International updates

David Charvet is Operation Smile’s newest Smile Ambassador!

Operation Smile is proud to recognize actor and singer David Charvet as an official Smile Ambassador. In May, Charvet and his fiancé Brooke Burke, co-host of the hit TV show Dancing With The Stars, will serve as segment hosts for Operation Smile’s 2011 Smile Gala in New York City.

Charvet is known for his previous roles on the hit drama series Baywatch and Melrose Place. Charvet is also a pop star who has sold over 2.5 million albums to date.

"Through the eyes of my children, Heaven and Shaya, I learn more about the world around me every day,” said Charvet. “Children are our most precious blessings. Brooke and I are determined to help Operation Smile reach those children who have no other hope. We can make a difference, and give them a future filled with smiles.”

“We are so grateful for the incredible generosity of David and Brooke,” said Dr. Bill Magee, CEO and Co-Founder of Operation Smile. “Their kindness will allow us to reach even more children who are waiting for the one surgery that will change their lives forever.”

For more information about David Charvet and Operation Smile’s global efforts, please visit www.operationsmile.org/david-charvet.

Operation Smile China Celebrates the 20^th Anniversary of Operation Smile

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Operation Smile, OS Beijing is making arrangements for a charity gala and its most ambitious plan to date - 25 missions around the country and a new hospital. OS Beijing hopes that its efforts will drive the local community to volunteer and donate.

"It's when you are in a room with 300 children who can't smile and you see how that affects a child's life, that you truly understand the dimension of this issue," tells Julia Jorgenson, 24, Program Development Coordinator in Beijing for OS China. "Especially if you're coming from a Western country, odds are that you never saw a child with the deformity because surgery is secured almost immediately," said Jorgenson from the US.

Operation Smile has helped 17,000 children in China so far and expects to assist 2,000 more in 23 cities by November.

"It's clear that China is doing very well financially and there's a huge untapped resource here in terms of funding," Scott Snyder, 29, Program Development Manager for OS China. "We're also aware that corporate social responsibility is starting to catch on and we have received donations in the past years, but these were typically smaller than in other countries," said Snyder. "We'll reach out to companies, media, local governments, other charities and greater society to raise our profile in China," he added.

Cleft Awareness Programme at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami, Florida

In April, the Operation Smile Club at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami, Florida held a cleft awareness campaign at school. All of the club members used bandanas or scarves to cover up their faces for a day.

Many children, young adults, and adults around the world affected with clefts experience shame and isolation because of their facial deformity. They often cover their faces their faces when they go out in public. This campaign raises awareness of what cleft patients have to go through in their daily lives.