Pulaski School donates $1750 to Smile Train

Pulaski students continued a month-long theme of performing acts of kindness as part of their school-wide read aloud of the book WONDER. During the week of the Great Kindness Challenge, the Band under the direction of Mrs. Talmage, sold “Gratitude Rocks” (remember Pet Rocks?) to raise money to donate to the Smile Train, an organization that sponsors cleft palate surgery for children around the globe. Their goal was to raise $1,000.

The band members exceeded their goal and raised $1,750, which according to Ms. Adina Wexelberg-Clouser, Sr. Manager of Community relations at SmileTrain, would pay for seven operations. On Monday, March 16, Adina travelled form New York City to Riverhead by train to collect the check and thank the students for their generosity. “Your effort changes these children’s lives forever,” she stated. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Mrs. Talmage explained, “These guys went above and beyond; they got the entire school excited. They wrote public service announcements. They went into every classroom. This entire building was buzzing, with not only buying a rock because the names were fun, but also because of the book they were reading about a child with facial deformity. Their teen activism really took on a life of its own.”

According to the SmileTrain website, “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. Their sustainable model provides training and funding to empower local doctors in 85+ developing countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery in their communities.”