When the New York Times broke the news that Charles Wang was going to effectively close Smile Train down through a merger with Operation Smile, a tiny mission charity in Virginia, thousands of Smile Train donors were outraged. Emily Tabor was one of them. Ms. Tabor had a 12-year-old daughter who was born with a cleft so she knew firsthand the pain and suffering clefts can cause. She was a major Smile Train supporter who’d travelled overseas to witness firsthand Smile Train programs. She also helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for Smile Train.
Ms. Tabor, is very smart, caring and passionate, and she was not about to sit idly by while Wang destroyed a charity that meant so much to her. She created an online petition directed to the New York State Attorney General asking him to halt the merger and stop Charles Wang from destroying the Smile Train. Her petition immediately went viral. Thousands of loyal Smile Train donors signed her petition and many left comments explaining how they felt Wang was a crook and should be in jail. Take a look for yourself:
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/savesmiletrain
The good news is that Ms. Tabor’s petition helped stop the merger. The bad news is her petition put Ms. Tabor on Charles Wang enemies list. Wang was really mad that his merger was cancelled – as a single, working mother with two young girls, Ms. Tabor was an easy target.
Wang’s $1,400 an hour lawyers sent several threatening letters to Ms. Tabor and started preparing a lawsuit against her. Ms. Tabor was forced to hire a lawyer to defend herself. She was worried about going bankrupt from legal fees AND terrified at being the target of Wang’s wrath. She knew how vindictive and brutal Wang could be. Luckily, the acting Executive Director of Smile Train, was able to calm Wang down and stop him from filing a lawsuit against Ms. Tabor.