XANGO and Operation Smile

Every three minutes a child is born with cleft lip or palate—more than 200,000 every year! Often these children are unable to eat, speak, socialize or even smile; in many cases they are shunned and rejected by their peers and the community. Too often their parents are unable to pay for the surgeries they need to live a normal life.

Operation Smile is a worldwide children’s medical charity that is dedicated to helping improve the lives of children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. Operation Smile was founded by Dr. William P. Magee Jr. a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathleen, a nurse and clinical social worker. In 1982, the Magees traveled to the Philippines with a group of medical volunteers to repair children’s cleft lips and cleft palates. They discovered hundreds of children ravaged by deformities, and although they helped many children, the volunteers were forced to turn away the majority of those who sought help. The Magees saw the need and Operation Smile was born.

In 2004, XANGO began partnering with Operation Smile to give these cleft-affected children the opportunity to be healed and live life unaffected by these deformities. Since 2004 XANGO and Operation Smile together have provided more than 1200 life-changing surgeries to children and adults in Laos, Mexico, Thailand and Russia.