Please allow me to introduce
myself. My name is Sarah Fox and I’m the Director of the Development office for the medical non-profit, Operation Smile, Inc. in Denver, Colorado. Operation Smile is not just a children’s medical charity, it is part of who I am and part of my family. My first job out of college was with Operation Smile in the summer of 2004. At the time, I was the only education coordinator and responsible for creating and facilitating educational programs for medical doctors and nurses in 13 countries. I received the education and experience of a life time. In four years, I worked with world renowned physicians from Yale, University of Los Angeles California, University of Michigan and others to create programs addressing the needs of medical personnel in developing countries. I traveled to India, Jordan, Cambodia, Thailand, South Africa, Ethiopia, Paraguay, Honduras, Venezuela, Bolivia, to name a few, organizing education workshops. I learned more about children in need and the manners in which my skill set and personality aligned to give back.
Operation Smile believes in promoting self–sustainability, which is why we put so much emphasis on education programs. Medical and non-medical volunteers provide life changing surgery for children with cleft lip and palate while also providing education and training. At the end of the day, we want every country to be accountable for taking care of their children with clefts. Essentially, Operation Smile International hopes to “go out of business” some day. Every country where we work, which today is 60 countries, establishes its own local Operation Smile foundation i.e. Operation Smile Morocco or Operation Smile Columbia.
Today, I fund raise and work to increase the level of support and awareness for Operation Smile in Denver and its surrounding areas. After earning my graduate degree in Public Health in 2009 and working a short stint with another nonprofit organization, I knew my heart belonged to Operation Smile. I returned in 2010 and opened the development office in Denver. My family has coincidentally found its place, in one way or another, in the medical field. Giving back through medicine is who we have become, and maybe who we always were. As a childhood cancer survivor, maybe that experience affected the 6 of us in positive ways we never thought possible. Today, my father is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Operation Smile; my younger brother is a Mission Coordinator for the organization, managing all of the logistics pertinent to medical missions in Asia and is presently in the Philippines; my mother has volunteered on 9 missions as the Medical Records Director and will be joining my brother overseas very soon. My sister is pursuing her doctorate in children’s psychology, and my older brother is a neurosurgeon in The United States Navy.
I found my place at Operation Smile and am grateful for the organization’s accessibility. We all can help. Nothing is better than knowing at the end of the day you’re helping to change lives not just for the better, but for a life time. Operation Smile’s mission is both immediate and everlasting. The common language between all people in every corner of the world is a smile and we work to make sure every child, in every corner, has a reason to smile.
Thanks for believing in and supporting what we do.
Operation Smile – mobilizing a world of generous hearts to heal the world, one smile at a time.
sarah.fox@operationsmile.org
www.operationsmile.org
