Appeal: Operation of Hope loses key donor; 100 families could lose out on vital surgery

Dear Friends of Operation of Hope

I am writing this letter to you to share some disappointing news.

We just received the news that the cleft charity, Smile Train will no longer be funding mission groups, such as ours, as according to them, "funding missions does not fit into Smile Train’s model of empowering local medical professionals to solve the problem of cleft in their local communities."

Given this news, as President of Operation of Hope, I am personally reaching out to you to ask for your help.

This decision greatly impacts our volunteer team, as we have 3 missions planned for later this year, involving at least 100 families, awaiting our help in Malawi and Zimbabwe, Africa and we were counting on funding from Smile Train to help make this happen.

As a grass-root, all-volunteer surgical team, Operation of Hope is committed that every dollar goes to these children. We work out of our homes, with little salaries and overhead. Every volunteer pays their own airfare and we have never use donated funds to "pay" surgeons to perform these surgeries.

But, we now have the challenge of raising additional funds to cover these three mission trips and we would deeply appreciate your help. We know there are so many great causes out there, but I'm writing to ask if you would consider supporting these beautiful, deserving children.

There are several ways to help besides a monetary donation. If you know of events and/or activities in your community that are in need of a worthy charity, we'd love your help in connecting us to these event or share our good work on Facebook and Twitter or feel free to forward this email to your circle of friends so others may be aware of our "roll-up-your-sleeves" surgical, volunteer team-- ready and willing to give beautiful, new smiles to kids in need!

To DONATE to this worthy cause, please visit http://www.operationofhope.org to donate on-line or send a donation to PO BOX 99, Lake Forest, CA 92609.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Warmest regards,

Jennifer Trubenbach, President
Operation of Hope