Way to Go! Great Neck student helps those with cleft lip
Jared Ohebshalom, a senior at Great Neck North High School, recently created a fundraiser called the "#SmileShot Challenge" to raise money and awareness for the nonprofit Operation Smile. Credit: Daniella Ohebshalom
A Great Neck student is taking a shot at helping those who have cleft lip.
Jared Ohebshalom, a senior at Great Neck North High School, recently created "#SmileShot Challenge," a video challenge that invites participants to post their best "shots" on social media with that hashtag and then nominate friends or family to do the same. The respective "shots" can be sports related or non-sports related, he said.
Ohebshalom, 17, has been collecting donations in conjunction with the challenge through the online crowdfunding platform GoFundMe. He also hosted a fundraiser last month that consisted of the basketball game "HORSE," but with the event's 30 participants instead spelling out "SMILE."
The funds are benefiting Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization that provides surgery for children and adults in remote locations around the world who have cleft lip and cleft palate.
So far, Ohebshalom's collection efforts have raised more than $3,400.
"What do you do when you see a great shot? You smile!" said Obehshalom, who aspires to be a dentist. "There are people around the world who are born with deformities who are unable or are too self-conscious to express the same reaction."
Ohebshalom is also captain of his school's varsity basketball, lacrosse and soccer teams, as well as president of the AIDS Awareness Club and speaker for the Foreign Affairs Club.
— MICHAEL R. EBERT
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
