Help Smile Train Spread the Power of a Smile Across the Globe #PowerOfASmile

Just how powerful is a smile? Why is the work of Smile Train so important? Think about it for a moment. Have you ever had a horrible day that suddenly brightened a bit when a toddler in line behind you flashed you a half-toothy grin? Or felt your spirits lift a bit by a fellow shopper who took a moment to smile a bit as you passed each other in a crowded dairy aisle?

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Smiling with my son during a family vacation in 2010.

For me, a smile has the power to instantly change my mood. I’ve actually made it my secret mission to smile at as many people as possible when I’m out and about. Not only does it maybe brighten their day, but it makes me less impatient. If I’m making myself smile at others, I can’t get mad when they walk too slowly in front of me or take longer at the money machine than I want them too. It’s hard to be angry when you’re smiling!

When I work retail and get a particularly grumpy customer, I smile even harder. I want them to see that being grumpy over something they can’t change and that doesn’t ultimately affect their life is just no way to live. So I smile. A lot.

Smiles are so much more powerful and important than we may realize. We often take it for granted, since for most of us, it requires so little effort. We just turn up the corner of our lips and we’re smiling. That’s it.

For many children, though, it’s not that simple. Children with clefts can’t just turn up the corners of their lips and show the world how happy they are. Cleft lips and palates make it nearly impossible to show the power of the smile in the way that we are used to.

Smile Train Brings the Power of the Smile to Kids with Clefts

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Smile Train is an international organization with a single goal: to repair clefts in children across the globe. Children with clefts often have difficulty speaking, eating and even breathing properly. They also live in shame in some communities. Smile Train not only provides life-changing surgeries to these children, but they also train doctors in the communities to perform the surgeries themselves.

Over one million lives have already been changed for the better by Smile Train. In Mexico, Smile Train got Monserrat Reyna Barcenas singing! Monserrat grew up being bullied and fighting. After Smile Train transformed her smile, she found her voice and shared it with others. Monserrat says “I feel happier and more self confident, and even brag about it.” In China, Wang Li was also bullied for many years before her surgery. After, she said “I used to cover up my smile. Now it doesn’t matter if I’m going on interviews or talking with strangers, I no longer feel the anxiety I used to, hiding from people I meet.” These are just two stories out of a million just like it.

A surgery can take as little as 45 minutes and cost as little as $250. So often, we feel like we can’t donate enough to make a difference. When $250 has the potential to change a life forever, though, you can see how even a little can go a long way.

Smile Train is such a worthy cause and one that I am passionate about sharing. I truly believe that if more people smiled, the world would be a much more peaceful place. Help Smile Train bring that power throughout the world. Children already feel their smiles on the inside, let’s help them show those smiles to the world and brighten the days of others for years to come.

Smile Train has a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate. Smile Train’s model provides training and funding to empower local doctors in developing countries provide 100%- free cleft repair surgery in their communities. Join us and change the world with the power of a smile.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Smile Train. The opinions and text are all mine.