Media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 767-1067 / news@davidperry.com

Volunteer Medical Mission from San Francisco Heads to Guatemala to
Restore Smiles to Young People Suffering Cleft Palate Anomalies

Cross border partnerships will restore children’s smiles  

www.allianceforsmiles.org 

10 September 2019, San Francisco, CA— A volunteer mission of doctors, nurses and medical assistants led by the San Francisco based international organization, Alliance For Smiles (www.allianceforsmiles.org) will depart from San Francisco Saturday, September 14 to provide renewed smiles to 80 children with cleft palate in Guatemala.  The 19-person mission sponsored by Rotary Fairlawn in New Jersey in partnership with Rotary Guatemala Sur will be held at Hospital Hilario Galindo in San Felipe Retalhuleu, Guatemala September 14 – 21, 2019. The mission to provide free cleft palate surgery and treatment for Guatemalan children will also include a dental hygiene clinic and free reading glasses for patients and parents.

“During this time of hardship for many Central American children, we are very happy to be coordinating our first medical mission to Central America which will literally help over 100 children recover their smiles,” said Alison Healy, Executive Director Alliance For Smiles.  “This mission is an example of the good that can be done with strong commitment and dedication to the welfare of children and collaboration and partnership across borders.”

The collaboration to launch this mission included the support of the Guatemalan General Consul and public service announcements from Guatemalan Radio and TV Nuevo Mundo.  Extensive outreach support to reach children in need was also carried out by international, United States and Guatemalan organizations, including: Rotary Club of San Francisco, Rotary International, Rotary Guatemala Sur, Rotary Fairlawn, Maya Health Alliance, Hospital Hilario Galindo, Tess Unlimited, International Esperanza Project, Floating Doctors and the Golden Gate Lions Club.

“Thank you Alliance for Smiles for giving Guatemalan children with cleft palate the possibility to show their face without feeling shame, without feeling different,” said Sylvia Wohlers Gomar de Meie, Guatelamalan Consul General in San Francisco. “Thank you for allowing them to talk, laugh and eat without difficulty.  It is not a new face that they will have, it is the opportunity to lead a normal life, full of opportunities.”

Providing services in Guatemala is challenging due to the hard-to-reach mountainous regions.  Additionally, newborns that can benefit from early treatment are often undernourished and therefore cannot receive surgery until they are given two months of formula in advance of treatment. Local organizations and Guatemalan Radio and TV Nuevo Mundo have been reaching out for months in advance to children in need from all parts of Guatemala.  Patients range in age from newborns to late teens. 

$80,000 was raised by Rotary Fairlawn to support the mission, which includes room and board at the hospital for children and their parents for the duration of the mission. It is estimated that, worldwide, a child is born every three minutes with a cleft palate – about 1 in 750 births. 

“Thank you for changing the lives of so many children and making it possible for them to give besos to their love ones,” said Honorary Consul General for Guatemala Carlos Afre. “As one teenager said after the operation, ‘Now I can Kiss!’”

Alliance for Smiles (AfS) is a San Francisco-based global non-profit organization that provides free comprehensive treatment for cleft lip and palate anomalies in under-served areas of the world. AfS, which has galvanized medical professionals and volunteers to repair children’s broken smiles in 15 countries since it began in 2004, has helped more than 7,000 children worldwide. To provide sustainable care, AFS partners with communities to establish treatment centers that provide the comprehensive patient treatment cleft palate correction requires over time, including up to 10 operations over many years in a child’s life.  Learn more at: www.allianceforsmiles.org

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Media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. (415) 767-1067 / news@davidperry.com

November 2 OFF THE REEF Benefit At San Francisco’s Bently Reserve Celebrates Generations of Environmental Leadership

International Ocean Film Festival Gives “Ocean Champion Award” to Dr. Sylvia Earle

Swedish Eco Activist Greta Thunberg To Be Honored In Absentia 

With the “Next Generation” Award

Acclaimed Nonprofit Is Dedicated to “Saving Our Oceans: One Film at a Time”
17^th Annual Festival Runs March 12 – 15, 2020

www.intloceanfilmfest.org

5 September 2019 – San Francisco, CA: Conserving and restoring our oceans require intergenerational leadership. This year San Francisco’s International Ocean Film Festival (www.intloceanfilmfest.org) recognizes that need through honoring generations of environmental leadership at its 17thannual fall benefit fundraiser. Internationally acclaimed oceanographer and marine advocate Dr. Sylvia Earle, 84, will received the Festival’s annual Ocean Champion Award—past awardees include Kip Evans, director of Expeditions for Mission Blue, Academy-Award winning director LouiePsihoyos and Jeff Boehmn, Executive Director of the Marine Mammal Center. Swedish environmentalist and climate change activist Greta Thunberg, 16, will be honored with the International Ocean Film Festival’s inaugural Next Generation Award, which recognizes extraordinary leadership from a young advocate raising environmental issues on a global stage. Thunberg will receive the award after having recently completed a Trans-Atlantic journey by sail to minimize her own carbon footprint while attending global forum on Climate Change. The Next Generation Award recognizes not only Thunberg’s thought leadership on the urgency of addressing global climate change, which is causing a higher extinction rate in the seas than on land, but also her leading by example in her climate strike and individual actions to reduce carbon emissions.

