"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat"

Inspired by the words of Mother Teresa and the work of renowned Bangladeshi photographer GMB Akash and his friends to bring some happiness and love to the lives of the forgotten people in society, in May 2016 Afzala, Hanif and I started a small campaign called #EidSmiles2016.

The concept of #EidSmiles2016 was very simple, raise small donations from our family & friends and buy Eid gifts for those most vulnerable and needy in society. We made a small pledge to put a smile on the faces of at least 100 random strangers as a random act of kindness. The response from our family & friends was overwhelming. In a short span of just 2 weeks, we raised enough money to buy 500 gifts.

Given the short time span and logistics, we primarily concentrated our efforts on giving new saris to elderly women in rural villages of Sylhet and new clothes to homeless street children of Dhaka. The new clothes cost as little as £2.50 each.

Following on from our efforts in 2016, the team are back in 2017 with #JustSmiles the new project that aims to support the vulnerable and needy both overseas and here in the UK through two separate campaigns #EidSmiles2017 and #XmasSmiles2017.

One of the fundamental aims of the project is to get more people to think about others less fortunate than ourselves.

Working in partnership with the young people's charity Newark Youth London #EidSmiles2017 was officially launched on 25th April 2017 at the House of Parliament in London. 

I hope you will join us in bringing a moment of happiness by making a stranger SMILE through your small donation 🙏🏻

Kind Regards
Faruk Miah MBE
Team #EidSmiles2017

www.justsmiles.org.uk

info@justsmiles.org.uk

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