#IWantMyNerdHQ

Not too long ago, during my quest to find everything on the Intertubes related to Nathan Fillion (*swoon*), I came across the YouTube channel for Nerd Machine. There were these videos from something called Nerd HQ, an event organised by Zach Levi (from the TV series Chuck) to benefit the charity Operation Smile.

When I found out what Operation Smile does, I fell in love with Zach Levi, almost as much as I was already in love with Nathan. Since I am lazy and want to avoid more typing than necessary, I am just going to put in a link to another blog where it explains more about Nerd Machine, Nerd HQ and Comic-Con: Nerd Power|Chuck This.

Operation Smile is an organisation that helps children that are born with cleft palate or other facial deformities in countries that lack the medical care that we in the Western world are privileged enough to enjoy. Surgeons and other medical staff volunteer their vacation time to go to these countries and perform surgeries. Each surgery costs about $240 (that's US currency), and takes less than an hour, but it can save a child's life and it certainly will change that life forever.

This organisation is especially dear to me because my son was born with a severe cleft palate. Thanks to the excellent care at Children's Hospital in Seattle he has never had to suffer any problems because of this. Even the surgeons over here, when we met with the team after we moved, were impressed with the level of expertise. Today, people that meet him do not even notice his scars.

So to be able to contribute to this organisation, even by making a small donation, is something that puts a smile on my face. I think about how I felt about my son, and I imagine how it must feel to a mother somewhere who has seen children die because they were born with a cleft palate. How much more intense must her happiness be when her child is saved by a simple little operation. I cannot even imagine.

That is why I fell in love with Zach, because he runs Nerd HQ as a fundraiser for Operation Smile. All the money from ticket sales etc goes directly to charity. So when he sent out a Tweet the other day about asking us fans for help, I immediately set aside some money to donate. And I think if I can do this, when I live on welfare and barely scrape by, then anyone can do it.

In the words of Captain Malcolm Reynolds: "We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty".

Let's do this.