Lippy the Lion Comes to Town

Press Release

Lippy the Lion, a goodwill ambassador representing families of children born with cleft lip and palate, is coming to this community soon.

Lippy is the “travelling ambassador” for Wide Smiles, a support and information network for families dealing with cleft lip and palate (www.widesmiles.org/) One in 700 births is touched in some way by a clefting condition. This means that for one reason or another, the lip and/or the palate did not fuse during gestation. The result is a structure in the mouth, often involving the face, that does not work, and can be initially startling to the new parent. Families then go on to deal with a variety of issues, including feeding issues, speech and hearing issues, an ongoing regimen of surgeries, and self-esteem issues in the child. Most children born with Cleft feel completely alone in their experiences.

But Lippy is here to help that. Lippy is a stuffed toy lion who, like our children, was born with a cleft lip. Stitches in his lip confirm for the child that Lippy, too, has undergone operating room procedures. Lippy wears the stiff “no-no” sleeves and his own “peek-a-booty” hospital gown, showing children everywhere that he understands their experiences as only one who has been there, done that, can. Those who have visited Lippy have kept a journal and a photo album that not only travels with Lippy, but is also located on the web. This way, Lippy’s friends can keep up with where he is at all times, while at the same time, they “meet” many other children who also deal with cleft.

Lippy is also available to share information about clefting with the communities he visits. Consider highlighting this goodwill ambassador and his message when he visits your community. Lippy will circle the globe many times over in the next few years, because children everywhere need a friend to help them feel so not alone.

Date of Lippy’s visit ___________________ family __________________

Contact phone number __________________________________________

Or, email us at LippyLionWS@hotmail.com

Back to Lippy's home page

Back to Wide Smiles