The head of a San Antonio non-profit can be seen smiling on bags of potato chips.
SAN ANTONIO — The head of a San Antonio non-profit is having the bottom half of her face immortalized on a bag of chips at a time when the coronavirus is causing many people to hide their smiles behind a mask.
“Smiles have this magic component or quality,” said San Antonio Amputee Foundation Executive Director Mona Patel.
Patel is all smiles lately. She’s one of 30 people chosen to grace the front of potato chip bags as part of the ‘Smile with Lays’ promotion, which came as a complete surprise to her.
“I showed my daughters the email and they just started laughing,” Patel said. “They nominated me without telling me, which is so sweet.”
KENS 5 introduced you to Mona back in 2017. She was one of the People Who Make San Antonio Great.
Her work with the San Antonio Amputee Foundation has helped San Antonians suffering from limb loss, both figuratively and literally, reach new heights.
“We empower those living with limb loss through support – support groups and one-on-one support. I’m a licensed clinical social worker, so I educate, I advocate, I help them through a very daunting medical system,” she said. “We provide fun opportunities for socialization and lots of health and fitness programs as well.”
Lays was looking for, as they put it, ‘ordinary people doing extraordinary things’ to front their campaign benefiting Operation Smile – which works to provide free cleft lip or palate surgeries to those in need.
“The impact that they have on these people that have no other resources to get their cleft lips fixed – what it does for their self-esteem, for their self-confidence, I just think it’s such an incredibly worthwhile campaign.”
This is actually the third year of the Smiles program, but Lays Marketing Director Katie Ceclan said this year feels different.
”Everyone is wearing masks, you can’t – you can’t see the smile, and there’s a lot of science behind, if you see someone smile, it makes you smile and you want to share a smile with someone else,” she said.
For Patel, it just speaks to her belief in the power of smiles.
“I smile at you – you smile at me and we’re all able to spread positive vibes all over the world,” she said.
You can hear more about Mona Patel in our original People Who Make San Antonio Great segment here.
Learn more about what the San Antonio Amputee Foundation does here.
More information on Operation Smile can be found on their website.
Learn more about Mona and the other people chosen for the Lays campaign here.
September 18, 2020 at 06:58AM
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A Bag Full of Smiles: Lay's Potato Chips honors San Antonio woman - KENS5.com
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