Rebecca Herbst: Making People Smile
As a mother of two — Ethan, who turns 5 on Oct. 31, and Ella, 2 — the health and welfare of children is of the utmost concern to Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth, GENERAL HOSPITAL). That’s why the actress has taken an active hand in helping to raise money for The Smile Train, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the millions of children born with cleft lips and palates.
“A few years ago, my mom received a flyer in the mail describing what The Smile Train was all about,” recounts Herbst. “She found it to be a worthy cause, so she passed it on to me. It truly touched my heart. In a lot of countries the unfortunate children born with this problem are ostracized. We think of cleft lips and palates as just a deformity in the bridge of the mouth, but a lot of these children have half their lips missing. It creates so many problems. They can’t eat. They can’t drink. They don’t know how to talk and can’t learn, because there’s no one there to help them.”
That’s where The Smile Train comes in. Since 2000, the organization has provided free surgery for 190,386 children. It supports cleft treatment, training and research programs in more than 51 countries.
“For a $250 surgery they will go in and fix a child’s smile,” notes Herbst. “Sometimes people have a hard time donating money when they don’t know where it’s going. With The Smile Train, it’s so easy to say, for $250 you’ve fixed a child’s mouth. You’ve given a child a second chance at life.”
Herbst took the next step, spreading the word to her GH fan base. “I put information about the organization in my newsletter. I started doing my fan events in the name of The Smile Train,” she notes. “The fans are the ones who really made it happen. They’ve been amazing. They took the idea and ran with it.”
Herbst describes how her fans make donations in her name. “It started during Christmas, one year,” Herbst continues. “Then, for every birthday and any little happy event on the show, the fans would send donations to The Smile Train. A representative from The Smile Train actually contacted me and said, ‘Who are you? All this wonderful stuff is happening, because of you, and we don’t know who you are!'”
Herbst does her best to keep up with developments. “I do get newsletters all the time, and I have received some nice letters from people and some pictures of the children they’ve helped,” she notes. “I’m glad to help any way I can.”
To learn more about The Smile Train or make a donation, visit smiletrain.org.
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