Last week, a 12-hour podcast by comedy host Jimmy Pardo raked in over $28,000 for the charity Smile Train, whose mission is helping children in third world countries with cleft lip and palate.
Last year’s Pardcast-a-thon all-nighter took 9 hours. Big names like Jon Hamm, Chris Hardwick, Greg Behrendt and Maria Bamford helped raise over $16,000. This year, on the day after Thanksgiving, comedians such as Sarah Silverman, Tom Dreesen, Rob Corddry, Andy Richter and others helped Mr. Pardo well exceed the goal of $20,000 in 12 hours.
For children in developing countries, cleft lip and palate can cause a variety of debilitating problems. More than just a cosmetic defect, these conditions can also interfere with speech development and breathing function. Fortunately, all it takes to repair cleft lip and palate is a 45-minute operation that costs just $250, according to Smile Train. Volunteer plastic surgeons routinely travel with Smile Train mission groups to perform the reconstructive surgery.
Cleft palate repair can be done when a child is around 9-18 months old, while cleft lip repair can be done earlier (at about 10 weeks). With the funds raised by this year’s pardcast-a-thon, over 100 children will be able to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Learn more about the cause through Smiletrain.org or pardcast.com
Tags: reconstructive surgeon