LEHI, UT – A few short months ago, a parentless 19 year-old in a remote Siberian city suffered from lack of funds for schooling and a facial deformity called cleft lip that affects eating, breathing and social interactions. Despite these humble beginnings near the geographic center of Asia in Tuva, Russia, the young man, named Salan Solun-ool, was determined to make a better life. Upon a chance meeting with several distributors for XANGO, LLC, a global health and wellness leader in the direct sales industry, Solun-ool became a distributor himself to earn income for college. Little did he know, the introduction to XANGO would not only provide a unique business model for achieving his financial goals but also lead to free, life-changing surgery in nearby Ulan Ude, Russia, during XANGO’s award-winning 2010 Season of Smiles with Operation Smile, for whom the company is a long-time sponsor as part of its core commitment to changing lives.
“Salan Solun-ool’s story in Russia is a microcosm of what we’ve seen throughout the Season of Smiles – the strength of XANGO’s global network and the power that exists when many caring people lend their talent and resources to provide life-changing opportunities for others,” says XANGO Founder Joe Morton. “As a global company, XANGO encourages our employees, distributors and executives each to become personally involved in the ways that most resonate with them, from local volunteering to larger initiatives that reach every corner of the world.”
XANGO’s Russian distributors assisted medical volunteers in performing 55 surgeries for children and youth who suffer from cleft lip and cleft palate facial deformities, including Solun-ool. The mission in Ulan Ude followed similar trips to Tlaxcala and Guadalajara, Mexico, and Chonburi, Thailand, reaching a total of 450 children and youth in 2010. The initiative to provide free, life-changing medical care is emblematic of XANGO’s sense of mission to improve lives. With his surgery complete and a second year of college studies underway, Solun-ool is several steps closer to his dream of becoming a painter, quite a transformation from his days at the Siberian orphanage in which he grew up.
Solun-ool isn’t the only one to take notice of XANGO’s commitment to the greater good: XANGO’s partnership with Operation Smile also led to official recognition via a 2010 Communitas Award from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals in the category of Leadership in Community Service. The Communitas Awards recognize exceptional businesses, organizations and individuals who unselfishly give of themselves and their resources, and those who change how they do business to benefit their communities.
Morton notes, “XANGO is honored to be among the 2010 Communitas Awards recipients and will continue our work with Operation Smile to further our joint mission of changing lives, one smile at a time.” In Ulan Ude, Russia, Salan Solun-ool is smiling brightly as he contemplates his expanded world of possibilities.
