Changing lives one smile at a time
Each year, 280,000 children throughout the world are born with cleft lip and cleft palate deformities. Utah State University has more than 100 students working to help those children through the USU chapter of Operation Smile.
The national organization sends high school and college students along with 5,000 medical volunteers to 21 developing countries each year. The missions last one or two weeks, and 200 to 300 operations are performed on each mission, according to information provided by Operation Smile.
Student members of the organization can go on missions for $400, all inclusive, said Aminda Thurn, president of the USU chapter. College students assist the medical volunteers and keep records, and high school students teach oral hygiene to the community, she said.
Lindsey Wells, a junior studying social work, spent nine days in Fortaleza, Brazil on an Operation Smile mission as a high schooler. She spent her time in the hospital teaching children and their parents about nutrition and playing with the patients after surgery, she said.
“To actually be there in person with the kids and to see their faces before and after is just amazing,” she said.
Trisha Thurgood, a sophomore elementary education major, also went on a mission in high school. She has been involved with the program for five years and went to Peru on a mission.
“It was awesome and just the best experience,” she said. “My favorite part was being able to see where the money goes firsthand.”
Thurn has applied to go on a mission next winter or spring. Students don’t choose which country they go to, and Thurn doesn’t know yet where she’ll be serving, she said.
“I want to go to Kenya or China,” she said. “I’m learning some Chinese now, and I just think Kenya sounds cool.”
Each mission turns away about two out of every three children because of lack of funds. The younger children and those with the most severe deformities are the most likely to get an operation. Younger children heal faster, Thurn said.
Each operation costs $750 for supplies, which is paid for by Operation Smile.
The patients and their families don’t pay anything for the surgeries.
Thurn, a senior studying health education, got started with Operation Smile as a freshman.
“I wanted to be involved when I came up to college, and Operation Smille was just a really good opportunity,” she said. “My favorite part is the different chances I have to interact with people and get to know them better.”
The USU chapter has three committees. One raises awareness of the organization, one is in charge of service, and the other works on fundraising, Thurn said.
They do a variety of service projects – from the Special Olympics to the Festival of Trees to visiting people in the hospital, Thurn said.
Each year, the chapter puts on The Battle of the Bands at Logan High School, which raises about $2,000, she said.
April’s fundraiser is High Five for Smiles, which should raise $468,000 in two months through a pyramid in which each person donates $5 and recruits five others to donate $5, according to Operation Smile information. If succesful, the fundraiser will pay for over 600 operations.
“It encourages everyone to donate $5 and has the opportunity to raise more than any other state’s student organization,” Thurn said.
The kickoff for the fundraiser was Wednesday, and Weber State University, Brigham Young University, the University of Utah and Westminster College are also participating, Thurn said.
“It has far-reaching effects because there will be lots of people involved and telling their friends,” she said.
Utah has more students involved with Operation Smile than any other state, Thurn said.
Thurgood and Wells said they stay involved with the organization because it gives them a chance to help others.
“I stay involved because there are so many bad things going on in the world, and it’s a way you can make a difference and change people’s lives and make the world a better place.”
Wells said, “My favorite part is just knowing that it’s a good cause and it
makes a real difference. Kids lives are changed forever. That’s what really makes it worthwhile for me.”
For more information about Operation Smile, see it’s Web site. Membership fees are $15 a year.