Operation Smile to Honor Bernardsville Philanthropist

Bernardsville philanthropist Eileen Quick will be among the honorees at the New Jersey Chapter of Operation Smile's 7th fundraiser on Friday, October 12, to be held in Morristown in commemoration of Operation Smile’s 30th anniversary.

Quick and her husband, Leslie C. Quick, III, are carrying on their family’s legacy of philanthropy and service dedication to education and healthcare. Eileen became involved with Operation Smile after her son Ryan, a Delbarton student, volunteered for a surgical mission to Vietnam in 2003, according to an announcement from Operation Smile.

Operation Smile will honor Quick with the John Connor Humanitarian Service Award on the same night at which the global employees of ETHICON, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson Company, will receive The Corporate Compassion Action Award, the announcement said.

More than 250 guests from New Jersey and worldwide are expected to gather to raise funds for Operation Smile, an international charity that provides free surgery for children around the world who are suffering from facial deformities with the goal of changing their lives forever.

Operation Smile’s New Jersey Smile Gala is a fundraising event celebrating the charity’s 30th anniversary that will include cocktails, dinner and a specialty live auction. The event is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at The Madison Hotel, 1 Convent Road, Morristown.

Tickets and scholarship information is online.

Every three minutes, a child is born with a cleft, according to Operation Smile. One in ten of those children will die before their first birthday. With the generous help of volunteers and supporters like Quick and the global employees of ETHICON, Operation Smile has provided more than 3.5 million healthcare evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children worldwide who were born with facial deformities including cleft lip and cleft palate, the announcement said.

Quick's daughter Maura, a student at the Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child, has also served as a student volunteer on a surgical mission, the announcement said. Since then, Eileen Quick has volunteered on surgical missions in Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Bolivia, Egypt and Mexico, as a Student Sponsor. On the medical missions, the students and their sponsors serve as valuable members of the team as they help calm patients before surgery, visit local schools and give presentations on basic healthcare, burn care and prevention, dental hygiene and nutrition to the local populations.

The Quicks have financially supported Operation Smile, and she has participated in seven of Operation Smile’s International Student Leadership Conferences. Eileen Quick joined the Student Sponsor Board last year, and loves working with students as they realize their potential to make positive changes in our world. Eileen has served as a member of Operation Smile’s New Jersey Chapter for more than six years to help raise funds and awareness, including helping to manage the Delbarton Operation Smile Golf Tournament.

The global employees of ETHICON are being awarded with The Corporate Compassion Action Award. The company launched an innovative employee campaign, “I Am ETHICON,” which emphasizes the philanthropic spirit and commitment of its employees to serve the communities in which they work.

ETHICON employees organized fundraising events to raise more than $400,000 for Operation Smile’s medical missions. In addition, since 1988, ETHICON has donated over $20 million to Operation Smile through in-kind donations of critical medical supplies, including sutures, hemostats and topical skin adhesives.

The New Jersey Chapter of Operation Smile was established more than 16 years ago, helping to raise awareness and needed funds through numerous events through the year. The membership includes many medical and community volunteers who donate their time and expertise, as well as hundreds of students in schools throughout New Jersey who give presentations to schools, hospitals and civic groups. New Jersey business leaders, volunteers and supporters also comprise the New Jersey Operation Smile community. The New Jersey Chapter has raised over $1.2 million dollars in the past ten years for Operation Smile.

Operation Smile, headquartered in Norfolk, Va., is an international children’s medical charity that works in more than 60 countries, whose network of more than 5,000 medical volunteers from over 80 countries.