While filming a TV show on the birth of meditation in Kathmandu, Nepal, my eyes wandered over the rubble and complete devastation from the earthquake. It was estimated that about 9,000 people were killed, thousands were injured, and over 80,000 homes and entire regions and villages were destroyed. Aftershocks were felt for several days; 1,900 more deaths, more injuries, and more devastation followed. I remember reading that children were found alive in the rubble. What!!! A 4-month-old baby and a 15-year-old boy who had been trapped for six days. Were there more? I began investigating. There was a story of a baby wrapped in plastic left in a dustbin. Seventy-five children were rescued at the border, escaping the clutches of traffickers, and we were told on the news that 120 children survived.

Where were the children? It took days until I found the location of a makeshift orphanage. I needed a driver and an interpreter, and I needed my strength to see what could not be unseen or unheard.

The rest of the film crew were off to explore the monkey temples, Kilimanjaro, the stupa, and the ancient relics and sites, and here I was solo, headed to find the children. I was driving on a road that was not a road, my head bopping off my neck, over gravel, rocks, and sheer devastation of a region and county. Finally, after several hours of what looked like driving on the moon, I was met by a young boy around nine years of age waving a piece of red fabric in the air. His hands never stopped; he had been ordered to wave us down, and here in the middle of nowhere we parked.

Now for the hike, miles and hours up and down steep cliffs until we arrived at a stone building destroyed and barely standing erect. No doors, mud floors, no running water, no towels, no desks, no paper, no pens, 1 broken chair, no books, no toys, no music, nothing.

There was one single bowl, no forks, no plates, no spoons, no cups, just one single bowl for 126 children from 8 months to 18 years of age. The children slept side by side on the floor. No beds, no pillows, no sheets, no blankets, just the mud floor to rest upon. They had six random pairs of shoes. Six pairs of shoes for 126 children.

The caretakers slept outside an ominous room. It was the one and only room that had a door. The door had a heavy padlock, and the small room had no windows or light. It was completely dark inside. The caretakers would place all the girls from 12-18 inside this room which looked like a cell in a dungeon, to sleep on the mud floor, to ensure they weren’t stolen and sold into sex trade. This dark, dank room kept them safe.

My heart was shattered. I immediately raced back to our hotel, banging on every door to get resources and help. They needed everything. I reached out to my friends across the globe, and immediately I took on these 126 children as my own.

People ask Nicole, “What is it that you do? What do you see? I see life. I see hope. I see a need. I see answers. I see solutions. I see resources and possibilities.

I have visited senior centers in countries where the seniors are hidden hours and hours and miles and miles and miles from society with only the frail torn clothes on their bodies. Floor mats and a single broken bowl for food huddled together in rodent-infested quarters. This is how they lived. Forgotten, abandoned, and alone. We have changed all that. My friends and I have made sure that they are seen, appreciated, cared for, and no longer forgotten. Teens come and visit, music now fills the rooms, clothes and food and care and medicine and hope are provided, tenderness is provided, and they are no longer invisible, hidden from the world. We can all gift our time, friendship, and love.

I have been to colleges across the globe with hopeful youth wanting to make a difference and to step up and out into a world that awaits them. I have brought resources, funding, mentors, leadership, inspiration, scholarships, and ways to circle back to help their region, island, community, and their countries.

I am sent when we think communication is not possible. When I go to an area or to an organization that is immobile, warring, or putting up walls, hurdles, or barriers, I want to walk through seamlessly with effort and ease. I don’t want to bring love. I want to be love itself. I want to be able to talk to anyone, hug people, look them in the eye, and share in our common soul and our gift of being alive.

In India I had the opportunity to go to the School for the Blind. It was extraordinary. These children may be visually blind, but they can see each other’s hearts. They are amazing children, as are their teachers and parents and friends. These children are truly gifted, and they are granted friendship, support, education, community, and love. I learn so much, and I can see so much more. I can now see past what my eyes can show me, as these children are grand teachers of the universe.

I have been to countries where it is illegal to ride a bicycle or where you can get arrested for riding on a skateboard. You can get arrested for watching TV or for listening to the radio. Once you see this. You are somehow changed. I am changed. I now appreciate and understand freedom in a whole new way.

I have seen a 4-year-old selling everything on a street corner, and I have been the keynote speaker at the United Nations on Children at Wartime. I spoke about children whose parents have been killed and then guns are put in their little hands, and they are trained at age 6, 7, or 8 to kill. Once you see this and know this, a little league game or a ballet recital has so much more richness and meaning.

I have sat in elementary school classrooms in various countries, and I have toured islands and areas of devastation.

I work with organizations to preserve land and nature, and I have worked with the indigenous people and tribes, teaching land rights and learning to listen to nature itself.

I have listened to the hearts of the people and gone back time and time again with an outstretched hand and a bridge to the other side.

All the organizations on this site I have worked with personally. They are all tremendous. They are uplifting and impactful. They are known for their integrity, values, and deep humanity service and care. They are evolutionary. I am so proud to be a part of these organizations, foundations, charities, and life-changing events. They are filled with joy, compassion, and kindness. As I bring kindness to you and kindness to the world.