Malibu High Operation Smile Club Feeds Emergency Room Workers

MALIBU, CA — Everyone smiles when they get a free salad, pizza slice, and cupcake. It makes sense then that for the past two Saturdays, members of Malibu High School’s Operation Smile club carried signs saying “Serving Smiles” as they delivered boxes of free pizza, salad, and home-baked cookies.

Normally, the Operation Smile club goes on missions to help provide surgeries for infants with cleft lips and palates. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has made those missions impossible for the time being, the organization has transitioned to a “Serving Smiles” program to deliver meals to healthcare workers and emergency responders. Malibu High School librarian and club advisor Sarah Ryan sprang into action.

Spruzzo’s Restaurant & Bar offered to make 30 pizzas and 30 salads for free, but Ryan offered to pay at-cost with her own money. A GoFundMe account aims to help make up the costs of the meals. You can also send her a Venmo donation to sarah-ryan-47.

On Saturday, April 25, Ryan and two other students traveled to UCLA Medical Center. Last Saturday, she and four other students (all in separate cars, with necessary masks, goggles, and gloves) traveled to UCLA and Cedars-Sinai to feed over 130 emergency and ICU room workers, and they hope to come back each Saturday. They also delivered 50 handmade thank-you cards made by the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu.

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