By Scott Cable on
Smile Train, the largest philanthropic organization in the world dedicated to helping children with cleft lips and palates in developing nations brought major awareness to the public by participating in World Smile Day on October 5, 2012.
Hosted by the one-and-only Christie Brinkley, who was named Global Ambassador of World Smile Day 2012, the event took place for the very first time in New York City’s Times Square.
World Smile Day also marked the creation of Smile Train’s “All It Takes Is A Smile” campaign, which is a contest that began on September 17th that encourages participants to upload their photos of a smile to multiple social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtags #SmileTrainWSD in the photo caption. Christie handpicked a few of her favorites submitted on October 5th.
Famous Famglia’s Pizza, which was this year’s World Smile Day sponsor, donated $10 for each photo uploaded onto a social media platform during the campaign, with all the proceeds going directly to Smile Train.
It was unusually hot and humid for the beginning of the fall season here in New York City, but that didn’t stop hundreds of people from coming out to not only support this amazing charity, but to also support Americas sweetheart, Christie Brinkley. The event was a fun day for all involved. There were hula hoopers, bongo drummers, pizza tossers, stilt walkers and face painters all in Times Square supporting the cause.
Unlike many other charities that have a plethora of goals, Smile Train is dedicated to solving one problem, cleft palates. Smile Train is dedicated to helping children born with cleft palates and lips achieve the same goals and have the same opportunities as children born without a cleft. They proved free cleft surgery and comprehensive care to hundreds of thousands of poor children in developing counties and train doctors in medical professionals in over 80 countries.
To check out more on Smile Train, visit www.SmileTrain.org.
Copyright © 2012 Look to the Stars
