Stitching Smiles, Mending Spirits, Cultivating Belonging

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Charlotte Gould. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light. 

For Charlotte Gould, a needle and thread are tools for healing not just fabric, but self-esteem. Born with a cleft condition herself, Charlotte founded Stitches by Charlotte in 2017 with a poignant mission: to ensure no child faces surgery alone or feels invisible. She creates “surgery companion” dolls that are customized to mirror the children who receive them, featuring stitched smiles and tiny scars that match their own. This labor of love transforms a scary medical journey into a moment of validation, telling each recipient that they are seen and perfect exactly as they are. 

Over the past eight years, the dedicated founder has created close to 1,000 custom dolls, sending them to children in every U.S. state and over 15 countries. Each doll serves as a tangible reminder of resilience, providing comfort during vulnerable moments in hospitals. By allowing children to hold a doll that looks just like them, Charlotte provides a profound sense of belonging that helps young patients navigate the complexities of medical procedures with newfound confidence. 

Charlotte has also emerged as a powerful voice for the medical community. She currently serves as the president of the Phoenix Children’s Hospital teen board and is a sitting member of the Phoenix Children’s Cleft and Craniofacial Care Center. In these roles, she works tirelessly to prioritize the patient and provider experience, plan community events and raise essential funds. Additionally, working as a facial equality advocate with organizations like Operation Smile and the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasia, she has taken her message all the way to Capitol Hill to champion kindness and inclusion. 

Whether she is speaking on racial equality, advocating for facial differences or carefully stitching a smile onto a doll, Charlotte’s goal remains the same: to change the world one smile at a time. Her journey inspires people of all ages to embrace what makes them unique and to lead with love.  

Tell us about your organization and volunteer role. 

I started Stitches by Charlotte when I was a kid; I think I was 7 years old. The main thing that I do is make surgery companion dolls for kids that are going through medical procedures like I did. I was born with a cleft lip and palate, so I make these dolls for kids that are going through surgeries. Each one comes with a customizable sewing kit so that way a mom, a dad, the doctor, the nurse, the cousins or the big sister can add stitches to the doll to match the scars that the child will have.

It is really just to promote education around medical procedures because it is something that is really terrifying, especially as a young child going through a pediatric procedure. It is also to promote facial inclusivity, because it was really hard for me as a kid to see something that looked exactly like me until I made it for myself. It is just being able to provide children with that tangible look of their medical journey and everything that they are, just really easily and accessibly. 

I’m the Arizona advocacy lead for the ELSA bill, which is the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act. It is a bipartisan bill that guarantees full and complete healthcare coverage for individuals facing surgeries because of their congenital abnormalities. A lot of times with a cleft lip and palate or other congenital craniofacial conditions, surgeries are viewed as cosmetic and not medically necessary. 

For me personally, because of my cleft, I cannot breathe through my nose at all. If I were to have surgery to fix that, it would be considered cosmetic because it is a “nose job,” rather than medically necessary, even though I can’t breathe. Insurance companies use these loopholes to deny coverage to a lot of families that need these surgeries for their children. ELSA focuses on closing those loopholes and making sure that every child, or any individual born with a congenital abnormality, gets access to the care they need. 

For the past two years, I’ve traveled to Washington, D.C. I’ve been able to speak with congressional members, senators and House representatives about the importance of this bill. I talk to them about my family’s experiences and what this bill would do for families like mine if it were passed. It has been such an incredible experience to be able to meet with the people who are shaping the policies that are impacting the rest of America. 

What inspired you to get started with these initiatives? 

I had four surgeries as a kid. I have a terrible fear of needles; it is the scariest thing in the world to me. A shot, a needle—any of that is terrifying. My grandma gave me a sewing machine for Christmas when I was a kid, and I was so, so scared of this needle. Then I started sewing, and my Nana kind of guided me through it. It was this scary experience, but I remember trying to push the fabric through, and her hands were over mine. This fear turned into such a productive source of making something. 

I was able to make that first doll that looked just like me, and I brought it with me everywhere. When I brought it with me to my doctor’s appointments, the kids sitting next to me would ask for one. It just started as this one doll that was made out of my fear and my need to see myself in something, and it turned into something so much bigger. 

Why is it important for kids to see representation in these dolls? 

It was really hard for me growing up without seeing anything because Barbies and American Girls don’t have any that represent any medical procedures throughout their doll line. When I was watching TV as a kid, it wasn’t the hero that had a facial difference; it was always the villain that did. That was really hard for me to reconcile: the fact that I thought my cleft was so special and made me so unique, with the fact that society thought it was something that made me a villain, or unworthy in a lot of ways. 

I really had to work through that over the past couple of years. I am finally coming to the conclusion that it is okay that that happens, but I know what my cleft means to me. Being able to provide a kid with a doll that shows who they are—so they know that and see that tangible representation—is important. It is also important for them to have someone to look at and think, “Oh, they have a cleft like me, and they are speaking out about it, and they are being a positive influence on their community.” That is why I have stepped into this advocacy role: to speak up and share my story for the kids who haven’t shared theirs yet, or aren’t able to share theirs yet. 

What’s the most rewarding part of your work? 

Last year, I was able to go into my hospital on a new patient day. There were so many little babies in there, just 3-week-olds, and a lot of girls coming in for checkups. I brought a bunch of dolls with me, and I got to go into a little patient’s room. She had to have been 4 or 5 years old. I handed her a doll that looked like her, and we worked together and added the stitches to it. Then she ran her finger over the doll’s stitches, then over the stitches on her cleft and then pointed at mine. It was just this full-circle moment of being able to give a kid that realization—to see themselves in an object—and then to have them recognize that there are other people who look like them. 

What have you learned through your experiences volunteering? 

Running an organization like this, I know 100% it takes a village to do it, especially when I was a kid. Because I started at 7 or 8 years old, I didn’t understand how any of the business side of it worked. I just wanted to sew and give my dolls to as many people as possible. So my family had a big role in it. My sister was employee of the month almost every month; she would help stuff all of the dolls, stuffing all the little feet and legs. My mom and my grandma were really big in helping run the social media since I was 8 years old and definitely not running an Instagram. 

As I grew older, I did get a lot more autonomy, which is really nice. I am able to be involved in all sides of the business, whether it is the sewing, the packaging and shipping or running the social media aspect. Just from a human side, there is so much kindness and acceptance out there when you look for it. I’ve always said, “Throw kindness like confetti,” because a single smile can change the world. That has been my motto through all of it. It is about going out there and being kind to as many people as you can. Approach every situation with this idea of kindness and acceptance, and try to prioritize curiosity over everything. That is reciprocated so much because you don’t know what someone is going through; just a smile can really change someone’s day. 

Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about? 

If you care about something, there is just so much passion and drive in what you are doing. I think it is important for people to find something that they are passionate about, find a way to change an issue or to create positive change and then just go and do it. There is nothing stopping you from starting a small business or helping with an organization. Just going out and trying to make positive change is so powerful. 

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering? 

There are organizations all over. I know that Operation Smile is one that I’ve worked with really closely; they have chapters all across America and all across the world. Just find something close by, like a food bank, or volunteer at your local hospital. Find a local organization or something national that has a presence in your city, and just start working with them. Just dive in and see where it takes you because you don’t know. You might end up doing something incredible. That is so powerful and so inspiring.  

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Charlotte? Find local volunteer opportunities.