From staff reports
Last April, a group led by PennWest Clarion’s Club Smile embarked on a walk around campus that was less than a mile in distance.
But the walk — dubbed A Small Walk for Big Smiles — produced life-altering results as the $1,540 raised provided repair surgery for six children born with cleft lip or palate.
Cleft lip and cleft palate are facial differences that can impact a child’s ability to eat, swallow, speak and more. This birth defect occurs in one of every 600 children across the world.
This year’s Small Walk for Big Smiles event begins at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 21, at the Keeling Speech and Hearing Clinic at PennWest-Clarion.
The route goes past Eagle Commons, turns left at Becht Hall, loops around the campus apple, then passes Gemmell to return to Keeling.
Participants can pre-register and pay the walk’s $5 admission fee through Venmo via the pre-registration link on the walk website, or pay in person with cash, check or credit card the day of the walk.
Tickets will be sold for a 50/50 drawing and for themed baskets donated by PennWest Clarion clubs and sororities.
So far, the themes include spa/self-care, everything but the ice cream, baking, sunshine (yellow themed), movie night, a homemade blanket, books, lottery tree and coffee/tea.
In addition to the walk, Club Smile is offering two more fundraisers through partnerships with local businesses.
Through March 25, orders for Club Smile T-shirts and hoodies will be taken through All American HQ in Shippenville. To order, visit allamericanhq.com/pennwest-university-club-smile
Orders can be delivered or picked up at All American HQ. Anyone wearing the Club Smile shirt will receive a $3 discount on registration for the walk.
And Clarion restaurant Daddy’s Main Street is donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of burgers to Club Smile this month.
The restaurant will also sell purple ribbons that will be placed on the restaurant wall.
Kenn Staub, faculty advisor of Club Smile since 2016, estimates that the annual walk and other fundraising events have produced nearly $20,000 in the organization’s 10 years at Clarion.
Club Smile donates 100 percent of the money raised to pay for cleft lip and palate repair surgeries through Operation Smile.
PennWest Clarion’s Club Smile membership comprises students of various majors, predominantly speech pathology, nursing and education.