In January 1993, a medical team from San Francisco travelled to La Serena, Chile, to treat children with cleft lip and palate anomalies. It was the first medical mission undertaken by Rotaplast International. In the years since, according to the organization’s website, Rotaplast has carried out more than 225 missions and treated more than 15,000 children.

In 2001, Terry Hodskins, a Rotarian from Wells, heard about Rotaplast, but was sad the young patients were wrapped in plastic or paper sheets during and after their procedure. “She decided we could do better,” said Ann Demeranville of East Boothbay. “And so she started Wrap-A-Smile.”

In 2018, Demeranville took over for Hodskins in running Wrap-A-Smile. “Rotaplast sends out 12 to 15 medical missions every year and we send about 100 quilts with each mission. Since 2001, 26,000 quilts have gone out around the world, both with Rotaplast and also Alliance for Smiles. If you laid them all out they’d cover seven football fields.”

The quilts are the collaborative work of contributors across the nation. 

“The medical missions leave from San Francisco,” Demeranville explained. “So quilts from the western half of the country are gathered by my two California coordinators, but quilts from the eastern half of the country are routed to Boothbay Harbor.” Besides the helpers in California, Demeranville has a team of local helpers who label and vacuum-pack the quilts for shipment to San Francisco.  

The quilts come from many people. “Some people just send one, others send several. One incredible woman in Unity, Maine, has made 29 quilts for us just in the last two months! A non-quilter once told me our organization is a quilt in itself. They were right.” 

Ever seeking more support for the cause, Demeranville has created a Wrap-A-Smile kit. Aimed at new quilters, each kit contains 63 6” squares of three different cotton fabrics. The squares will be sewn together, following a simple design, to create a finished top, 38.5 inches by 49.5 inches. Then the quilter can send the top to Wrap-A-Smile HQ where it will be completed, or they can continue and send it in as a finished quilt. The free kits can be picked up at Boothbay Harbor Community Center, Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce, or the Rotary Clubhouse. “I’ve learned that if you give things for free, the return on the investment is amazing,” said Demeranville.

Wrap-A-Smile is hosting a Quiltathon at the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Clubhouse from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 14. “We’ve done it before,” said Demeranville. “It’s a fun gathering of people, some from here, some from farther away.” There will be kits available but participants are asked to bring their own sewing machines and whatever quilt project they are currently working on.

For information on the Quiltathon, visit wrapasmilequilts.blogspot.com. For general information about Wrap-A-Smile and Rotaplast, go to rotaplast.org/partners-2/wrap-a-smile