A small group of volunteers led by Bel Hume is helping to put smiles on the faces of poor children around the world who are born with cleft palate/lip.
Since starting their fundraising campaign in 2010 the Williams Lake group has put smiles on the faces of more than 100 children around the world by raising funds for Operation Smile Canada.
Their fundraising style isn’t fancy. They hold hot dog sales, silent auctions, church concerts, and teas.
These days the group is stepping up its game by making colourful little hospital gowns for children to wear when they go in for surgery.
Hume invites others to join them in making the hospital gowns on Thursday, Feb. 4 and Thursday, Feb. 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. each day at the St. John Lutheran Church on Hodgson Road. Hume can be reached at 250-398-8740.
“Bring along your portable sewing machine and sewing items,” invites Hume.
Those who don’t sew, can still help by cutting out patterns or bringing along an ironing board and iron to press the gowns.
She says they are making the gowns out of cotton because they will be going to hot countries, where they will stay with the host hospital.
She says members of the Cariboo Piecemakers club inspired by RN Gaye Enns also made 75 “arm-boards” for the hospitals.
The arm-boards are little wraps that go around the children’s elbows with a compartment for a tongue depressor. The simple system keeps the children from scratching their faces when they come out of surgery. Enns learned how to make the arm-boards while volunteering with a health team in Guatemala.
Hume also encourages people to donate to Operation Smile Canada which sends teams of volunteer doctors to perform cleft palate/lip surgery free of charge for children in developing countries.
“It’s exciting because these children have an opportunity to have better health and a better life,” Hume says. “The smile says it all.”
She says each surgery costs $240 and provides a child with the opportunity to have good health, speech and be able to go to school.
She encourages the Williams Lake community to celebrate Valentines Day in a special way this year by donating to Operation Smile.
Even small donations help the cause, she says. Tax receipts are available for any donations of $20 or more.
Operation Smile, founded in 1982 by Dr. Bill and Kathy Magee, estimates that a child is born every three minutes with a cleft lip/palate condition and one in 10 of those children will die before their first birthday.
A 45-minute surgery will save or improve their lives, allow them to eat, socialize, and smile.
Today with the help of more than 5,000 medical volunteers, Operation Smile is able to provide surgery and aftercare for children in more than 60 countries.
“Our mission is to make sure that someday, every child who needs it has access to the surgery that can change their life forever,” the Magees say.
To donate to Operation Smile call 1-877-499-2145; mail your donation to Operation Smile, Box 235 Station Main, Markham, Ontario, Canada, L3P 3J7.
Or see the information at www.operationsmile.org/Canada.