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DECEMBER 9, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
love. It’s not about the gift, it’s how you give it to them. More importantly than just giving something, it’s treating somebody like a human being. We do a lot with the homeless as well. We go into Manhattan with other friends, and we give out food and clothing; we set up tables and give out hot drinks. We even had an ice cream truck that was rented come to the location, and the homeless people got to line up and order from an ice cream truck. They got to feel like a human being. When was the last time they may have gone to an ice cream truck and ordered like a normal person? We get different things like lightly worn sneakers given to them, and then you’re just talking to them like a normal person.
What are some of the ways you feel you’ve made an impact? A lot of these children really struggle, whether it’s illness or suicidal thoughts or they’re really going through a tough time, and you want to give them something to really look forward to. We may say something like, “Today you’re having a hard day, but if you can get through the next two weeks without really talking about that, then we’ll take you for a helicopter ride and go for a ride around New York City.” You can kind of incentivize them by saying, “I know it’s tough, but I want to help you.” I’ve had children throughout the years that grew up since we’ve done the visits that openly told us that we’re the reason why they are still alive. I remember the first time I heard it. I looked at the boy and I said, “What do you mean?” And he explained that when he was in the hospital for years battling cancer, going in for these chemotherapy treatments and taking pills and all that, getting the IVs and the ports and all these painful things and being sick from it and having to inject himself on the off days with shots to boost the white blood cells, it was just horrible. He just wanted to give up. But I always came into the hospital and talked to him and told him that when he gets out, we would take him for pizza, or to a restaurant, and we’ll him up in a Rolls Royce… We kind of gave him something to look forward to, and he said that experience was just so enjoyable that it helped him push forward. So you don’t even realize the impact you’re having – there’s no such thing as a small kind deed.
Did you ever have a hard time when you saw some things that were difficult? Does it weigh on you a lot? I talk openly about it – I go to therapy once or twice a week. I say it openly. I didn’t for a long time, and it was eating me up inside, because it’s really not easy experiencing these things and seeing it, and someone told me that I should be going to a therapist to talk. At the beginning, I was very against going to therapy because of the stigma. It’s not like the first day you go and you see results. It’s like when you first go to a gym. If you had a six-pack the next day, the gyms would be packed! It takes a lot of dedication and work, and you have to find the right therapist. But I go once or twice a week to
Stopping traffic in Times Square talk to somebody about what we see, because it’s not easy to see a child in that much pain. Unfortunately, a lot of children we visit for years in a row pass away. It’s not easy knowing a kid from the ages of 2 to 7 and then they die. You’re visiting them once a week, once a month, for years in a row and you’re FaceTiming them, you get connected to them. You become part of the family. Some of the kids call us “Uncle Batman” or “Uncle Whatever.” You become their uncle in a way because you become more of a family figure to them. So I talk openly about going to therapy. It’s important to go to therapy for whatever you’re feeling, to get things off your chest, because keeping it all in, even if you don’t notice it, eats you up inside. The stress, the anxiety, the sadness – it’s important to get it out. For a while I didn’t talk about it all, but I see it’s important especially now post-Covid. That’s the purpose of my social media accounts. There are messages saying that my page and what my team is doing has helped them with what they’re going through. Also seeing the random acts of kindness, even though they’re in other parts of the world – you don’t know the ripple effect that you have with someone you never met. You don’t know the impact that you could be having. I didn’t reveal my name until 2019 because I wanted it to be more about the mission than the person behind the mask. But then people said if you talk about the experiences and the struggles that you’ve had, it will enable people to understand more and maybe feel more at peace with their
own. That’s why I’m starting now to actually talk. I want it to be more about the charity – it’s a team effort and I’m only one guy. Without the sponsors and the volunteers, I’d never be able to have an impact without all of them, and without their ideas and their guidance and all that. I’m only as great as the team. I need everyone’s help to be able to continue doing it. My ultimate goal is global awareness. I want this initiative in every city across the world.
What else are you hoping to do with Smiles Through Cars? I want to be able to do more. My worst feeling is when a child has a wish, and we’re limited with how much we can do for the child. If a parent passes away and they have younger children at home, you want to be able to go in that week and bring presents, so that could be hundreds of dollars for one family. You can’t think of it from an outsider’s perspective – if you were in that situation, if it was your family member, what would you be doing for them? And that’s kind of what we do for every child. There’s kind of no limit. I want to do whatever that kid needs to be able to have that push to be able to smile, to get through. You could be the reason why they battled cancer; you don’t know, even though their prognosis can be that they live for two months, a lot of these children beat cancer. There are multiple children that we visited who were on hospice care who beat cancer – and there’s no medical explanation. So there’s no limit when we want to show them
Any advice to those who want to help others but don’t have much time or resources to do so? Do acts of kindness – if you want to call it a small kind deed – just do something to help the world. There is no such thing as a small kind deed – to them, it could be that they were having the worst day of their life and you doing something, even holding the door open, can make the world a difference to that person. To you, it’s just something simple; to them, it was something that was like a world of a difference. If you don’t have the time, if you have a full-time job or you’re a parent, people do have responsibilities and not everybody has the luxury of time. But if you see somebody, treat them like a human being — hold the door open, say “good morning”, smile — to you it might just be a “good morning” but you have no idea the impact it has on the other person. You don’t know the affect you can have. It could save a life. To donate, volunteer or find out more visit www.smilesthroughcars. com, @smilesthroughcars or @batmanrealaccount *Update from Josh: Anthony lived in the hospital for four years. Finally, at the age of 7, he was just discharged from the hospital. He needed a double lung transplant but thankfully his condition has improved. He has been removed from the waitlist to receive a new pair of lungs. After visiting him with my team for nearly 3-4 years, it was one of the happiest moments to be there when he was being discharged!
