After the overwhelming success of Smile Asia Week in 2014, The Ritz-Carlton hotels of Asia Pacific runs the program to raise funds for The Smile Mission for a second year. From May 4 to 10, specially crafted cakes are sold to raise funds for the international medical charity which provides children with cleft lips or palates a reason to smile again.

The 2nd Smile Asia Week is celebrated at 21 Ritz-Carlton hotels in Asia-Pacific. Around 10,000 Ritz-Carlton ladies and gentlemen in Asia take part in this drive to raise funds through the sale of specially crafted cakes, sold exclusively through the websitewww.smileasiaweek.org. All proceeds go directly to the charity and will be used to send medical volunteers on surgical missions across Asia.

Pastry chefs of The Ritz-Carlton in each hotel designed their own recipes for the cake sale, with a focus on local tastes and preferences. At The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, a specially created chocolate banana cake is available at HK$358. Executive Pastry Chef Richard Long combines the sweetness of mashed ripe bananas with the rich flavors of Valrhona chocolate, giving this cake a wonderful moist and soft texture that will for sure bring out that smile on anyone's face.  The cake is perfect for celebrations and special occasions from Mother's Day to anniversaries and birthdays. The website also allows customers from around the world to have cakes delivered to their loved ones and friends in Asia.

To make the event more meaningful for the local community, The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong and The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore are partnering with French artist, Sophie Raynaud, renowned for painting smiles, for art exhibitions during the Smile Asia Week. Sophie, owner of renowned gallery, “Le Pre au 6” in Saint Germain-des-Prés, Paris, is also the founder and artist behind “La Fabrique du Sourire” (The Smile Factory). The factory has been sending out a smile a day through email to its clients for the past four years. Each smile takes the lively form of a colorful drawing, originating from a simple form that is quite quirkily dragged, stretched, and drawn all over the canvas. The drawings tackle universal topics, small life events or serious circumstances, all serving the purpose of spreading cheer and delivering joy.  There are also limited-edition Smile lithographic works, designed for Smile Asia Week 2015, available for purchase. A part of the proceeds from the sale of art pieces will go to The Smile Mission.

“The Ritz-Carlton is always focused on establishing meaningful relationships with the local community by devoting ourselves to our company corporate responsibility foundation, Community Footprints.,” said Victor Clavell, Vice President – Asia-Pacific. “With strong support from our Ladies and Gentlemen for this initiative, we were able to give new smiles to 418 children with cleft lips last year. This small surgery changed their lives and inspired us again this year to continue this activity and help more children in the local communities in which we are present.  

 Through the hard work and heartfelt service of Ladies and Gentlemen during 2014, 13,000 cakes were sold from May 5–11, raising a total of US$400,000.

About The Smile Mission

The Smile Mission is a Singapore-registered children's medical charity that creates platform for medical volunteers to cross-train and provides free surgery and treatment to children with facial deformities, forever changing their lives. Since 2008, with the help of dedicated medical volunteers, it contributed to more than 8,000 comprehensive patient evaluations and over 5,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with facial deformities. The Smile Mission is a member of Smile Asia ®

Smile Asia ® is a collaboration of multiple non-profit entities from across the world who work together in delivery of programmes in 13 Asian countries.

About Community Footprints

With a commitment to “Expand Global Citizenship,” The Ritz-Carlton social and environmental responsibility program, Community Footprints, is embedded into the company's service values, long-range plan and business operations. This commitment is focused on children's well-being, environmental responsibility and hunger and poverty relief. For more information, visit www.communityfootprints.com, or follow The Ritz-Carlton Community Footprints on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RitzCarltonCSR.

About The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., of Chevy Chase, Md., currently operates 88 hotels in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Caribbean. The Ritz-Carlton is the only service company to have twice earned the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, an award that originated in 1987. Its purpose is to promote the awareness of quality excellence, recognize quality achievements of companies and publicize successful quality strategies. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company won the award in 1992 and 1999. For more information, or reservations, contact a travel professional, call toll free in the U.S. 1-800-241-3333 or visit the company web site at www.ritzcarlton.com. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR)