A grass roots non-profit for the benefit of impoverished children of Bali and Tibetan refugee children in India

About Smiles for the Children

 

Smiles for the Children

Basic Beliefs

 

We believe that...

- all children deserve an environment of hope, respect and understanding;

- poverty is a personal experience for every child and this insight and sensitivity guides all of our actions;

- it takes a direct grass roots effort in order to substantially impact the issues of poverty that are facing children today;

The most efficient use of aid is to directly improve a child's life and future.

This means to become sensitive to the situation of the individual child, and provide help where it does the most good- to the community member's earning potential and to direct support of the children's immediate needs- with respect to their family and community.

 

First Hand Experiences

Having spent several years in Asia and India in particular, I have seen the level at which the poor live firsthand. I have also seen how children suffer from the poverty of their parents.

 Their hopes of reaching adulthood, let alone having a promising future are small indeed. But it also became apparent to me that a small amount of aid is very useful, be it for the purchase of:

- a required school uniform (that many parents cannot afford) so that the child may attend school;

- or the purchase of a simple farm implement- that will allow the child's father to feed his family;

- or constructing a simple village well that will allow mothers to use the hours they spent hauling water each day, for the care of her children instead;

- or building a low cost toilet that drastically reduces water born infections (a major cause of death of poor children in Asia)

- or introducing a cow dung fueled oven- saving many hours of firewood collection and damage to the environment.

A very small amount of aid can be

extremely effective.

 I personally saw that all of these types of small improvements can make a tremendous difference in the lives of impoverished children and their families.

The goal of Smiles for the Children is to open the path from destitution to an optimistic, bright future for these children.

 

...To bring smiles to their faces,

 for which every child has the right!

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Smiles for the Children is a small non-profit organization, with minimal overhead costs (all of our staff are volunteer). We operate at a grass roots level, with the agreement and cooperation of each community where we are involved, bringing the maximum benefit from each assistance dollar.

We are an IRS approved 501(c)(3) tax exempt charity. All donations are 100% tax deductable in the USA. We hold no political affiliation of any kind.