Every year, blue cardboard boxes begin to circulate around campus, and the students with them become the most popular people in the room. These students are participating in the Operation Smile “World’s Finest Chocolates” fundraiser.

Students who participate in this fundraiser are tasked with selling 60 bars of chocolate at $1 apiece. According to Operation Smile club president senior Madeleine Nseir, “Students will sign up to sell boxes, and we get half of the profits from the [chocolate] company.

The funds raised directly contribute to Operation Smile’s mission. “All of our money that we fundraise for is gonna go towards people in third world countries who are in need of a cleft palate or cleft lip surgery,” Nseir explained, “each surgery is $240 and most of the money that we raise will go towards that”.

This year the club sold a total of 68 boxes which generated enough money for the group to fund eight surgeries for those in need.

Although it caused a buzz on campus, the fundraiser went by quickly this year. “Most kids sold their boxes within the first day or two,” Nseir said, “it was literally insane. I’ve never seen it like that, which was really cool”. Students were able to sell out the boxes in various ways as explained by the club president: “I know a lot of people would go to their parents and post [on social media], and they would sell to their neighbors and their friends.”

Despite the fundraiser’s prominence across the school, the organizers were worried about how it would turn out. “It has always been a really popular fundraiser, and we were worried this year because we know there are a couple of other clubs that also do the same fundraiser, but we had such a great turnout…we had a lot of people asking if they could do more or sign up their friends and we ran out of boxes,” said Nseir.

All in all, the fundraiser was a big success for the group, but they won’t stop now. Keep an eye out for Operation Smile opportunities and the future and be sure not to miss out.