He’s a man on a mission to bring smiles to the world.
Michael Williams-Stark, Community Engagement Specialist at Operation Smile Canada, is in Williams Lake to spread the word about this organization that has been delivering free, safe surgery to children around the world waiting to have their cleft lip or cleft palate repaired.
Stark said at the time of his birth he was the most severe cleft lip and palate case in BC and has spent a great deal of his time working with children with these afflictions helping them through comedy to build up their communication skills.
We asked Stark how common cleft lip and palate are.
“One in seven hundred births, about 176 thousand of us a year, so it’s quite common. Depending on where you live you might not ever see a surgeon. We go to 36 countries right now and we’re doing as much as we can to build smiles to build wherever we go.”
He’ll be speaking to service groups and the public and noted that everyone is welcome to come out and hear him speak tomorrow (Wednesday March 6) from 2:30 to 4 and again 6 to 7:30 at the Thompson Rivers University Williams Lake Campus.
“I’ll be spreading the word about Operation Smile and how every dollar literally counts. So I just want to let people know not only that we exist, but they (you) do actually have a direct contact to a smile that will happen with every $240 that comes in somebody will be operated on,” Stark added.