I dedicated my 50 by 50 Rippingtons Show donations to a scholarship fund. After my Mom passed away from cancer, I donated my time and talent to a cancer survivors group called "Life After The Storm" - their film and story will be broadcast in 2010.
www.lifeafterstorm.comI have donated to The Smile Train for several years now.
Read Kabir's story. 
This is my favorite charity - changing the lives of children in the US and around the world. These kids are born with cleft lips and palates.
Surgeons, nurses and medical practitioners donate their time and talent. Donations pay for the surgical supplies and facilities. The Smile Train's operational costs are paid by the supporting founders.
The problem can be avoided by ensuring that pregnant mothers take 0.4 mg of folic acid (Vitamin B) during the 1st trimester.
I receive letters every month from The Smile Train. My heart broke when I read the letter which described how hundreds of families showed up to a clinic - in a open field - and had arrived days before the doctors. The Mothers became frantic as the day wore on and their little child had not been operated on.
The parents could not fill out a form - because they could not read or write. They wore their best clothes, but to us, they were wearing dirty rags and almost all were barefoot. (That was the day that I started collecting shoes for "Soles for Souls" and donating in the receptacle in the local mall). Many of the tiny children were naked.
The country was Haiti - not far from Coco Cay, the private island where the Caribbean cruise ships dock for the day. I thought about that letter when I was on the Smooth Music Cruise this past January.
Many famous people donate money to The Smile Train, and you can see pictures and statements on the website.
Just $25 will pay for the sutures. $50 will pay for the anesthesia. $250 will pay the entire cost of a cleft surgery.
Imagine that - a surgery for less than the cost of an i-Pod Touch. Many of us have an i-Pod.... think about how you use it every day, and that the cost of a single i-Pod could change a child's life for the better.
Please find it in your heart to donate something this holiday season ..... my team is called "Neko Smiles for The Smile Train".
http://www.smiletrain.org/site/TR/Events/General?pg=fund&fr_id=1040&pxfid=4920
Unlike many charities that do many different things, The Smile Train 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.
This is our 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.
Until there are no more children who need help and we have completely eradicated the problem of clefts.
The Smile Train is one of the best-managed, cost-effective charities in the world. We’re a new breed of non-profit that is run like a for-profit. We manage and leverage every dollar we raise to help the absolute maximum number of children possible.
We save millions of dollars a year by using innovative technology such as digital patient charts, virtual surgery software to train and the world’s first and largest digital cleft library.
And with a staff of just 42 people, we manage thousands of partners and programs in 75 of the world’s poorest countries.
When you make a donation to The Smile Train, you will get not just a good feeling, but you will also get an amazing return on your investment.
Previous Topic
Index