Susan & Emmy Lacek's Miles for Smiles

Family & Friends, 

Happy New Year! We hope you are doing well and that your year is off to a good start. We’d like to share some exciting news about our plans for the summer of 2020.

This June, we will join a group of adventurous souls for a trek up the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. It will be a 26-mile trek on the actual stone path built by the Incas over 600 years ago.

It is our hope that every step we take on this historic trail will benefit a very worthy cause, the Smile Network. You should know two things: one, we will be paying all of our own expenses on this trip and two, every penny raised will go to Smile Network’s Lima Mission, where life-altering surgeries will change the lives of children. The surgical mission takes place immediately following our trek to Machu Picchu and we will be assisting the medical team thereby registering and interacting with the patients’ families.

A bit about Smile Network:

It is a non-profit, Minnesota based, humanitarian organization that performs surgeries on children born with the debilitating birth defect of a cleft lip or cleft palate. This is one of those rare charities where virtually everyone connected to it is a volunteer. The doctors and nurses volunteer their time to make this happen. 

So, for as little as $500, Smile Network is able to repair a child’s birth defect and, in as little as 45 minutes, restore joy and dignity to their lives.  It is our goal to sponsor 10 surgeries during this mission, so we have set a fundraising goal of $5,000.

For all practical purposes, our journey begins today. Donations of any amount are welcome, and no donation is too small. 

Thank you for your help achieving this goal – we are so excited to both conquer Machu Picchu and be part of this wonderful team changing children’s lives forever.