It’s been 20 years since Alliance for Smiles was formed with the mission to transform the lives of children born with cleft lip and palate by providing free comprehensive treatment.
As we grew, so did our objectives which now includes training, equipping and empowering local medical providers to address the long-term needs of cleft patients.
To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we wanted to not just look back on our journey, but also the people who made our missions possible – the many volunteers who generously shared their time, experience and skills; the staff who work tirelessly behind the scenes and the board members and volunteers whose knowledge and expertise shape our future.
Mary Liu
AfS Volunteer & Mission Director
Mary Liu’s connection to Alliance for Smiles is as personal as it is inspiring. Born with a cleft lip and palate, Mary endured eight surgeries from infancy into adulthood, facing the challenges and resilience that accompany cleft repair. When she joined AfS eight years ago, it was a full-circle moment—a chance to give back by supporting others with similar journeys and helping provide life-changing surgeries to children around the world.
From her very first mission in China, Mary’s unique perspective has impacted both families and medical teams. As a volunteer, she’s taken on roles from photographer to mission director, bringing comfort to parents as she shares her own story and shows them the possibilities of a bright future for their children.
Read Mary’s full interview below:
What is your background and how did you get involved with AfS?
Mary Liu: I’m a realtor, and I became involved with AFS eight years ago. I was looking for a nonprofit organization where I could give back and volunteer my time because I was born with a cleft lip and palate. I had a total of eight surgeries to repair my cleft, starting as a baby and continuing into adulthood.
I was born in Hong Kong, so I had my early surgeries there. I came to the US in 1966 when I was two-and-a-half years old, and I continued to have additional surgeries. I was also recommended to go to speech therapy to help with my speech.
What were your challenges growing up with a cleft lip and palate?
Mary Liu: In elementary school, I was bullied for the way that I spoke and pronounced words and also for the way that I looked, since I had a crooked nose and scarring on my lips.
What was it like for you to help treat cleft children and speak to their families?
Mary Liu: I didn’t have any photos as a child or any baby photos, so I didn’t know what I looked like as a child with a cleft lip and a palate. When I went to my first mission in China, I was able to see little babies with cleft lips and palates, and being able to see what I would have looked like was pretty life changing. Seeing the surgeries firsthand and how they were performed also allowed me to come full circle with what I had dealt with as a kid and really helped me understand the process I had undergone.
On my missions to China, I believe it gave the families hope to see a representative who was Chinese, especially since many of our volunteers were not Chinese. Sharing my experience with the families and allowing them to see what I look like now gave them hope and a vision of what their child could achieve after surgery. In my mind, sharing my story with the doctors, dignitaries, and families had a greater impact because I was Chinese.
Are there any stories or incidents that have stood out to you during any of your volunteer missions?
Mary Liu: I’ve been on three missions to China, one to the Philippines, and one to Myanmar. Every mission had its own unique stories, and it’s always heart wrenching to hear a child’s story and how they came to find us.
The story that impacted me the most was about a young girl who needed an alveolar bone graft, a procedure in which bone was taken from another part of her body and inserted into her gums. This procedure is very rare on a mission and in that particular case the surgeon was able to schedule the surgery. I received the same bone graft surgery as a child; bone was taken from my hip and placed into my gums to help my teeth form. I was really excited to see this surgery and what the process looked like, and it was totally different from what I had imagined.
You’ve taken on a number of roles in AfS over the years – photographer, record keeper, mission director, Gala chair – where do you hope to see AFS 10 years from now?
Mary Liu: I want to continue the important work we do around the world, but I find that fundraising is the most challenging aspect of our organization. I hope we can secure more corporate sponsors to fund additional surgeries and create a more sustainable funding model. The more funds and donations we receive, the more children we can help.