Next time you go to the grocery store, stop and check out Lay's new chip bags. You may see a local nonprofit leader on it.
And you may see Zaman International founder Najah Bazzy, a Canton resident, and Khali Sweeney, founder and CEO of Detroit's Downtown Boxing Gym, donning a Lay's signature smile on a family-sized chips bag.
"Meet this smile," Bazzy's bag, BBQ-flavored, reads. "Inspired by her experiences as a nurse, Najah and Zaman International are providing basic needs assistance and vocational training to women, children, and refugee families — empowering over 2 million people worldwide to break the cycle of poverty."
Sweeney's smile is on the classic yellow Lay's bag, promoting his gym as a free after-school academic and athletic program that "has a 100 percent high school graduation rate," according to the release.
Bazzy and Sweeney's appearance on the chip bag is part of Lay's third Everyday Smilers campaign, which features 30 charity leaders and provides funds for their organizations. The campaign also donates up to $1 million to Operation Smile, an organization that provides safe surgeries for children with cleft lip and cleft palate. As part of the initiative, Lay's is also bringing back fan-favorite flavors such as fried pickles with ranch.
Bazzy is a 2019 CNN Hero, an honor that has gotten her and Inkster-based nonprofit Zaman nationwide attention. She said Lay's reached out to her and encouraged her to apply to become a Smiler. As a nurse, she thought the campaign's goal was worth supporting and applied along with thousands of others.
Bazzy, and Sweeney, were accepted earlier this year.
According to a news release, the Smilers had to do their own photo shoots at home due to the pandemic. The pictures were then enhanced for the front of the bag.
“Across stores and within households, Lay’s has the power to reach millions of Americans every day," said Sadira Furlow, vice president of marketing for Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay. "We already know that what’s inside the bag brings joy, but turning the Lay’s bag into a canvas to multiply that happiness factor is what makes the Smiles program so special.”
Sweeney was also a CNN Hero, in 2017. According to its website, theDowntown Boxing Gym currently serves over 150 students between the ages of 8 and 18, across 57 schools in Detroit and nearby suburbs. The free program has computer classes, tutoring, and job shadowing in addition to boxing. The gym aims to grow to 250 students, since it currently has a wait list of over 1300 kids.
Sweeney said he was nominated for the program, and also thought Operation Smile was a good cause. He said he was thankful for any accolades and attributed the gym's success to his team.
But being on the Lay's bag felt like a crazy and lucky coincidence to him, like being on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. When he was younger, Sweeney said he was incredibly skinny. He followed a strict meal and workout plan that required a light snack in between courses and the plain Lay's chip was his number one quick bite he never tired of.
"One of the things I like in this world is the Lay's potato chips," he said. "Anybody who knows me knows my house is full of Lay's potato chips."
Since CNN, Bazzy has been on TV and magazine covers, but her appearance on the Lay's bag has been especially different because people are using the product. Her smile is in people's pantries. She was getting texts from across the country, from Texas to Florida. She went to her niece's house and found her carrying 12 bags with Bazzy's face on them, ready to pass them out. Her husband was doing the same, handing out the bags of BBQ chips to their neighbors.
Her children were in a tizzy.
"The kids have seen me do a lot of things, but all my children were like,'This is so cool, Mom. This is the coolest thing you've ever done.' I'm like, 'Really?'" she recalled, laughing.
Another big question she gets: Are those really her teeth? Yes, they are, she'd reply.
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Zaman has been around for 20 years, starting in the back of Bazzy's van. Seeing it grow in recognition has been a humbling experience for Bazzy, who, as CEO, is still working on a volunteer basis. As the ongoing pandemic exasperated certain needs, Bazzy said the organization snapped into action.
"We became rapid responders," she says. "We're really good at crisis management, so we went right in. I actually was prepared before Governor Whitmer had announced the quarantine — I was preparing for that. I'm a nurse so I anticipate these kinds of things."
Their response included including turning their large Hope for Humanity Center into a food distribution site and graduating their culinary and sewing students virtually. Their GED and literacy programs have also been moved online. Bazzy said Zaman is planning on workforce development as well, helping women secure jobs and living wages.
"Zaman is on the cusp, right now, of realizing its full mission," she said.
Downtown Boxing Gym had similar reaction to the pandemic: kicking into gear to help the community.
"That's one of the things that I stress real heavy in the gym is that you have to be ready to help your neighbors in any type of situation," Sweeney said. "I always tell my kids, one day the strong will be called on to protect the other one in the neighborhood."
Inspired by the lack of resources in his own childhood, Sweeney said the gym is an academic program first. It moved its lesson and workout plans online and helped connect their students to technology at home. The second was outfitting its vans to provide meals to students and families.
As the school year starts, Sweeney said the kids who are not physically going to school and have parents who working or unable to watch them can come to the gym. The kids are separated into small groups, with screening and testing to prevent the spread of the virus. The gym is also looking for tech donation for kids who may not have a computer to study from.
"The focus is creating the future leaders of this world," he said.
Bazzy said she loved meeting the other nonprofit leaders and Everyday Smilers, even if virtually.
"What I've learned is there's not enough appreciation around the country of the nonprofit sector," she said. "Because the nonprofit sector clearly carried the nation.
"Day upon day, you see hundreds — not tens — hundreds of stories of people who have goodwill, who either have nonprofits or who just out of sheer goodness would organize and begin to do front line work. I think the story of nonprofits in America, as a nation, needs to be told," she added.
The campaign was scheduled to be on "Good Morning America" Monday morning.
Nisa Khan is a data intern for the Detroit Free Press. Contact her at nkhan@freep.com and follow her on Twitter @mnisakhan.
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