia was able to gain not only valuable information but also was able to make contacts and partners throughout Michigan with groups also working on suicide prevention and the mental health of our youth.
In the spring 2026, after Howell lost 2 more youths, Love Dahlia worked with the community as well as the Hope Squad and HHS to get the community together to begin conversations on the mental health of our youth. Love Dahlia attended HHS One Howell mental Health night on 3/24/2026 and HHS Hope Squad attended the Love Dahlia’s What I Know Now: Community Conversation on 3/19/2026.
A Night of Hope
Hosted by Love Dahlia and HHS Hope Squad
Sunday 11/9/2025
A Night of Hope where we aim to spread hope and kindness through out community and remember our loved ones and friends.
Speakers:
Pastor DJ Reed
Paster Jason Foreman
LCSW Tiffany Turner-Baldwin
In February 2025 Dahlia would have been celebrating her 13th birthday. In her honor, we challenged our community to complete 13 random acts of kindness, and we are so proud to see the incredible participation. Your kindness not only keeps her spirit alive but also makes a positive impact on those around. Thank you for being a part of this meaningful tribute!
We had an overwhelming response to the 13 Acts of Kindness that we now have Acts of Kindness every year. Adding one more act per year, as the age Dahlia would have been.
If you would like to see some of the acts those who participated achieved, visit the Facebook page here!
Community Bird House Painting - April 2025
Dahlia loved nature. To honor her we held a free bird house and bird feeder painting event for the community. It was wonderful to see how many people came out to design, paint and take home their own bird house.
T-Shirt Fundraiser -
June & July 2025
Love Dahlia partnered with Simply Cherry Collection of Howell for our first fundraiser. Our Media Director designed the shirts and Simply Cherry printed and sold them for us. A portion of each shirt came directly back to Love Dahlia. Thank you for making this a successful fundraiser!
Movie & Basket Raffle -
July 2025
July 2025 we held our first in person fundraiser. We had screening of the movie Shrek at the Howell Historic Theatre. Additionally, we had amazing support from local businesses who donated items for our basket raffle. Between the ticket sales, conession sales and the raffle we were able to fundraise enough to get Love Dahlia going. We are now meeting with community partners to start making a difference in Dahlia's honor.
Community Partners Collaboration
If you are a community partner that would like to collaborate with Love Dahlia, please reach out to our Community Engagement Director at Heather@lovedahliasiders@gmail.com