Have you ever heard of Operation Smile? It's an international children's medical charity that performs cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries, as well as delivers postoperative and ongoing medical therapies to children in low and middle income countries. This service is so important- did you know that a child born with a cleft is 2x more likely to die before their first birthday? How sad is that! Children who do survive with a cleft are likely to struggle with many things in their life including eating, speaking, and even breathing.
Operation Smile has a long history. The charity was founded in 1982- that's older than me! Since that time they have performed surgeries in over 60 countries and healed the smiles of 220,000 children. They have received well over fifty awards and honors, including a letter of commendation from Mother Theresa. I think that is just way too cool!
This charity is also close to my hearty because my aunt, who was born in China, was born with a cleft lip. Until she was adopted by my grandmother at age 6 she couldn't talk due to her condition. After getting surgury to correct her cleft lip she learned to talk, caught up in school, and eventually graduated Magna Cum Laude from Penn State. Through free surgical procedures, Operation Smile gives the same opportunity to over 1,000 children every year whose families would never be able to afford it themselves.
CampusBookRentals.com has a ton of benefits, like their RentBack program through which you can rent out your own textbooks and earn a little extra cash, but what truly makes them a great company is their commitment to helping others through Operation Smile. Next time you need books for your classes I hope you'll consider renting through CampusBookRentals.com and helping a child in need.
All images via operationsmile.org
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