I want to express my thanks to all of the PPA members who responded (with or without our nagging) to PPA Charities’ year-end fund raising efforts! What your generous donations made possible, for the third year in a row, was for the PPA Charities to proudly present a check for $100,000 to Operation Smile! The presentation took place at the PPACH Celebration Gala on January 14, in New Orleans, the night before the start of Imaging U.S.A. This year’s event was especially exciting, as Dr. William Magee, co-founder with his wife, Kathy, of Operation Smile, PPACH’s charitable partner. You can see a recap and photos of this fun evening, on the PPA Charities news blog.


The evening's high point was an address by Dr. Magee, who expressed appreciation to PPACH and PPA photographers for their continued support of Operation Smile, and the check presentation by PPACH trustees and PPA President Don Dickson to Dr. Magee and his sister-in-law Beth Marshall, who is Kathy Magee’s sister and director of Operation Smile's Southeast Region and Senior Executive Advisor for Latin America, In thanking PPA members for this donation, Beth pointed out that this $100,000 donation brings PPA’s total donations to Operation Smile to $500,000! The importance of this milestone, she added, is that this amount translates to 2,000 children who have been helped through the generosity of PPA photographers.