Smiles Through Cars is a not-for-profit organization whose dedicated volunteers use the unusual combination of superhero costumes and exotic cars to bring smiles to the faces of sick and underprivileged children during times of despair.
Founder and Great Neck, NY resident Josh Aryeh has made a name for himself over the years by dressing up as the famed caped crusader himself, Batman, and paying visits to troubled kids in a variety of high-end automobiles, shining a ray of hope upon them when things seem their darkest.
“It initially started off with children battling cancer,” he said. “But as the organization grew and our awareness grew, we started including other issues as well, such as children battling rare diseases, special needs, autism, children who are victims of bullying or battling severe anxiety or depression, and much more.”
While based on Long Island, the team at Smiles Through Cars has a national and even international reach via the organization's Instagram account, which currently has almost 400,000 followers.
“We have people doing visits all throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, and numerous other areas as well. While I go to a lot of these appearances, I also have a team that does appearances as well,” Aryeh said. “For children in Europe, we can use our social media to try to find someone in the area that can do the physical visit. Either that or we can do a video chat or create a personalized video for the child, often featuring their favorite superhero or a tour of their favorite exotic car.”
Aryeh originally started performing this service on his own in 2006; the Batman costume came into play later on, but initially he was just a charitable guy with a big heart who just so happened to have access to a number of fancy cars.
“I grew up on Long Island in a very middle-class family, but I was picked on by a lot of kids because I grew up in an affluent area and I wasn't affluent,” he said. “As I grew older, I developed a passion for exotic cars and I became friends with affluent people that wouldn't mind if I borrowed their Ferrari or their Lamborghini for a day, a weekend, or even an entire week.”
One day Aryeh had an idea: the same way that he grew up loving these exotic cars made him realize that there had to be some sick and underprivileged children that had the very same desire.
“After all, I'm not the only one who's ever wanted to ride in a Lamborghini,” he said. “I couldn't afford to donate a lot of money, but I could donate my time. So I started calling up charities and letting them know that I had access to almost any exotic car in the world, and asked if they knew children who were going through a tough time.”
The first callback Aryeh received was on behalf of an 8-year-old girl in Queens who had been battling Stage 4 cancer who had always dreamed of riding in a Lamborghini; he quickly paid her a visit, with some startling results.
“When I saw her she was in a wheelchair looking down at the ground, and when she looked up and saw a bright yellow convertible Lamborghini parked in front of her house, her entire face lit up with one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen,” he said. “I got her in the car and drove her around for 20 minutes. When we got back to the house, her mother started hysterically crying. I asked what was wrong, and she told me that her daughter had been diagnosed with cancer at the age of four and had endured over 20 surgeries, and this is the first time she’d seen her smile since she was first diagnosed.”
Aryeh was amazed at the impact that something as simple as a car could have upon a child facing the battle of their life; he refers to meeting that young lady as one of the pieces of the puzzle that has formed who he is today.
“When I saw her reaction I knew that I had to do this more often,” he said.
Another major piece of the puzzle that formed the basis for his life was a series of heart attacks that his father suffered, the first of which occurred when Aryeh was merely 12 years old.
As his father continued to suffer health issues throughout the years, Aryeh also was forced to endure the tragic passing of his sister, who died after battling a staph infection; it was these hardships that bestowed upon him a degree of sensitivity and empathy for the plights of others, he said.
“I know what it's like to be in a hospital, hoping and begging and praying for your loved one to get better,” he said. “So I know exactly what it is these families are going through, and that's why I can be so empathetic with them. It's why I do what I do and why I'm so passionate about it.”
The superhero aspect was incorporated later, after Aryeh said he saw a 2012 news report about a philanthropist from Baltimore named Lenny Robinson who regularly visited sick children in his black Lamborghini while dressed as Batman. In 2015, Josh was heartbroken to learn of Robinson’s unfortunate death in a car accident, and was inspired to take up the mantle of Batman in his place.
“I never had the privilege to meet Lenny, but I was inspired by what he was doing. Until that point I'd never gone in costume, but I didn't want Lenny Robinson's dream to die with him,” he said. “So that's what led me to becoming Batman, to continue his legacy.”
However, as Smiles Through Cars attracted more and more volunteers, all manner of superheroes were represented in Aryeh’s team, ranging from Batman, Robin, Superman, and more; in addition, there were also princesses and even dinosaurs, ensuring that no matter what a child's taste may be, Smiles Through Cars can cater to it and lift their spirits.
“Sometimes it's the cars, sometimes it's the costumes, but the real goal is to be there and spend time with the child and empathize with them and their family and help them out,” he said.
Aryeh said that donating his time and effort and transforming himself into the Dark Knight and fulfilling the wishes of children facing adversity has been the most rewarding experience of his life, and something that he looks forward to continuing for many years to come.
“It's nice to know that we are there for these families, and there have been a lot of families that we have visited throughout the years…literally tens of thousands of them,” he said. “When it comes to how I feel, I literally can't put into words the emotions that you experience when you're told that you helped a child pull through, or that we at least gave them one final smile. Enabling a parent to see their child smile one last time is literally worth all of the money in the world.”
To find out more, please visit www.smilesthroughcars.org or follow their Instagram account.