ST. GEORGE, Utah, Aug. 22, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — “I love this boy with my whole heart and will not give up on him,” says St. George mom Tracey Bratt-Smith of son Macin.
Next Thursday, Sept. 1, will mark one year since Bratt-Smith last saw her son, then 17.
Macin, the youngest of Bratt-Smith and her husband Darrin’s six kids and the last one living with them, walked away from home in the early morning when his parents thought he was on his way to school.
Macin left behind his cell phone, wallet and laptop, and he effectively vanished without a trace.
Since then, Macin’s family and friends have been living in limbo with no solid evidence that Macin is alive or dead.
Bratt-Smith and other family members have posted Facebook updates almost every day to the Help Find Macin Smith page, whose 15,598 members of the known collectively as Macin’s Army.
In Saturday’s post, Bratt-Smith wrote:
20 August 2016
Dear Macin’s Army:
This time next week we will be up in Salt Lake City Utah to meet with other families who also have missing loved ones. We will be having a meet and greet initially, followed by service for our homeless population. If you can’t join us there are numerous ways you can donate. I will be leaving Friday from St. George and can bring bottled water and lunch items for the sack lunches etc. Shirts will be done on Thursday.
We are coming up on the year mark for Macin and we wanted to do something meaningful as a family. Not all the kids can make it, but most can. Whenever I start feeling picked on by life, I just have to remind myself of the many, many good people that are in my life. I have much to be grateful for and know this will ultimately make me stronger (although I don’t quite feel strong now.)
For all those out there dealing with loss and grief, you are not alone. Our family gets it!! There are better days ahead.
I take comfort in the many tender sweet memories I have of my boy. The many hugs I stole from him. The many trips we took together. The many McChickens we purchased and Macin consumed. I love this boy with my whole heart and will not give up on him.
Love ,
The Momma
Macin left a note, which his parents discovered a week later folded inside his wallet. They have not released the contents, preferring to say the note contained an “intent,” which led them to believe he may have planned to harm himself.
Bratt-Smith said the family’s tactic as the one-year mark approaches is to get active, with the help of an organization called Textwich:
“Our technique is to focus on others and serving the community. This is where the organization Textwich comes in.
“They are an organization that provides food for the homeless while simultaneously looking for the lost. They will post ‘missing info’ on the lunch sacks that they hand out to the homeless and additionally hold these events, where posters and fliers are shown in efforts to reconnect the homeless with their family.”
There will be Textwich events to help find Macin this Saturday in Salt Lake City. For details click here. The group will be in Liberty Park 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Pioneer Park 3:30 p.m. until 5 p.m., and is looking for volunteers.
The Smith clan will be at the Bee Fed and Bee Found event to assemble lunches and pass them out to the homeless in the Salt Lake area.
Textwich founder Ellen Van Der Bosch posted about the event on Facebook:
Friends and family and kids are welcome. I am asking for attendees to bring something for potluck for attendees at the picnic and also pre-packaged snacks and water so we can attach them to bags.
We will pass out some of the bags in Liberty Park but want to have the majority to be distributed at Pioneer Park the same day. For this event we will have a wagon filled with the snack bags and fliers and we are looking for adults to walk together to pass them out. This park is really not a good area for kids.
Multiple possible Macin sightings have been reported, but none have proved credible. Macin’s family has worked with professional search organization Red Rock Search and Rescue and police to bring him home. For seven months, there has been a $10,000 reward in place offered for information leading to his safe return.
Macin is 6-feet-4-inches and 200 pounds. He has light blue eyes, and he had short blond hair when he went missing. The Smith family moved to Utah from Canada in spring last year, and there have been search efforts there for him too.
Anyone with information on Macin is asked to contact the St. George Police Department at 435-627-4300, or David Cummings at RRSAR on 702-787-4068.
Click below to watch Bill Gephardt’s exclusive interview with Bratt-Smith, recorded in February.
