WIWD Foundation is decided to fundraise for Smile Train to help give IKE'S SMILE to children in need. What is WIWD Foundation and who is Ike (E-Kay) The Smile! That was the first thing you saw and the thing that stuck with you long after meeting Ikechukwu Onwuzurike for the first time. That, and the fact that he would look at you intently with wide eyes while you are speaking - all attention focused on your word as if the world was in the balance and he could see into your soul. Once you get to know Ike, the smile and the laser-like attention just became extension of the bigger picture of his charter. The character that was outwardly focused, always looking for ways to make someone's way a bit easier; to answer a home-work question, to take the time to talk to friend who was down, to spend Saturday morning at a food pantry in Pontiac, MI. Even these acts were just a natural outgrowth of his all-encompassing focus on the will of God. His faith was well beyond the point most of us reach in a long lifetime, and his was developed in a short 18 years on Earth. Ike seem to live by a Nigerian proverb, "A tree is known by it's fruits". He bore much good fruits, infusing joy into others as if it were his sole mission on Earth. Everything he did had an urgency, or better an intensity, to it. His outstanding academic achievements, his athletic prowess on the soccer field and track, his leadership on Kairos retreats where he guided his classmates on a faith journey and led his peers to build a closer relationship with God by his example. Ike went home to heaven, Tuesday, June 17th of 2014, 4 weeks after his graduation from Brother Rice High School. He was on his way to Washington University in St. Louis on a full-ride academic scholarship to study Pre-Med. WIWD Foundation is a 501C 3 non-profit charitable foundation dedicated to continuing Ike's selfless, spiritual mission of love and service to others. Millions of children with clefts around the world live in isolation, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing, hearing, and speaking. Cleft repair surgery is simple, and the transformation is immediate. Smile Train’s sustainable model provides training, funding, and resources to empower local doctors in 85+ countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery and comprehensive cleft care in their own communities. |
https://www.mysmiletrain.org/campaign/IkesSmile