Good Sports: BRACELETS FOR SMILES
Born with a cleft lip, Nandini Arakoni underwent three surgeries to correct the malformation. The Naperville, Illinois, teenager feels lucky that she was able to undergo treatment and wants to give the same opportunity to underprivileged children around the world.
Nandini and her friend, Sanjana Gangadharan, both sophomores in high school, founded an organization called Side by Side Smiles to sell bracelets for $5 each and raise money for Smile Train, a charity that provides corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates.
So far, they’ve raised $4,200, which will pay for 16 cleft palate surgeries. Their goal is to raise $100,000 and pay for 400 surgeries.
“It’s really impressive to see how little it takes to make a change in the world,” Nandini told India West. “Every $5 we receive is two percent of a surgery.”
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? Please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]
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