KNYSNA NEWS - In an effort to help some children smile a little brighter, Therese Hansson and the team from Funky Pants have been raising money for the Smile Foundation, the organisation at the forefront of the campaign.

The Smile Foundation is an NGO founded 20 years ago with a comprehensive healthcare vision for children living with facial conditions. 

The foundation works together with the country's academic hospitals to put smiles back onto children's faces through corrective facial reconstructive surgery and treatments.

This cause has become something personal for Therese, whose son Oliver was born with a cleft palette – a condition that the Smile Foundation helps correct by organising the appropriate surgery needed. The Hansson family moved to SA from Sweden five years ago, and Oliver has undergone numerous surgical procedures to correct his cleft palette. Due to how close it was to her, Therese became an ambassador for the foundation in 2016 and has since raised over R25 000 for the NGO.

Therese is also an avid trail runner, which is how she met Peter Szeili, the owner and founder of Funky Pants, a company that designs and produces exercise pants with different, "funky" designs.

The two became good friends, and soon enough Szeili wanted to lend a helping hand to the cause. From there, his desire translated into a new design which he has now coined the "Smile Funky Pants" and "Smile Running Vests".

These special designs were then sold along with the rest of Szeili's products, and for every unit sold he donated R100 to the Smile Foundation. 

Thus far, from November last year until now, he has managed to raise R8 000, the equivalent of the medicine needed for one operation. Szeili says he will continue with the project in hopes of raising as much money as possible for the Smile Foundation.

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