More than 2,900 Elementary Students Running Their “Final Mile” on Saturday, March 20 at the Shamrock Sportsfest

More than 2,900 elementary school students from more than 150 schools in Virginia and the U.S. will participate in the Operation Smile Final Mile to get fit and raise money for Operation Smile, a worldwide children’s medical charity. The Operation Smile Final Mile is part of The Shamrock Sportsfest, held March 20 and 21 in Virginia Beach, Va. The Operation Smile Final Mile is designed to teach children the importance of exercise, commitment and helping others.

WHO:  Elementary students ages 6- 12 have been running for months to complete 25.2 miles. They will run their ‘final mile’ at the oceanfront to complete a total of 26.2 miles, the equivalent of a marathon. Many of the runners are going the extra mile by collecting pledges for each mile they run, to benefit Operation Smile and the children it serves born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. 

WHAT: Shamrock Sportsfest’s Operation Smile Final Mile

WHEN: Saturday, March 20 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE:   Start – 30th Street & Atlantic Avenue
                   Finish – 31st Street on the Boardwalk in front of the Hilton, at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Runners Include:
This is the second year Mara Dempsey is participating in the race. She is eight-years-old and a 3rd grader at Three Oaks Elementary School. Mara was born with a cleft lip and received surgery when she was ten weeks old. In 2009, she was able to meet Walter Chavarria, an Operation Smile World Care patient who came to visit her school before he received surgery for his cleft lip. She was able to show him her own scar and shared how everything would be fine after he received his surgery too.   Mara, along with her three other siblings, Emma, Connor, and Liam are not only running the race, but also working hard to raise $240, the cost of one Operation Smile surgery to correct a cleft lip.


Nine year old Tony Blackman Jr. from Virginia Beach was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate and has undergone several surgeries. This is his second year participating in the race along with many of his classmates at Salem Elementary and is going the extra mile again to help raise money for surgeries for other children born with cleft lips and palates. His school created buttons for all the Final Mile participants with a picture of Tony. Visit Tony’s online fundraising page at www.operationsmile.org/tonyblackman. So far he has collected more than enough pledges for one surgery. 




Another special guest is two-year-old Cody Smith. Cody, his mother Jaime, and many friends and family supporters, are traveling from Nashville, Tenn., for the second year in a row to participate in Shamrock’s festivities and the Operation Smile Final Mile. Cody was born with a cleft lip which has since been repaired. Since his surgery, his parents Dennis and Jaime Smith, have vowed to donate $240, one surgery each year. View Cody’s online fundraising page at http://support.operationsmile.org/goto/Cody.Smith.


Patient from Honduras:
Operation Smile patient, Wendy Maria Gutiérrez, from Azacualpa, Honduras, who was born with a cleft lip, will visit local schools this week and participate in “Final Mile” festivities on March 20. Wendy and her parents live in a small village of approximately 2,000 residents in southwestern Honduras and belong to an indigenous community called Lenca, which is the largest indigenous group in Honduras. Her father is a farmer and makes a modest living growing rice, beans, and potatoes. As the family’s only child, they were desperately searching for a way to repair their child’s facial deformity so she could attend school.  Through Operation Smile’s World Care Program, she will receive the surgery that will transform her life forever.


Operation Smile Co-founder and CEO, Dr. Bill Magee, in partnership with Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters (CHKD) in Norfolk, will provide reconstructive surgery for Maria on March 23. Maria arrived in Hampton Roads on March 13 and will stay approximately two weeks. The Cooper family of Virginia Beach is hosting Maria and her family during their stay.

Photos and interviews are available upon request.

About Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org)
Founded in 1982 by Dr. Bill and Kathy Magee, Operation Smile, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is a worldwide children’s medical charity whose network of global volunteers are dedicated to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults. Since its founding, Operation Smile has treated more than 145,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities and the organization has a presence in more than 50 countries. In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency.