Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week 2024: Thank You!

May 12, 2024

This Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week, we wanted to help the cleft community celebrate being a part of the ‘One in 700’. Thank you for joining in by sharing your stories, sharing our posts and raising funds to help us keep our vital support services going.

With every post shared and every penny raised, you’ve helped us ensure that no one goes through their cleft journey alone.!

Over 2,500 posts in the #CleftAware hashtags told your stories
We posted 32 tips from the UK cleft community around supporting people affected by cleft – find some of them below and keep sharing!
We shared 68 of your posts through Instagram Stories
Across all platforms, you shared our videos and posts until over 430,000 people saw them!
94 of you pledged to raise awareness and fundraise at work, school or your local community. If you haven’t already, please send us any photos so we can share what you got up to!
213 poster and 1909 leaflets were sent out
Our fabulous fundraisers raised £5,418 and counting through our JustGiving Campaign, with more coming in from other platforms

To every single one of you who got involved in any way, we’d like to say a huge THANK YOU!

Join us now as we reflect on a week of story-sharing, myth-busting and awareness-raising. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Proud to be One in 700

This Awareness Week, we invited the cleft community to post that they were proud to be One in 700 by sharing graphics about their connection to cleft lip and palate.

We also shared your stories throughout the week, such as Charlie with his ‘One in 700’ jumper.

Did You Know?

We shared graphics to help educate people about cleft lip and palate. On Facebook alone, you shared this post 186 times to help it reach over 22,000 people!

Supporting People Affected by Cleft

The cornerstone of this year’s Awareness Week was helping the public to better understand how to support friends and family affected by cleft lip and palate. We asked for your stories, quotes and tips in advance and shared them throughout the week to educate the public and get everyone talking about what helps and what doesn’t.

Read all the stories, quotes and tips here.

Myths & Facts

From a cleft being ‘fixed’ with a simple surgery to the stigma around the causes, there are lots of myths to bust around cleft lip and palate! We shared videos and graphics throughout the week to share with the world to help dispel some of these ideas.

Read all the Myths & Facts here

CLAPA’s Patrons and Ambassadors

On Sunday 5th May, CLAPA Patron Carol Vorderman spoke to our Chief Executive Claire Cunniffe and Connor, an adult born with a cleft, on her LBC Radio show about Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week.

CLAPA Ambassador Jennie Longdon recorded two videos about her experiences with her son, Bear, who was born with a cleft.

In the Press

Throughout Awareness Week, a number of people got in touch with the local press to share their stories, including this article in the Warrington Guardian about Cooper who was born with a cleft.

“Everyone is different in a way and my cleft is my difference. It’s ok to have a cleft and I like my scar – it’s cool!”

Fantastic Fundraisers

Many of you chose to combine your awareness-raising with fundraising to help support CLAPA’s services all year round.

The Welsh Centre for Cleft Lip and Palate got busy during Awareness Week by taking 700 photos to represent the one in 700 babies born with a cleft in the UK.

While around the UK, people at work, school and home took part in a ‘Cuppa for CLAPA‘ or ‘Wear it Blue‘ challenge.

First Camp CLAPA of the Year

Even though we’re busy with Awareness Week, CLAPA’s team have still been at work supporting people affected by cleft with a range of support services. This weekend marked the first ‘Camp CLAPA‘ of the year, where fifteen young people born with a cleft enjoyed a weekend away to build confidence, make friends and have fun!

Thank You!

To all of you who shared your stories, added your thoughts, boosted our posts, raised money, or started a conversation about cleft lip and palate this week, thank you for helping us to create a kinder world for people affected by cleft in the UK!

Proud to be One in 700? Take on the 700 Challenge!

Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness Week comes once a year, but CLAPA works to support people affected by cleft all year round, and we need your support to keep going.

Take on the 700 Challenge this June to help CLAPA to continue to provide life-changing services to people in need all over the UK.

The 700 Challenge