Monday, September 6, 2010

Keep Smiling!

Good friends of ours - and friends to many of you - have had a year unlike any other. Saying it’s been a bad year is unjust - it has been a terrible year. The kind of year that you would think twice about wishing upon your worst enemy. As friends, we hope to do our part by showing love and support, but we're always wishing we could do more, and short of being a neuro or colorectal surgeon, there’s little we can do but wish for rapid and painless recovery.
However, we had an idea. Why not do something that we KNOW will improve the life of another and do it in their honor? There’s got to be some healing power in that, right? In the past year, we’ve donated to many different charities in order to help many well-meaning friends reach fund-raising goals [a noble and selfless endeavor to be sure!], but we’ve neglected a charity which is dear to our heart - SmileTrain (http://www.smiletrain.org).
Unlike many charities that do many different things, The SmileTrain mission is focused on solving a single problem: cleft lip and palate.
Clefts are a major problem in developing countries where there are millions of children who are suffering with unrepaired clefts. Most cannot eat or speak properly. Aren’t allowed to attend school or hold a job. And face very difficult lives filled with shame and isolation, pain, and heartache.
The good news is every single child with a cleft can be helped with surgery that costs as little as $250 and takes as little as 45 minutes.
SmileTrain’s mission:
  • To provide free cleft surgery for millions of poor children in developing countries.
  • To provide free cleft-related training for doctors and medical professionals.
And do it until there are no more children who need help and we have completely eradicated the problem of clefts.
So with that mission in mind, we are pleased to make a donation of $50 to SmileTrain with our friend's rapid recovery in mind. $50 is enough to cover the cost of the medications used in the procedure. It is our hope that it will brighten our friends’ day knowing that somewhere, someday a person will be able to grow and proudly display a full, thick, well-groomed, waxed curly mustache on their fully developed upper lip! (A little inside joke to close this solemn message.)


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