“That One Yes Changed Everything:”
How Amanda Cardone Built a Safe Haven for Children with Special Needs, with a Little Help from HFL
Amanda Cardone always knew her purpose. Even as a child, she found herself instinctively drawn to kids with special needs. “There was a young girl at my church who had Down Syndrome,” Amanda recalled. “I was one of the only people who could calm her down when she was having an episode. Even then, I knew there was something there for me.”
Amanda went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s in special education. Just days after graduating, she began her career in early intervention services, supporting children from birth to age 3. For more than a decade, Amanda traveled from school to school, working with children who often fell through the cracks. And over time, something began to gnaw at her:
“I would go into classrooms where they’d say, ‘Oh, we just leave little Johnny over there. It’s too much of a bother to include him.’ And I’d say, ‘That doesn’t work for me. That does nothing for little Johnny.’”
Amanda began dreaming of a different and better reality—a place where children of all abilities would be seen, supported, and celebrated. So when an opportunity came to open a learning center through a large early intervention organization, she jumped in. But the celebration was short-lived: within months, the company shut her doors with 30 days warning, leaving Amanda and 32 families scrambling.
“These were kids who had already been removed from other centers. They had finally found security, and suddenly it was gone,” she recalled. “The families turned to me and said, ‘Wherever you go, we’ll go with you.’”
Amanda and her fiancé had just bought a house. The timing was terrifying. But his words were simple and effective: “This has always been your dream. Let’s try.”
Knocking on closed doors
Amanda wrote a business plan. Families helped her find a space. Her vision was clear. But the funding? That was another story.
Bank after bank turned her away. “They loved my story,” she emphasized, “but they didn’t know the outcome. And every time, it was: ‘Sorry, we can’t help you.’” Amanda knocked on dozens of doors. Reflecting on her feelings throughout the process, she said, “Every ‘no’ chips away at you. You start to ask yourself, ‘Is this really my purpose?’”
Shortly after, a silent donor stepped in to help outfit the building and got Amanda started. However, she still needed working capital in order to hire staff, secure signage, and let other families know her center existed. That’s when her grandmother handed her a newspaper clipping.
“She told me, ‘Call these people at Hebrew Free Loan Society. Just give it a shot,’” Amanda recalled. “I said, ‘Grandma, I’ve tried everything.’ And she said, ‘Just call them.’ So I did.”
Amanda reflected on how different and easy the process was with HFL. “I didn’t have to fight. I didn’t have to prove every detail,” she remembered. “They saw a girl with a dream, with a purpose—and they gave me a shot when no one else would.”
The loan Amanda received from HFL helped her breathe. “It wasn’t just the financial piece,” she noted. “It was the ‘yes.’ It was being seen. That one ‘yes’ changed everything.”
Building a Legacy
This November marks 12 years since Amanda opened Tiny Little Pieces Learning Center in Bellmawr, NJ—a warm, inclusive preschool where every child belongs. And just two months prior, in September, she opened a second location in her hometown of Florence, NJ.
“Now I’m partnering with the public school district on preschool programming. It’s an honor to be doing this work in my own community, with the children and families who trust us.”
When asked what she’d say to other small business owners feeling defeated, Amanda didn’t hesitate: “Don’t give up. You’ll hear ‘no’ a thousand times. But your purpose—your real purpose—it will keep calling you. Sit with it. Remember why you started. And knock on one more door. Because that 1,001st door? That might be the one that changes your life. For me, that was HFL.”
