ChefDance Social opened its doors on Saturday night to celebrate 45 years of Operation Smile, a global nonprofit working to provide surgical care to children with cleft conditions around the world.
This weekend marked the 14th annual Ski and Smile event in Park City. With a mix of Olympians, actors, surgeons and students there in support, ChefDance’s sponsored meal brought tens of thousands of dollars in fundraising and support for a continued mission of Operation Smile.
What began as a small, volunteer-led effort has grown into a global organization performing hundreds of thousands of life-changing surgeries while building local medical infrastructure in 37 countries.
“This weekend is about bringing together our global community of hope builders,” said co-founder, president and CEO Kathy Magee. “Every person who participates helps us reach more children.”
When Kathy Magee, a pediatric nurse, and her husband and co-founder, plastic surgeon Dr. Bill Magee, first traveled to the Philippines in 1981, they did not expect the scale of need they would encounter.
On that first trip, they were forced to turn away hundreds of patients they didn’t have the capacity to treat. As they left, one mother approached them carrying a basket of bananas — a gift of thanks for trying, even though her child had not received care. They returned home determined to build something larger.
The Magees came back the next year stronger. Every year since, they’ve grown Operation Smile into a coordinated global network that now trains local doctors, builds care systems and provides comprehensive treatment beyond surgery, including dental and speech care for hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
“We’ve operated on about half a million people,” Bill said. “And we don’t just do the surgery, we train doctors, we build infrastructure, we stay.”
Volunteerism is central to Operation Smile’s model, with every member of the team, including surgeons, nurses and other support, donating their time and expertise on trips around the world.
That structure has shaped the experience of providers like volunteer surgeon Dr. Dan Sellers, who helped build Operation Smile’s Utah chapter. His daughter was part of one of the state’s first high school chapters, then known as the Happy Club at Bountiful High School.
“You do surgery on a child that changes their life,” he said. “Over the thousands and thousands of kids we’ve seen, it’s been the most amazing thing I can think of in terms of service.”
Bill carries a small pocketbook with him everywhere he goes. It’s filled with before-and-after photos of patients he has treated around the world, and he brings it out to show people he meets and convey the depth of need and represent why the mission of Operation Smile is so critical.
He flips through faces and stories he remembers by heart, pointing to the face of a mother watching over her child before surgery, the stress visibly fading from her features in the post-op photo.
“All of a sudden, they can go to school, they are confident, productive. They can eat again, laugh again,” he said.
He points to a photo of a young boy who had struggled with bullying at school and withdrawn from his community before surgery. The boy then returned to school with a new sense of self, proud enough to talk with his classmates and was seen smiling with his new kindergarten girlfriend.
“That smile is who they are. I think it’s important when people see that, because most people in the United States, if you’re born like that, you can get it fixed. One in every 500 children in the Philippines is born with a cleft lip and palate condition,” said Bill.
But the impact goes beyond confidence. Untreated cleft conditions can make it difficult for children to eat, speak and grow properly, often leading to malnutrition, speech challenges and social isolation from an early age.
Surgery, paired with follow-up care like speech therapy and dental treatment, addresses those barriers and makes it possible for children to communicate, develop and participate in daily life, often for the first time in their lives.
In the world of childhood impact, Operation Smiles extends its emphasis on youth involvement to high schools around the world, building opportunities for young people to get involved, travel and assist care teams abroad and lead their own chapters of the nonprofit in their hometowns.
Kathy described how high school volunteers play an active role on surgical trips, leading activities for children waiting for care, teaching basic hygiene and nutrition and helping create a sense of normalcy in often overwhelming environments.
Youth involvement expanded into college programs and national networks, and what started as a handful of high school clubs has grown into a broader network of young people connected through programs like Operation Smile’s Cleft Connect Chat, a monthly virtual gathering where students born with cleft conditions meet, share their experiences and support one another across countries and time zones.
For some, like Glenwood High School student Willy Sikora, that space has become a community of friendship, leadership and service, allowing him to forge his personal experience into advocacy.
On Saturday night, Sikora received the Cotto Changemaker Award, an honor recognizing young leaders driving impact within the organization. His involvement began four years ago when he was asked to play violin at an Operation Smile fundraiser, where he met Bill and Kathy, along with their daughter, Brigette Magee Clifford, who was working to start the Cleft Connect Chat.
For Sikora, who was born with a severe cleft lip and palate, the Cleft Connect Chat helped him build relationships with peers across the country who share that experience, giving him a foundation not just for connection, but for helping shape a new generation of Operation Smile rooted in that same understanding.
“We’re all bound together by the same mission,” he said. “You find that commonality and use it to build something bigger.”
Last summer, Sikora traveled to Bolivia on a surgical program, where he met some of his closest Cleft Connect Chat friends from other cities in the U.S. and saw the work of Operation Smile firsthand, observing procedures and interacting with patients and local teams.
“It’s so different to experience it and be there,” he said. “It gives you a deeper appreciation for what Operation Smile does.”
Before finding his “forever family,” he said, living in an orphanage in China, Sikora was once among the children the organization aims to serve.
“Operation Smile is giving people like me the chance to live their life to the fullest potential,” he said.
Sikora described how the model has helped expand the organization’s reach into new regions and demographics, particularly among younger volunteers who bring new energy and visibility to the cause.
“There’s just so much fun here,” Bill said. “It’s a way to celebrate the year together.”
As Operation Smile marks four decades of work, organizers emphasized that the need and opportunity continue to grow.
In many regions, access to surgical care for cleft conditions remains limited or nonexistent. The organization’s current focus includes expanding local training programs and strengthening healthcare systems so that care can continue year-round.