SMILE

How SMILE all began:

The summer of 2007 John and Laurie Metzko participated in a charity event called “Shadow Woodstock”. They owned a pizza shop, and were asked to be one of the food vendors for the event. Since the event was charity driven, they decided part of our proceeds should go toward a charity - but which charity? They pondered the endless possibilities and found that one social issue stood out from all the others – single motherhood.

As a student at Hiram Weekend College, Laurie had met many women who were single mothers working towards better lives for themselves and their children. Each of these women had a story to tell. It was easy to see the dedication and hard work it took for each woman to succeed at furthering her education while balancing the responsibilities of working, getting the kids to and from their extra activities, helping with homework, as well as completing her own homework and all the other tasks that came along with being a single mom. John and Laurie's conclusion: what an incredible group of individuals that could use a helping hand!

Locally, they were unable to find an existing fund to meet the purposes intended, so they decided to create one. Hence, the concept of SMILE (Single Moms Improving Life thru Education) was born August 4, 2007.