Funding a Medical Mission: Pasta, Sweaters and Smiles

December 26, 2014

Smile Network International’s mantra is it takes $500 and 45 minutes to change a life. Securing funding for thousands of cleft lip and palate surgeries for impoverished patients around the world is an ongoing effort.

The organization began in 2003 when Kim Valentini of Minneapolis left a successful marketing and public relations career to spend more time traveling and helping others. With a small staff and a large network of donors and volunteers, Valentini has facilitated reconstructive surgeries for more than 3,000 people around the world.

Missions principally rely upon medical volunteers to screen patients, perform surgeries and provide post-operative care. But a few non-medical volunteers handle logistics, medical records and support families at the hospital sites.

Locally, many volunteers contribute time and money in a variety of fundraising initiatives that engage donors of all income levels. It’s not uncommon for volunteers to become enamored with the work and the people. As I witnessed last month on a mission trip to Peru, Valentini exudes passion for the work and her passion is contagious.

Frank Marchionda owns I Nonni, an Italian restaurant just south of St. Paul. In 2007, a Smile Network volunteer asked whether he would contribute to the upcoming gala. She was hoping for a bottle of wine or a gift certificate. Marchionda declined. He and his wife, Karen, had already decided to become involved with Smile Network, and they wanted to participate on a much larger scale.

A tradition was born. Every year Marchionda closes I Nonni for one night to host what Valentini describes as “an intimate feel-good event with fabulous food and camaraderie.” Marchionda’s family and employees work the event for free — even donating their tips. Since 2007, the annual dinners, as well as cooking classes and smaller dinners I Nonni donates, have raised more than $350,000.

Marchionda plays a big role in raising funds over the course of the night. “When it comes to asking for money for Smile Network, I’m pretty much a lady of the evening,” he admits. His strategy is to get the heartstrings going then to hit his guests up for money.

Since Smile Network places a premium on volunteers’ time and money, the non-medical spots on missions are awarded to top volunteers and donors or to gala guests who bid on them. Valentini convinced the Marchiondas to go on a mission so they could see the magnitude of what they’d done.

They have gone on missions to Lima, Peru, and to a remote area in Kenya. On the first mission, both Frank and Karen Marchionda, a retired nurse, worked directly with the patients. On the second mission, Frank Marchionda served a role different from engaging with the children who had stolen his heart during the first trip. With the closest restaurant 75 miles away, he managed the kitchen while his wife helped with patients. Preparing food that had been shipped in advance from home, Marchionda served 30 volunteers three fabulous meals per day for 10 days.

Judy Sunderman and Kim Hammes of Le Sueur, Minn., found their way to Smile Network through its adventure travel program (which participants pay for themselves). They were lured in by the opportunity to go on an adventure and to support a compelling need. In the past two years they’ve hiked the Inca Trail and explored Ecuador by horseback. After each adventure, they joined the mission team and helped with families and managed medical records.

The Inca trek was amazing, they said. For four days, Sherpas carried their gear on their backs and cooks prepared meals, while a guide led the way, sharing the history of Peru. After navigating the 52,000-step trail they reached Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Rony Camasa, Smile Network’s Peruvian guide, says the first day of the trek is easy, the second challenging, the third beautiful and the last amazing — words that could also describe the medical mission.

Before they participated in the missions, Sunderman and Hammes began raising money. No effort was too small. A nephew raised $500 at his lemonade stand. They wrote letters soliciting contributions. Hammes accepted donations at her Zumba class.

But the big event was the ugly sweater ball. Determined to put the “fun” in fundraiser, they reached out to the residents of Le Sueur and neighboring Henderson and invited them to put on their ugly sweaters and spend a fun-filled evening at the Henderson Event Center. On a night in November 2013 they raised $16,000 and piqued the interest of the community.

Last month, they hosted the “even uglier sweater ball” a week after returning from the Cusco mission. They’d kept friends and supporters engaged through social media while they were in Peru, sharing updates and photos.

Just before the event, KCHK radio hosts spent more than an hour interviewing Hammes, Sunderman and Maureen Cahill, Smile Network’s executive director, about the organization and the fundraiser.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving the radio hosts joined other locals who filled VIP tables and bid hundreds of dollars as local celebrities modeled their ugly sweaters. By the end of the evening the event had raised $28,000.

Word of their efforts spread. After the event three donors contributed an additional $25,000. With a combined population of fewer than 5,000, the people of Le Sueur and Henderson raised more than $50,000 for 100 new smiles.

Cahill, her husband, Paul, Rik Lalim (a board member), Valentini and I made the 55-mile trek to Henderson to support Hammes and Sunderman. As Valentini spoke about the organization, greeted guests and personally thanked donors, I sensed a movement was afoot.

Everyone who purchased a bottle of wine in the wine pull, bid on donated and decorated Christmas trees or bought raffle tickets for the 99 bottles of beer display, was taking ownership, in small measure, of the smiles of children they will never meet.

It was a “big heart opening for the community,” Sunderman says. “People who contributed may never travel outside of the country but they can feel like they went along. They made a difference in the children’s lives. And vice versa.”