67 Days of Smiles

That’s right!  We’ve got another winning submission.  We loved Karla’s entry from Albuquerque, NM:

When we go to Orlando my sister & I can be kids again… except we won’t get grounded this time!

Hahaha indeed Karla.  You won’t get grounded at all… in fact you will be a part of a World Record breaking attempt to have the most smiles in one place at one time!  You will also get a flight, transportation in Orlando, hotel stay, tickets to a park and more!  I would say that’s far from being grounded!

Remember you have 1 week to get your submissions in if you want to be a part of our Special World Smile Event on Oct 1st.  We don’t know what we’re going to do with ourselves when we’re not reading the hundreds of smile stories we get each week!

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The winners keep on comin’ for our big event on October 1st!  Our most recent winning online submission is from David in Iowa who wrote:

Orlando makes me smile because it is the best place on Earth for smile-watching and smiling is contagious!

Short, simple and oh so true!  We may have found a lot of our 67 winners, but we don’t have ALL of them yet! You have until September 3rd to enter your smile story for a chance to win.  So start thinking about why Orlando makes you smile.  Dream about it, envision it, meditate on it and then SUBMIT it because we’re getting down to the wire and want to see YOUR smiling face in Orlando on October 1st!

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It’s coming down to the wire folks there isn’t much time to enter to win a trip to Orlando for a special World Smile Day Event on the first of October!

This week I traveled to Atlanta, Georgia on Orlando’s World Smile Search. I was able to spread some Orlando smiles on a few radio and tv spots including Atlanta and Company:

Click here to watch the interview

Enter your smile story at http://www.VisitOrlando.com/Smile before it’s too late!

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During our day at the Santa Cruz Hospital in Sao Paulo we got to meet the doctors who make Smile Train surgeries happen along with meeting the children and parents who benefit from the surgeries.

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Today Kyle and I had the great honor to visit the Santa Cruz Hospital in Sao Paulo to see the good work Smile Train is doing in this community. For those who haven’t heard of Smile Train it is a wonderful non-profit that raises funds  to provide children in developing countries who were born with a cleft palate the surgery needed to bring them to full health.

This morning we met a beautiful nine-month-year-old girl named Clara who received her surgery today. The minute we walked in the room she lit up. She tried so hard to smile at us when we came over to say hello. We immediately saw how important the work Smile Train is doing. I was so excited that by the end of the day Clara would be able to smile.

But the surgery to fix cleft palates is not just about aesthetics, it is also about health. Without her surgery today Clara would be prone to serious ear infects, struggle with being able to talk properly, and have a hard time being able to swallow. When we talked to Clara’s parents they told us that they have been worried about the health implications from their daughter’s cleft palate and were so thankful today that due to Smile Train they would not have to worry anymore.

Following the surgery we were able to visit Clara. She was very cheery and loved her new Mickey Mouse plush animal. But more importantly her parents were relieved. Their daughter would be able to grow up healthy and from now on be able to smile from ear to ear.

We are so thrilled that Orlando’s Smile Search has been able to partner with Smile Train to help children like Clara smile for the first time. How amazing that together we can affect children’s lives in such a great way!

Cleft-palate surgeries cost as little as 250 dollars and change these children and their families forever.

During the World Smile Search we are trying to raise enough money for 67 kids across the world get a new smile and would love for you to be a part of that!  If you would like to donate 5 dollars or 250 dollars to Smile Train just click here.

Thank you for helping Smile Train and Smile Search as we help children just like Clara smile. Check back soon for a video of our day at Santa Cruz hospital.

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We would like to take the moment to say just how much we LOVE our “jobs”!  Being an Orlando Smile Ambassador is sort of AMAZING.  We got to go to the iconic Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio De Janeiro to give away to trip to Orlando!  I just love giving away trips.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  It makes me feel like Oprah.  Or Ellen.  The look that people get on their faces when we tell them they just won a trip to Orlando is priceless.  All of the worries they had for the day, all of the stress in their lives is gone and they turn into a little kid again!  It makes their day, and it CERTAINLY makes ours.

When we were taking the tram to the top of the mountain where the statue is located we were kind of nervous because: a) we don’t speak a lick of Portuguese (thank heavens for our amazing guide Jane).  And b) we had no clue who we were going to give the trip to or for what reason.  But as fate would have it on the way up a group of men playing Brazilian music hopped on our train and suddenly a passenger started dancing right along with them, smiling and laughing.  We knew we had our winner!

Congrats to Carla!  We can’t wait to see her dance moves in Orlando on October 1st!

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This morning we landed in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil to start learning why Orlando Makes Brazilians Smile. Tomorrow we are heading up to the famous Redeemer Statue to find a winner to come up to Orlando for a special world smile event on October first.

Brazilians if you are in the area find us (Orlando’s Smile Ambassadors)! Show us your smiles and tell us why Orlando Makes You Smile…you could win a trip!

Hint: We’ll be wearing bright blue shirts that say ‘Orlando Makes Me Smile’

Good Luck!

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