Planned Giving

Marilyn Kubicek Shares Her Blessings with Others Through Gifts to Smile Train

When I started college in 1966, a presentation about deaf children so impressed me that I decided to major in speech pathology and deaf education.

That’s how I learned about cleft lips and palates and the severe physical and psychological issues they can cause. I also learned how children in countries where surgical care is not widely available are often made fun of and stigmatized. After graduation I ended up pursuing wedding photography instead — but that’s another story.

Years later an ad for Smile Train caught my attention. My studies had opened my heart to people with clefts, but what impressed me most was Smile Train’s model of empowering health care workers worldwide to provide free cleft care in their own communities year-round. I began donating enough to fund one surgery every month.

Once, I was looking at my budget and told a friend I might skip my donation that month. He looked puzzled and asked, “What about the child?” That hit home. What did my budget matter to a child with a cleft?

I sent that monthly check and all others since with that in mind. In 2014 I upped my donations to $500 a month.

I’ve come to realize that it was God’s purpose to introduce me to clefts and to Smile Train. He has blessed me with good fortune, and I’m to pass it on to help others. With a heart full of love and hope, I choose Smile Train — now and beyond.

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