Leading Southern African supply chain and operations management association SAPICS is starting the New Year on a high - and heartwarming – note. Funds raised by the organisation’s 2017 golf day, as well as through its 2017 regional and national conferences, will enable 10 children with cleft lips or palates to undergo life-changing surgeries this year.

“SAPICS is a proud sponsor of Operation Smile, an international medical charity that provides free surgical procedures for children and young adults born with cleft lips and palates and other facial deformities,” explains SAPICS president Mungo Park. “Since its foundation in 1982, Operation Smile has helped more than 240 000 children, and we are delighted to be able to grow this number.”

The annual SAPICS golf day was a fundraiser for Operation Smile, and the association also enlisted the support of renowned local and international speakers at its regional and national conferences. “We usually select a meaningful gift for our conference speakers, to demonstrate our gratitude to them for travelling vast distances in some instances to share their expertise and insights with African supply chain practitioners.

This year, instead of spending money on gifts, we contributed funds to Operation Smile. Our speakers were thrilled to play a role in changing the lives of the children, and giving them and their families hope for the future,” Park enthuses. “SAPICS is also hugely grateful for the support for its golf day, which this year attracted 88 players from 27 organisations,” he adds.

Operation Smile South Africa country manager Lauren Bright notes that 1 in 700 children in South Africa is born with a cleft lip and/or palate. “Operation Smile South Africa is dedicated to making sure that every child and adult who is born with these conditions has access to safe surgery. The care we offer is free, so we are indebted to the many donors and partners who make it possible for a child to receive the life altering surgery that enables them to eat, speak and smile.

“If it wasn’t for organisations like SAPICS and the big-hearted people who comprise it, Operation Smile would be hard-pressed to provide our patients and their families with the care and attention they so desperately need and deserve. There really are not enough words to express our gratitude,” Bright concludes.