In 2008, as part of the 10th anniversary of Community Challenge Weekend (CCW), ALA celebrated this milestone by undertaking a special one-time organizational effort to help make a difference in the lives of children around the world. For this commitment, we were asked to support The Smile Train, an international charity whose mission is to provide free surgeries to thousands of children who suffer from cleft lips and palates.

Clefts are a major problem in developing countries. Most children with unrepaired clefts 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.

Since 2000, The Smile Train has provided this important surgery for more than 350,000 children who would otherwise never receive it. (The average age of a Smile Train patient is 6 years old.) The organization also has helped train over 23,000 medical professionals and has established programs and partners in 76 countries.

While one might think that these surgeries are expensive and take a lot or time … that is not the case. Cleft repair surgery is relatively inexpensive to perform (as little as $250) and takes as little as 45 minutes. That’s all it takes to give a desperate child not just a new smile, but a new life.

The Tulsa Chapter participated by selling Montag Candles (Montag being a local Tulsa area vendor) during the holidays. Through the efforts of several firms, we are sending Smile Train a check in the amount of $1,422.84 which will help change the lives of 6 children as they receive corrective surgery for their “smiles”. Thanks to all the firms that participated by selling candles.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 11:06 am and is filed under Community Outreach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.