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.