I'm Dr. Fariba Hemat.

 

Not far from my neighborhood, I saw many kids that did not go to school and stayed home to help their moms. I always thought how nice it would be to be able to send these kids to school.

 

Later on when I was attending UCLA, I saw so many homeless people just lying on the grass by the beach. Although I brought food for a few homeless every Saturday,  I knew that was not a real solution...

 

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I started my rotation for USC dental school and I had to be in downtown Los Angeles at 7am to restore teeth for the homeless  at the clinic. Many had missing teeth, or teeth that were beyond restoration. I was hoping that one day I should be able to help them.

 

A few years ago, my son and I were at The House of Records in Santa Ana.  It was overwhelming to see hundreds of homeless people with their children sleeping on the grass. My son reacted cluelessly as to why these people were on the streets! After I explained as much as I could, he was shocked that all the teens were sleeping on the grass and asked "where would they go if they needed a restroom?". It was then that we decided to start this organization, to help the homeless teens and bring them back into the society as productive individuals.