The Operation Smile Club at Malibu High School is having a fundraising gala June 16 to raise funds for the international organization that provides reconstructive facial surgery free of charge to those in need.
By Ward Lauren / Special to The Malibu Times
The second annual fundraising gala on behalf of Operation Smile, an international organization dedicated to providing free facial reconstructive surgery to children in Third World countries, will take place June 16 at the Sunset Restaurant on Westward Beach under the sponsorship of the Operation Smile Club at Malibu High School.
The Malibu High School club is one of 450 student associate groups throughout the United States and the world that builds awareness of Operation Smile, raises funds and educates students in the values of commitment, leadership and volunteerism, said Sarah Prunier, co-advisor to the club, along with fellow teacher Heather Gardner.
Operation Smile functions around the world through volunteers “to repair childhood facial deformities while building public and private partnerships that advocate for sustainable healthcare systems for children and families,” according to the organization’s mission statement. “We create smiles, change lives, heal humanity.”
A prime example of the organization’s work, and how well it accomplishes it, Prunier said, exists in the person of the evening’s guest speaker, Jose Villegas.
Villegas was a youngster in the Philippines when he sought the help of Operation Smile many years ago. At the time, a two-pound tumor hung from his chin. It was so debilitating and unsightly, he refused to go outdoors and be seen in public.
Two years in a row he showed up among those applying for help from the visiting doctors when they were in his area, but both times he gave up his place in line to a child he thought needed help more than he. For this, he was ultimately selected as a “world care patient” and brought to Operation Smile headquarters in Norfolk, Va. where surgeons removed the tumor and reconstructed his jaw in a series of nine operations.
Villegas stayed with Operation Smile in various jobs at Norfolk and today, married, a citizen and a father, he is head of the organization’s speakers bureau. He coordinates the activities of some 70 speakers who travel to meetings and dinners to tell the story of Operation Smile.
“Jose Villegas is a wonderful and inspiring speaker himself,” Prunier said. “His appearance at our fundraiser will definitely be the highlight of an outstanding program.”
In a typical medical mission, 35 to 40 credentialed medical professionals from around the world travel to Operation Smile partner countries to treat needy children during a two-week period. Between 100 and 150 young patients are treated during the mission.
Two students and a chaperone from one of the school programs such as the Malibu High club attend each of the 22 missions that are undertaken each year, Prunier said. Malibu High School students Brianna Sacks and Sarah Paxton just returned Sunday from Vietnam, on behalf of the school’s Operation Smile Club.
Operation Smile was founded in 1982 by Dr. William P. Magee, a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathleen. In the Philippines with a group of medical volunteers, they discovered hundreds of children with facial deformities such as cleft palates. There were too many to help. That was the stimulus that gave birth to Operation Smile.
Today, the organization coordinates more than 25 medical mission sites in 24 countries. Last year it provided free surgeries for 8,359 children in partner nations of Asia, South and Central America, Mexico, the Middle East and Africa.
During the past 23 years, Operation Smile volunteers have provided free reconstructive surgery to some 98,000 children and young adults in a total of 30 countries. In addition, thousands of healthcare professionals have been trained globally through the organization’s physician’s training program.
Operation Smile literature states that 86 percent of cash donations it receives goes directly to programs helping children. Every dollar yields five dollars in additional services, the organization maintains.
Admission price of the June 16 gala is $100 donation to Operation Smile. The evening’s program will include cocktails, dinner, a silent auction and a renowned guest speaker. Tickets can be reserved by calling Sarah Prunier at 310.774.1375.