About Us

SMILE(Special Minds In Loving Environment )Project

The Smile program was formed in 2019 in the San Francisco Bay Area to create an inclusive experience for special needs kids. The program gives special needs kids an opportunity to participate in fun-filled and entertaining online zoom sessions that includes singing, music, jokes, skill development, etc. It is a source of hope and joy for special needs kids.


What is SMILE Project?

SMILE 😀(Special Minds In Loving Environment) PROJECT is one of the latest innovative programs of HOH YC (HOH YOUTH CHAPTER) launched on January 27, 2019. 

by 10 yr old Amora Singh, who would conduct Skype lessons with the special children of MV (Manovikas) and the smiles generated were documented in a case file with personal information of all students.


What is SMILE CITY?


THE START OF SMILING CITIES.

In February 2020, Skype's PROJECT SMILE closed due to the closure of Manovikas School due to COVID-19.  7th Grader  Asha Durga became the driving force behind the founding of SMILE CITY. The aim was to create SMILE CITIES across the SF Bay region and beyond by creating 2 min smile videos to generate smiles 😀 on the faces of the special children.

The SMILE CITIES include Palo Alto, North Carolina, Saratoga, Fremont and Los Altos in California and Raleigh in North Carolina.

The driving force behind this success is Asha Durga, an 8th-grade student and founder of SMILE CITY. Initially, she tested the waters while conducting informal classes in Dance, music and art. She introduced yoga, meditation through storytelling/fun games with the MV’s special children as part of the Manbhavan programme. In her words “since I have started these classes, I have created an unbreakable bond with all my Smile friends.” This “bond“ started with 4 children and mushroomed into a thriving ZOOM class of 180 children 


Lately, other members of SMILE CITY (Aditya and Divya of SMILE CITY PALO ALTO, CA. Tara Subramanium of SMILE CITY LOS ALTOS, CA and Sahej Singh of SMILE CITY RALEIGH, NC) started by shadowing Asha and then started their own individual classrooms via Zoom for MV's special children.

Speaking English gives power, trust and self-worth to all disadvantaged children, even if they have special needs.

E 3 Program (English empowerment with enjoyment ) is a fun program for these children to learn conversational English which begins by creating 3 minutes of a fun video to teach English at the kindergarten level.

It is very rewarding to witness the progress of the children and Asha is delighted with the results. Quoting her “one of my students is now able to recognize nouns and verbs"


Why is SMILE?

SMILE is the key to the heart and will open the heart to compassion for these special children.

To collect a lot of SMILE.

A complete makeover of mind, body and soul with various activities.

Mind: The best minds(volunteer) of entertainment bring you worthy content and activities.

Body: You could easily get physically active with various planned activities during the session.

Soul: We all have our own rhythm for getting work done. For most of us, the sweet spot offers the spaciousness to gestate new ideas, without compromising.

Impact

Activities during SMILE session:

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•Participation of those digitally aware people who are willing to teach our students.

•More awareness of the program globally to eventually raise more funds to help PwIDD.

Founder Of SMILE 

The founder of this program is 11 yr old Amora Singh who has an innate compassion for children with special needs. She is living in San Francisco, USA and studying in grade 6th. She loves animals and this interest led her to horse riding. She spent her time with his horse and she is very passionate about helping children.

Amora’s Message

“ I want to place a smile on these kids’ faces and let them know that they are not different. My goal is to expand this and recruit other friends to help because kids can connect  with other kids. SMILE is the key to the heart and we want to help in spreading the SMILE.” 

-Amora Singh, SMILE Founder

Your best work and best life depend on a fluid and resourced mind, body, and spirit. Investing even the smallest increments in your well-being today will pay dividends in energy, inspiration and output over time. 

About HOH (HOME OF HOPE)

Founded in 2000 by Dr. Nilima Sabharwal.

In a country like India, with a population of over a billion people, HOH has been a catalyst in the area of Education, Mental health, Computer and Vocational training, and special needs, by making simple, ordinary impacts that have become extraordinary successes. In 2000, HOH funded the inception of mental health program in Udayan Care for $10K. In 2007, India's first major Mental health law was enforced.

The Juvenile justice law # 46 was passed in 2014, making it mandatory to provide mental health services, and child protection surveillance in all licensed Child Welfare institutes, benefiting millions of orphan destitute and disadvantaged children.

Since inception HOH has:



Home of Hope is a 501(c)(3) California based nonprofit organization. HOH nurtures truly underprivileged, most destitute and disabled children, with a loving, caring home and hope, for a safe and secure future.

HOH funds necessary resources and access to education, mental health, computer skills, vocational training and sports programs.These opportunities make a significant difference in uplifting the lives of mentally and physically handicapped, orphaned and abandoned children making them self sustaining members of society.

Our heart-led all volunteer team, identify organizations that exemplify integrity, accountability and commitment to accelerate social and policy change in India. We raise funds for our partner projects, to develop their innovative programs. By scaling up the projects, HOH empowers our partners to expand their capacity and broaden their reach to impact maximum underprivileged and special need children and youth.

With minimal overhead (we are entirely volunteer driven) Home Of Hope has brought incredible change to the quality of life in over 100,000 of India's youth.