Bella Grace Parker Student Ambassador 2020

     My little brother Max has the most heart-warming smile. His toothy grin never fails to put a smile on my face. But what if he were unable to smile as he so happily does? 

     Max was born with a cleft lip and palate. However, he was fortunate enough to have received corrective surgery at a young age. 

     Watching Max grow up over the past nine years has shown me just how much power smiles hold. A single smile has the power to light up an entire room. They are quite contagious little things!

     My curiosity soon led me to SmileTrain, which is an international children's charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate. Many children with clefts around the world live in isolation, but more importantly, have difficult eating, breathing, hearing, and speaking. Cleft surgery is a safe, permanent solution with an immediate impact. SmileTrain's sustainable model provides training, funding, and resources to empower local doctors in 70+ countries to provide these lifesaving surgeries and other essential cleft care 100%-free, in their own communities.

     This year, my goal is to fund twenty #foreversmiles. Join me in my quest to spread smiles. Together, we can change the world one #foreversmile at a time.