XanGo, a multilevel marketing company based in Lehi, will sponsor three Operation Smile missions in the next 18 months. Each mission costs about $150,000. Although the surgeons and staff are volunteers, the equipment is pricey and the surgeons take time to train local doctors. Only about 10 percent of plastic surgeons have the training to operate on cleft lips and cleft palates, which means that few children in the developing areas get the surgeries.
The missions will be to Thailand, since that's where the mangosteen fruit from which XanGo's flagship product, XanGo Juice, is grown. The company wants operations for children of farmer workers who harvest mangosteen.
