Greenwich family knows the value of a smile

Lisa Lori, founder of Three Little Bears and #smilemore campaign, in her store, The Perfect Provenance, in Greenwich, Conn., Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015. Lori's organization raises money that is donated to Operation Smile, an ogranization that facilitates the surgical repair of facial deformities in children throughout the world. Lori's three sons were born with a congenital facial deforminity that was surgically repaired by Dr. Ronald Zuker, a pediatric plastic surgeon, who is a surgical volunteer for Operation Smile. The Lori family was so grateful with Dr. Zuker's successful surgery that they started the Three Little Bears, named Luke, Griffin and Zachary, after the Lori boys and sell the bears to raise money for Operation Smile. less Lisa Lori, founder of Three Little Bears and #smilemore campaign, in her store, The Perfect Provenance, in Greenwich, Conn., Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015. Lori's organization raises money that is donated to Operation ... more Photo: Bob Luckey Jr. / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Bob Luckey Jr. / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Greenwich family knows the value of a smile 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Lisa Lori of Greenwich was used to the stares.

Though her friends were always supportive, strangers made her family feel as if they were on the outside.

“People always asked ‘What’s the matter?’” said Lori, standing at her pop-up shop The Perfect Provenance on Railroad Avenue.

Behind her were stuffed teddy bears, part of Lori’s Three Little Bears project, and T-shirts and tote bags, proceeds of which go toward the nonprofit Operation Smile.

These items are part of her Smile Collection, a brand that will be featured in Lori’s upcoming Greenwich store as a result of a particularly sensitive part of her life: All three of her sons were born with a rare form of facial paralysis. For eight years, her oldest, Zack, was unable to show most basic facial expressions.

“I couldn’t speak clearly and it was hard to eat and stay clean,” said Zack, 15, a freshman at Greenwich High School. At the time, Lori said his language skills were only 50 to 60 percent intelligible.

“You start to live without many expectations. So you tell yourself something doesn’t matter. And then it changes and it’s incredible,” said Lori.

Things changed for the family when Zack was 8. They found a surgeon, Dr. Ronald Zuker, who performed the surgery and gave them the cure they were looking for.

After eight 10-hour surgeries spread out among the three kids, some involving transferring leg tissue to the face, and all involving months of recovery, Lori’s sons Zack, Luke and Griffin were able to smile.

“You can show people you’re genuinely enjoying something… Smiling is important. It tells people how you feel,” said Zack.

Lori’s life is split in half between the dark days before surgery, not knowing why her children had been born with facial paralysis, and the happy days afterward, when the question still remains but her sons are healed and, most importantly she said, happy.

“We’re on what I call the happy side,” she aid. “We wanted them to grow up and live a happy and regular life, and that’s what they’ve been able to do.”

After the successful surgeries, Lori and her family began to learn more about facial disabilities, including the statistics that every three minutes, a child is born with cleft lip or cleft palette. It helped that their surgeon was also a volunteer for Operation Smile and could tell them about his work.

“Life’s not the same for everybody. Some really do have it harder than others,” she said. “I mean, we had the education and the resources and it took us eight years” to get treated, she said.

Her sons’ surgeries were much more invasive than those for cleft lip, which can take only 45 minutes. And yet many children around the world are ostracized and experience secondary health problems from other conditions she said.

“We wondered if there was anything we can do to help that — we know how transformative (surgery) is,” she said.

She and her husband hosted a party to celebrate their sons’ surgical success and to raise money for Operation Smile, which helps families and children with facial disabilities. The event raised $85,000.

“So I thought, what could be the next step in fundraising?” said Lori.

Lori and her friend, fashion designer Kathy Van Zeeland, came up with the idea of the Three Little Bears Project. The campaign, which was subsequently subsumed under Operation Smile, sells teddy bears for $240, the same price for a cleft lip or cleft palate surgery. A child in a developing country suffering from facial disfigurement would receive both the surgery, and the teddy bear, for free.

Since its inception, Lori estimates the project has raised $1.5 million for the cause, and her own fund-raising events have raised another half-million.

Her oldest son, Zack, joined forces with fellow GHS freshman Julia Merrill to start an operation smile club at the high school this year, which now has 30 members. Julia had cleft palate until she got surgery when she was 1.

“It’s so lucky that you can look at people on the street and smile. It sounds like a little thing but it’s a huge thing for other people,” said Julia.

So far, the club has held a bake sale, and this Christmas the members will be passing out a “Smile bag” filled with mirrors, coloring books and toothbrushes for kids in the tri-state area recovering from Operation Smile facial surgeries.

Meanwhile, Lori will be opening up The Perfect Provenance in February. In it, she’ll have her Smile Collection, selling teddy bears for the Three Little Bears project and T-shirts and tote-bags, of which 20 percent of the proceeds will go to Operation Smile.

Lori said some of her best-selling items are from the Smile Collection, including the T-shirts and tote bags, of which 20 percent of the proceeds will go to Operation Smile. Her family has only received support, before and after the surgery, from community members.

“We got to see the best side of people. If there’s any silver lining to all of this, that’s it,” she said.

SFoster-Frau@scni.com; @SilviaElenaFF