Smile Train is an international children’s charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable... moreSmile Train is an international children’s charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate.
Millions of children in developing countries with unrepaired clefts live in shame, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking. Cleft repair surgery is simple, and the transformation is immediate. Our sustainable model provides training and funding to empower local doctors in 85+ developing countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery in their communities.
We use the “teach a man to fish” model focusing on training local doctors to perform cleft repairs in their communities. Those doctors then go on to train other doctors creating a long-term, sustainable system.
Patients see their smile for the first time, parents cry tears of joy, lives and communities are changed forever.
As a result of our efficiency and with the support of our donors and partners around the world, Smile Train has transformed the lives of more than one million children by giving them the power of a smile -- that's roughly 350 surgeries a day and 128,000+ every year.
We created a GatheringUs memorial to celebrate the life of Paul Robert Dow. Collecting your stories and memories here will offer us great comfort and a good giggle! Click on the heart to let us know you were here and to receive email updates. Thank you for contributing to this lasting memorial.
OBITUARY
Paul Dow - once met never forgotten! Paul loved life, he woke up everyday with a huge smile on his face no matter the circumstances. He lived to make a difference whether through sharing his passion for making music or through his vocation as a scientist, his charitable donations, or his wicked sense of humour or just a smile and a joke for a stranger. There is no doubt that he made the world around him a brighter, better place. He... see more Paul Dow - once met never forgotten! Paul loved life, he woke up everyday with a huge smile on his face no matter the circumstances. He lived to make a difference whether through sharing his passion for making music or through his vocation as a scientist, his charitable donations, or his wicked sense of humour or just a smile and a joke for a stranger. There is no doubt that he made the world around him a brighter, better place. He didn't believe in an after life but his philosophy was that by living everyday for others he would live on in the joy of their improved lives. I am the luckiest woman alive to have spent 28 years adoring Paul and being adored by him. We cuddled and laughed every single day. We worked together, played music together, played games together, celebrated the boys together and we never once got bored in each others company. I like to think that we amplified each others good qualities and smoothed over the poorer qualities. Paul gave me all the love and encouragement that I needed to become who I am, that gift is for the rest of my life. In short, thank you Paul for the love, the music, the boys, the laughter, the cooking and the ability to find joy in the darkest of times.