What can $10 Do?.....a lot !!!!!!

A pitcher of Kilt Lifter Beer @ 4 peaks brewery in Tempe, AZ :: ($13.59)

A Chilli Onion Uthappam @ SarvanaBhavan in Sunnyvale, CA :: ($10.99)

1 Gold Class movie ticket @ PVR Cinemas, Bengaluru, India :: ($10.41)

1 "ROBOT/ENDHIRAN" movie ticket @ a local Cinema, USA :: ($25.00)

A smile on a child’s face :: PRICELESS !!!!!

10 Smiles Restored, 30 More To Go !!!!

Hello Gang,

Thanks a lot for all the generous gifts and wishes that poured in, starting last holiday season till date.

Total donations till date = $2,875, which takes care of 10 complete surgeries !!! That's Awesome

We as a team (all of us together) have changed the lives of 10 kids for the better. Just imagine, try to visualize these kids walking around their neighborhoods with a glowing smile on their face, with their heads held high. Wow, what a bright future they have ahead of them. We can feel blessed that we had a small part to play in their wonderful journey.

But, we can't stop here. We have $7,500 more to go, 30 more smiles to restore and we need the help of each and every one of you. Once again, all we ask for is $10 (feel free to donate more). But most importantly please Spread The Word Around.

Thanks for helping us change the world, one smile at a time :) !!!

Wishing you and your family a great holiday season in 2010

Lots of love

Who are we and What is "40 SMILES" all about?

“SMILE TRAIN” is a charity organization that provides free cleft lip and palate surgery for children in developing countries. They perform this surgery for as little as $250 and in only 45 minutes, giving children a new smile and a new life. What’s wonderful about Smile Train is that 100% of the charity contributions go towards these surgeries.

We are a group of passionate and motivated individuals who have been contributing to Smile Train since 2006 in small amounts, around $700 each year. In 2009 we decided to collect $10,000 for Smile Train, which will help 40 children in their surgery. In order to accomplish this big goal, we do understand the importance of reaching out to all our friends and their friends and so on.

The idea is to collect a $10, a small amount of money from each individual (the cost of a lunch or a movie ticket) and channelize our efforts in spreading the word to at least 1,000 people, resulting in $10,000 which will change the lives of 40 young children, creating 40 new smiling faces in this world.

How it all started !!!

On a sunny Sunday morning during spring break 2006, savoring his bagel and coffee at a local breakfast place, Amit’s eye caught the attention of a full spread advertisement in New York Times about an organization called Smile Train that was changing lives of young children who were suffering from a condition known as Cleft Lip.

Inspired by what he read, Amit came home and shared the idea of contributing to the cause, with Dhanur and Myself. That was a beginning of a spirited and collaborative effort by us, then a group of students at ASU, to collect money towards the cause.

We collected and donated $700 in 2006 and $765 in 2007. In 2008 we contributed individually but did not organize a collective effort. But we did realize that if a few of us can get together and change the lives of 3 kids by collecting $765, we can do more by involving a lot more of our friends and their friends and so on.....