A native Californian (Los Angeles), Petty-Officer Smith has served as NHEP-SD's founding Board President, since its inception and incorporation.  Smith is just shy of his sixteenth year of Naval service, serving as a Meteorologist and Oceanographer.  Smith and his wife Megan have been married for eighteen years, and have four children; first diagnosed with special needs, in 2012.  A that point, that the two of them embarked on a journey of heartache, discovery, and triumph, preparing them for their future in the special-needs community.

 

Smith’s philosophy is, “With experience comes knowledge, and that nothing teaches you more than your mistakes.”  It is with that motto, NHEP-SD's inception was born.  With ten-plus years of running through the special-needs community, Harry and his wife realized that they had come to a level of understanding and experience in the community, benefitting the public.

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With this in mind, and the help of a high-school friend in the nonprofit sector, they founded NHEP-SD: aiming to educate and guide parents through the vast and overwhelming nature of the special-needs community, and allowing for a quicker and more proficient continuum-of-care.  With these humble beginnings, the vision for his involvement in the special-needs community was born.