At Smile Train, we love celebrating our wonderful family of fundraisers and the incredible support they give. A big portion of those amazing fundraisers are youngsters – who go above and beyond to raise life-changing funds for the individuals born with a cleft around the world.
For this month’s column, we wanted to shine a light on one of our young fundraisers, nine-year-old Æliana, who was inspired to organise a fundraising event for us after seeing an advert on TV.
Watching the advert, Æliana learnt about the challenges children with untreated clefts face and was saddened to hear the reality that cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care aren’t readily available for all children in a number of countries around the world – impacting their ability to thrive.
Having already carried out a series of fundraising activities for various charities over the years, Æliana knew she could make a difference to the lives of these children, so set herself a goal of raising money for Smile Train as part of her school’s ‘Community Flourish Award’.
To achieve this goal, Æliana and her friend Willow, hosted a bake sale called ‘Bake and Bloom’ where they provided a variety of delicious cakes, including Mango and Passion Fruit, Mango and Cardamom, Lemon Drizzle, Chocolate Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and her favourite, Pistachio Courgette cake. To complement the event theme, Willow helped by arranging and selling beautiful bouquets of wildflowers. All proceeds go to Smile Train.
As well as raising awareness for Smile Train and their work, the event successfully brought together family and friends, raising an impressive £770 – which will go towards helping to change the world, one smile at a time.
It’s so heartwarming to see children taking action to support children born with clefts around the world, and we couldn’t be more thankful for the generosity of Æliana, Willow, and all their friends and family who supported their fundraiser.
We are blown away by the invaluable support our UK fundraisers show and can’t wait to see what’s next! To find out more about how you can fundraise for Smile Train, please visit: www.smiletrain.org.uk/get-involved.
