School of Medicine hosts Smiling Faces Benefit Dinner

The number of children in Palestine with cleft lips and palates will be reduced thanks to the Smiling Faces Benefit Dinner at the FedEx Global Education Center Monday night.

The UNC School of Medicine’s Furlow Fund hosted the third annual dinner to support the Palestinian Cleft Society, a nonprofit organization made up of surgeons who operate on children with congenital craniofacial anomalies in Palestine.

Dr. John van Aalst, a UNC surgeon who works with the Palestinian Cleft Society, said the event has raised nearly $15,000 as of Friday.

Van Aalst, who helped plan the event, has been traveling to the West Bank since 2005. He travels two to three times a year and travels with varying teams of two to 23 people each time he goes overseas.

The event consisted of a variety of speakers, cultural performances and a buffet-style dinner donated by numerous local restaurants, including Mediterranean Deli, Raleigh’s Jerusalem Bakery & Grocery and Whole Foods Market.

Dr. Amelia Drake, a professor at the UNC School of Medicine and the director of a local craniofacial team who takes care of children all over North Carolina, spoke at the event.

“Children are born with these diseases, and that shouldn’t hold them back,” Drake said.

The proceeds of the event go directly to the Palestinian Cleft Society to continue their work in the West Bank of Palestine. So far the organization has provided about 1,150 successful surgeries to children overseas.

Last year’s benefit dinner, which was attended by 170 to 180 guests, raised nearly $10,000. This year’s goal was to have at least 300 attend and raise $25,000.

UNC club Students Supporting the Palestinian Cleft Society, was instrumental in planning and advertising the event.

Dalia Kaakour and Sarah Zamamiri, the co-founders of SSPCS, have both interned with the Palestinian Cleft Society and said they were excited to be a part of this year’s benefit dinner.

“I’m very excited to see the number of people who are coming,” Zamamiri said. “A lot more people know about it (this year).”

Among the guests were various UNC students who had only recently heard of the organization and its cause.

Sophomore Joann Flaherty, who heard about the benefit dinner through a friend, said she enjoyed the event.

“I think it’s awesome — I’m going to ask … how to get involved and how to help out more,” she said.

Despite the party atmosphere, van Aalst said he did not want participants to forget about the main focus of the benefit dinner: to help Palestinian children.

“In the end it’s really about the lives of the children we’ve affected,” he said.

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