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About Us: The SMILE Project, "Special Minds In a Loving Environment," is a heartfelt initiative that creates joy, learning, and inclusivity for children with special needs.
About Us: The SMILE Project, "Special Minds In a Loving Environment," is a heartfelt initiative that creates joy, learning, and inclusivity for children with special needs.
Our Story
The SMILE Project was founded in 2019 in the vibrant San Francisco Bay Area, with a vision to offer children with special needs a space to learn, play, and grow. It all began with Amora Singh, a passionate 10-year-old, who started conducting Skype lessons for children at Manovikas School. With a focus on skill-building activities like music, singing, jokes, and laughter, the SMILE Project quickly gained momentum. What started as a few virtual lessons soon became a source of hope and happiness for many.
Our Mission
At SMILE, we believe that every child deserves to be included and celebrated. Our mission is to provide a loving environment where children with special needs can feel safe, confident, and empowered. Through interactive Zoom sessions, music, art, yoga, and English language skills, we aim to bring smiles to the faces of children, helping them develop their skills while building lasting friendships.
SMILE Project Evolution
In February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of schools like Manovikas, our founder Asha Durga stepped up to expand the program into a broader community initiative — thus creating SMILE CITY. What began with Asha’s lessons for children in the San Francisco Bay Area quickly expanded to include children from across the United States, with new SMILE CITIES launching in Saratoga, Fremont, Palo Alto, Los Altos, North Carolina, and Raleigh. Our goal is simple: to spread joy and learning through fun and engaging online experiences.
What We Do
SMILE CITIES: Each city under our program runs virtual classrooms that connect children with special needs to a network of supportive peers and mentors. Through Zoom sessions, we offer a range of activities, from art and dance to yoga, storytelling, English grammar, alphabet recognition and phonics, and meditation. Every session is designed to help children connect, grow, and most importantly — smile.
E3 Program (English Empowerment with Enjoyment): Through our fun E3 Program, we teach conversational English in a way that makes learning enjoyable and accessible. The program uses short 2-3 minute video lessons to introduce English vocabulary at a kindergarten level. Our ultimate goal is to empower children with the confidence to speak, build trust, and help them see their potential.
Creating Connections: What started with a few children has blossomed into a vibrant community. SMILE has now expanded to over 100 children, and we are continuing to grow. What makes us unique is the strong bond between the volunteers and students — a bond that has turned virtual classrooms into a space of joy, connection, and encouragement.
Our Impact
The SMILE Project is not just about learning; it’s about fostering confidence, self-worth, and empowerment. Seeing a child recognize nouns and verbs for the first time, or witnessing their shy smile turn into a joyful laugh, is the most rewarding part of our work.
We are deeply committed to creating a positive change in the lives of children with special needs. Every child who smiles, learns, and connects with us, is a step towards a brighter future.
Join Us in Our Mission
The SMILE Project continues to grow with the help of dedicated volunteers, mentors, and partners. Together, we can create a loving and inclusive environment for every child, everywhere. Whether you are a volunteer, donor, or supporter, we invite you to become a part of this beautiful journey.
Founder Of SMILE
The founder of this program is 11-year-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
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)
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:
Over 22 projects funded
Over 100,000 children served
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.
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