Smile Train Celebrates This Holiday Season By Making It A Season Of Smiles

NEW YORK, Nov. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Smile Train, the world's leading cleft lip and palate charity, will launch their Seasons of Smiles campaign this holiday season to provide children with clefts in the developing world their very first smiles.  Seasons of Smiles will incorporate multiple events throughout the holidays including: Jimmy Pardo & Never Not Funny's Pardcast-A-Thon, #GivingTuesday, The New York Islanders Charity Game, a Journey of Smiles trip to India and the British Comedy Awards.

During the Seasons of Smiles campaign Smile Train will participate in the following events:

• Jimmy Pardo & Never Not Funny's Pardcast-A-Thon (Friday, November 29) – Jimmy Pardo and Never Not Funny return to host the fifth annual Pardcast-A-Thon fundraiser to benefit Smile Train.  The 12-hour marathon webcast will stream live at www.pardcast.com and www.laffster.com/nnf from The ACME Comedy Theatre in Hollywood and feature more than twenty all-star comedy guests.  Celebrities scheduled to participate include Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Andy Richter, Joel Stein, Scott Aukerman, Doug Benson and radio legend Phil Hendrie.  Donations will be collected throughout the event via online contributions, and for the first time, special items from the guests will be up for grabs live during the show.  Donate and watch live at www.pardcast.com on November 29, and get a free ticket to the Laffster stream now at www.laffster.com/nnf to receive updates when new items from the all-star guests are added.  To-date, the Pardcast-A-Thons have raised over $300,000 for Smile Train.
• #GivingTuesday (Tuesday, December 3) – Smile Train will take part in the second annual #GivingTuesday, a day of giving back this holiday season.  Over 2,500 charities, volunteer organizations, corporations and foundations will come together in all 50 U.S. states to celebrate. Smile Train hopes to not only raise donations to help provide free cleft surgery for children in developing countries, but also raise awareness for its cause.
• New York Islanders Charity Game (Tuesday, December 3) – As part of celebrating #GivingTuesday, Smile Train is teaming up with The New York Islanders for a charity night as the Islanders take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 3.  A percentage of ticket sales, as well as in-game donations will go towards the charity.  There will be a special tribute to Smile Train and its work during the puck drop.  The New York Islanders will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7:00PM EST at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY.  Tickets can be purchased at: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00004B16B396A101?brand=nyislanders. 
• Journey of Smiles: India (Thursday, December 5 - Thursday, December 12) – From December 5^th -12^th a group of Smile Train supporters will travel to partner hospitals in Varanasi, India to visit patients and Smile Train doctors and staff. During their visit to India they will also participate in 'Festival of Smiles,' an annual cleft registration camp at GS Memorial Hospital.  Under the leadership of Dr. Subodh Kumar Singh, GS Memorial is one of the largest cleft centers in the world and has been a Smile Train partner since April 2004.  The partner hospital is also featured in the 2008 Academy Award® winning Documentary – SMILE PINKI.
• The British Comedy Awards (Thursday, December 12) – Smile Train is pleased to be supporting the British Comedy Awards as this year's exclusive charity partner. The British Comedy Awards, held on December 12, has been the premier accolade for all comedy programs, performers and producers across the UK television industry since 1990.  This partnership proves you don't have to be a comedian to help a child smile as the charity is also engaging viewers through their social media campaign. Simply tweet a photo of you and your friends smiling during the broadcast, include #SmileTrainBCA and show your support to give children with clefts new smiles. Viewers are also encouraged to text SMILE to 70800 to donate £3 to Smile Train.

"Smile Train makes an effort each and every day to raise awareness and help children with cleft lip and palate worldwide," said Susannah Schaefer, CEO of Smile Train.  "These organizations supporting Smile Train this holiday season are truly giving children the greatest gift of all, a new smile and a second chance at life."

Smile Train was created to give every child born with a cleft – anywhere in the world - the opportunity to live a full, productive life.  Every day, Smile Train provides more than 340 surgeries for poor children around the world and is nearing its one millionth surgery in just 14 years, since its inception in 1999. These surgeries, which can cost as little as $250, not only provide the precious gift of a smile, but also, a second chance at life.

For additional information on the organization and how to get involved, please visit www.smiletrain.org.

About Smile Train
Smile Train is an international children's charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate. Millions of children in developing countries with unrepaired clefts live in shame, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking. Cleft repair surgery is simple, and the transformation is immediate. Smile Train's sustainable model provides training and funding to empower local doctors in 85+ developing countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery in their own communities. To learn more about how Smile Train's sustainable approach means donations have both an immediate and long-term impact please visit www.smiletrain.org.

SOURCE Smile Train