A Little Bit Of Background
Growing up in a giving environment is one of the major reasons why the Smiles Included Inc. team decided to take on this venture of creating a non-profit that gives to those in need while creating a space, both physical & virtual, where they teach the world about generosity and gratitude.
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Yariela, born in Queens, New York & partially raised in Moca, Dominican Republic. There she learned so much about the Dominican campo culture. Yariela's grandmother being a giving woman, often over cooked on purpose to give food away to the neighbors and on Christmas Eve she prepared envelopes with money to help provide dinner for those less fortunate, a tradition that has been continued with Yariela and her father, allowing for more families to receive the gift every year. After returning to New York, Yariela gathered clothes and non-perishable foods with the help of family and friends to send back to the Dominican Republic.
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Franchesca, born and raised in Northern New Jersey, raised by Dominican parents who instilled from a very young age the importance of giving back to the community. On her yearly summer vacations to Dominican Republic, she would donate items to the less fortunate. Once Franchesca turned 18, living on her own, she didn’t always have a lot, but always made it a point to help others. Whenever there was a natural disaster, Franchesca would reach out to her circle for donations to purchase supplies for those affected.
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In 2006, Yariela meets Franchesca, although not immediately fond of each other, these two women with strong characters, very mature for their age at the time and more alike than they cared to admit, bonded over helping someone in need. Yariela, admired Franchesca's drive as a person and what a good friend she was to others. Franchesca, was inspired by Yariela's willingness to help others at a moments notice and knew their bond would grow into something bigger, something neither one of the thought possible.
In the Summer of 2019, they teamed up to do a School Supply Drive for kids in a small village in Bani, Dominican Republic, with the help of family, friends and social media, they gathered more supplies than they anticipated and were overwhelmed with gratitude and the ability to get more kids ready to receive an education.
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Starting a non-profit organization has been Yariela's long time dream, but having a hectic full time job and a child, she found herself procrastinating. Franchesca had heard Yariela constantly talk about wanting to start a non-profit organization for years and after such a successful event she decided to push her friend and join in on the fun.
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Unfortunately, due to the Pandemic, 2020 events were impossible. However, it opened the door to discussions and research for starting the non-profit. Franchesca and Yariela started sharing articles and having Zoom meetings.
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It became time bring some helping hands on board. Individuals with drive and purpose were needed, but they needed to be focused and willing to put in the work with a distant reward.
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Someone on the ground... Dioneydi "Nena".
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Dioneydi, born and raised in the Dominican Republic, met Yariela a few years ago via a family member and they became close friends. Dioneydi lives in a town called Nizao in the outskirts of Bani in the Dominican Republic. Although they had not met in person for the first couple of years of friendship, they created a bond over helping people in need. Dioneydi, who has a huge love for children, has worked being a Nanny over the years and is the mother of two beautiful daughters who are equally invested in giving as she is.
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Dioneydi and her family themselves do not have much and yet are always willing to give. Dioneydi often does offering events for Saints where she invite people over with their children for soda, coffee and cake to celebrate and give thanks for all their blessings. Yariela started to get involved by sending money to help with refreshments and boxes of clothes to give out at some of the offering events.
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As Yariela started to look for communities in the Dominican Republic to help, she needed someone she could trust with the goods she was sending and no one better than Dioneydi for the job. While discussing the task, Dioneydi was reminded of a place she was taken to as a child. The place was The Sanctuary of Saint Martin de Porres in Las Tablas, also in the outskirts of Bani, but on the opposite side of the village where she lives.
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The Sanctuary sits on a small hill and it was hand constructed by the believers of the village with the direction of Canadian Priest, Roberto Hymusskm, who was the parish Priest until he passed away in 1995. The Sanctuary has a decent amount of land around it and a club area to hold events and this made it the perfect place to gather the people from the village to distribute goods.
In 2018, Dioneydi along with her friends from the United States, including Yariela, came together to have the first gathering at the Sanctuary to give out clothes and shoes to the villagers. Franchesca had already been thinking about doing a School Supply Drive and this event prompted her to reach out to Yariela and suggested they join forces and that is how the 2019 School Supply Drive successfully came about.
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Dioneydi is our Events Manager in the Dominican Republic and has successfully organized events in 2019 and 2021.
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Thanks to Dioneydi, Smiles Included Inc. has decided to adopt the village of Las Tablas de Bani.
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On the inside... Sheila.
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Sheila, born in Queens, New York and partially raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with her grandfather until the age of 11, joined the United States Air Force at age 17. She has served almost 20 years with multiple deployments overseas. Growing up she always had a passion for help others and with her experience in other countries that passion grew. For years, Sheila has volunteered her time in multiple states and donates to her local communities, Dominican Republic and the Middle East. As a child, her grandfather taught her kindness by driving her around daily to give food and money to the less fortunate.
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Sheila, being Yariela's cousin and one of her closest friends, knew what starting this organization meant and how significant a difference she would be helping make in the world. It was a great opportunity to take that passion for helping people and put it to work.
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The decision to bring Sheila on board was not much of a discussion. Yariela and Franchesca knew that Sheila was a good fit. Sheila is resourceful and matriculate about her work and her passion for helping people is strong, there was no doubt she would do whatever it takes to help get the non-profit organization off the ground.
Sheila is our Operations Assistant and actively helps the Co-Founders make decisions.