The night for our oceans’ future fall benefit evening will take place on Saturday, November 2 at The Bently Reserve (301 Battery Street, San Francisco and feature a vegan dinner, fine wine and a live auction, and the following schedule: 5:30pm – 7pm cocktail reception; 7pm-9pm dinner and program; 9pm ‘til 10:30pm music by DJ Bryce Williams. Highlighted during the evening will be teasers of the Festival’s upcoming films. Individual tickets are $ 250 and can be purchased online starting Wednesday, September 3, 2019 at www.intloceanfilmfest.org/benefit

“Our oceans have been under siege for many generations” said Ana Blanco, Executive Director of the International Ocean Film Festival. “However, there is room for optimism in the lives and legacies of this year’s honorees, Dr. Sylvia Earle and Greta Thunberg. Across the generations, these two incredible women represent the courage, vision and resilience needed to save our oceans, and build a world that sustains them into the future.”

According to Blanco, Earle and Thunberg are slated to meet each other for the first time later this month at the United Nations Climate Action Summit being held in New York City.

Oceanographer, National Geographic explorer and founder of Mission Blue, Dr. Sylvia Earle is an American marine biologist and considered “The Godmother of ocean preservation” and the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Time Magazine named her as its first “Hero for the Planet” in 1998. Earle is also part of the elite group Ocean Elders, which is dedicated to protecting the ocean and its wildlife.

Greta Thunberg is a Swedish citizen who, in August 2018 and at age 15, began spending her school days outside the Swedish parliament demanding immediate action to combat modern-day climate change. Her “school strike for the climate” began attracting media attention and she has since become an outspoken climate activist.  In response to the publicity, her strike spread globally after the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December of last year. On 15 March 2019, an estimated 1.4 million students in 112 countries around the world joined her call in striking and protesting. A similar event involving students from 125 countries took place on 24 May 2019.  Thunberg has received various prizes and awards for her activism. In March 2019, three members of the Norwegian Parliament nominated Thunberg for the Nobel Peace r In May 2019, at the age of 16, she was featured on the cover of Time Magazine. Some media have described her impact on the world stage as the “Greta Thunberg effect”. 

Commonly referred to as “The Sundance of ocean film festivals”, since its launch in 2004, the San Francisco-based International Ocean Film Festival has attracted thousands of spectators of all ages from around the world, including film enthusiasts, sea athletes, educators, and environmental supporters. Since then, the Festival has presented over 50 films from 15 different countries and featured post-film Q&A sessions with visiting filmmakers, special panel discussions with content experts, and the Annual Free Student Education Program. It was the first event of its kind in North America, inspired by the well-established ocean festival in Toulon, France, which has continued to draw large audiences for more than 40 years.

Current sponsors for the 17^th Annual International Ocean Film Festival include National Marine Sanctuary, BigBus of San Francisco, Gray Line Tours, Valla and Associates, and SSA. 

The 17th Annual International Ocean Film Festival will take place March 12 – 15, 2020 at San Francisco’s Cowell Theatre at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture. The International Ocean Film Festival is a registered 501(c) 3 non-profit.

For more information visit www.intloceanfilmfest.org and follow on social at: https://www.facebook.com/intloceanfilmfest

Twitter @oceanfilmfest

Instagram @intloceanfilmfest

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media contact:  

David Perry / (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com

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WHO/WHAT:  The SF Chamber of Commerce Breakfast at Chase Center:

​​Home of the Golden State Warriors

WHEN:       ​Wednesday, September 4• 7:30am – Registration Opens• 8:15am – Ballroom Doors Open & Breakfast service begins• 8:30 am – Program Begins ##• 10:00am – VIP Reception (with Golden State Warriors Legends)• 11:00am – VIP Behind-the-Scenes Tour• 12:00pm – Event Concludes

WHERE:     ​Chase Center: 401-450 South Street, San Francisco (Mission Bay)

WHY:​ Members of the press, business owners, corporate executives, government department directors and managers, public and government affairs officers, business development directors, marketing directors and organizational executive Directors are invited to explore Chase Center, the new home of the Golden State Warriors. Guests will enjoy breakfast on the event level floor as we talk the business of sports and entertainment, learn how Chase Center will be programmed, and get a private look at the new venue.

SPEAKERS: 

• Rodney Fong, President & CEO, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce

• The Honorable London N. Breed, Mayor, City & County of San Francisco

• John Gingrich, Board Chair, SF Chamber of Commerce; Chief Revenue Officer, Humu

 • Panel #1:  Community: Jobina Fortson, ABC7 News; Melanie Moore, Executive Director, Golden State Warriors Community Foundation, & VP Community Relations of the Golden State Warriors; Mary Hamilton, Managing Director of the Accenture Technology Labs; Amy Wallace, Vice President, Global Philanthropy, JPMorgan Chase & Co. 

Panel #2: The Business of Sports &Entertainment: Moderated by Bob Fitzgerald Play-by-play TV Announcer; Joe Lacob, Co-Executive Chairman & CEO of the Golden State Warriors; Rick Welts, President & COO for the Golden State Warriors; Bob Myers, President of Basketball Operations/General Manager of the Golden State Warriors; Amit Patel, CEO of Rakuten