Bryan Nurnberger

Bryan Nurnberger. Bryan is President and Founder of Simply Smiles Inc., an organization that builds villages of foster homes for indigenous children. The Simply Smiles model of foster care is a new and progressive one that provides a desperately needed, scalable and culturally appropriate response for Native children in Oaxaca, Mexico and on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota. In 2002, Bryan was a professional mountain climbing guide recovering from a climbing injury when he began volunteering at a Mexican orphanage. His experiences there inspired him to create Simply Smiles. Bryan was given the Lakota name “Cante Waste Wicasa” which means “Kind Hearted Man.” Backed by tribal elders, the tribal council, and the local community, the Simply Smiles Children’s Village on the Cheyenne River Reservation is serving the immediate needs of the most-at-risk Lakota children, but also scaffolding a brighter future by guiding today’s most vulnerable children to become tomorrow’s strongest and most influential adults. Simply Smiles children’s villages foster leaders, role models, and citizens of the world. Bryan says: “Simply Smiles has an important role to play in reaching a brighter future. But when the success story is written it should not be a story of this organization. It should be the story of how Native children wanted something different, something better, and with a little help, worked to achieve it. An organization like ours should be felt not seen. We should be a wind at your back.” More information at https://www.simplysmiles.org/.