A cheer for the Smile Train
Simple, passionate, efficient: a solid global implementation of one of the cheapest irrevocable life-improvements (fixing cleft palates) modern medicine can offer. Smile Train is a remarkable charity.
They are fascinating on a few levels, from the clarity of their work and tactical training local doctors, their selection of spokespeople and Oscar-winning short documentary, to the controversy of their fundraising tactics, and the lingering drama of an early fork. If you haven’t heard of them before it’s worth taking ten minutes to find out what they do.
Tonic for the soul
It took me a while to realize what I was reading: an entire zine site – from featured stories to news blurbs and gossip sections to photosets and interviews – about celebrity charitable work. How, when, and why people give, third-party events recognizing different sorts of giving. Glossy coverage of civic events supporting the needy or arranging barn-raising and disaster recovery in towns around the world. Site polls about how visitors plan to help a homeless person in their neighborhood that day.
Somehow they pull this off in a sincere and heart-warming way. What say you?
http://www.tonic.com/