DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--The Dubai Duty Free Foundation has announced a donation of $1.5 million to Smile Train, a charity dedicated to repairing cleft lip and cleft palate deformities in children.
The announcement, which coincided with the duty free industry's Miles for Smiles charity run in Dubai Nov. 21, 2009, is the largest single donation earmarked for southeast Asia received by Smile Train since being established in 1999.
The Dubai Duty Free Foundation, which was established by the airport retailer in October 2004, operates under the auspices of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and chairman of Dubai Airports with Colm McLoughlin, managing director of Dubai Duty Free as the foundation's chairman.
Smile Train, which was founded 10 years ago by two friends and business associates, Charles B. Wang and Brian F. Mullaney, is focused on cleft lip and palate surgery, which affects millions of children in developing countries. The charity has a global network of thousands of partner hospitals and participating cleft surgeons in 76 of the world's poorest countries.
The $1.5 million donation by Dubai Duty Free is to be used in a three-year period at two Smile Train partner centres in the Philippines: the Philippine Band of Mercy in Manila and the Maharlika Centre in Davao City, Mindanao. The funds will be used to recruit additional staff, purchase vehicles and equipment, and to perform 3,800 cleft surgeries.
Commenting on the decision to select Smile Train for this three-year programme, McLoughlin said: "Since we started our foundation in October 2004, we have been working with several local and international charities that have specifically helped children. With the appointment of Anne Smith as Manager of Dubai Duty Free's corporate responsibility department last year, we have been able to better identify and study a number of causes that are close to our heart.
"Smile Train, which already has a relationship with the duty free industry thanks to the efforts of Martin Moodie (of the Moodie Report) and his colleagues, is a charity that we admire," he continued. "In addition to being focused on repairing clefts in children in developing countries, Smile Train is also intent on training local doctors, nurses and hospital staff to solve the problem themselves. Following a good deal of research by Anne and a field trip to the Philippines, we felt that both the charity and the country were the right choice."
Commenting on the donation, Brian Mullaney, cofounder and president of Smile Train said: "Smile Train's mission is to help millions of children in the world who are walking around with gaping holes in their faces as a result of cleft lips and cleft palates that have never been repaired. Cleft surgery is relatively simple and takes as little as 45 minutes and costs as little as $250. The reason these children have not been helped is because they are poor."
"We are extremely grateful to the Dubai Duty Free Foundation for such a significant contribution, and we look forward to working with them to roll out the three-year program which will ultimately change the lives and fortunes of thousands of children in the Philippines."
Smile Train estimates that approximately 4,400 children are born with cleft lip and palate deformities annually in the Philippines and that there is a backlog of 150,000 untreated clefts.
During her field trip to the Philippines, Smith was able to meet with Smile Train representatives, surgeons, and hospital staff who undertake cleft surgeries in sometimes difficult situations.
"Given the size of the contribution that the Dubai Duty Free Foundation was considering, it was essential to travel to the country and see first hand what the funds could achieve," Smith said. "Smile Train's regional director, Rogelio la O', accompanied me to the centers in Manila and Mindanao, and showed me specifically where the equipment to be purchased with our funds would be used.
"I think that our contribution will go a long way towards clearing the backlog of surgeries in the Philippines. The fact that almost half of Dubai Duty Free staff are from the Philippines is a plus as, in some way, this donation to help their compatriots is a way of repaying their service and loyalty over the years."
For more information, go to Smile Train.
To read more about cleft palate surgery, go to cleft palate surgery.
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