“I’ve seen firsthand the suffering of these children and their parents. These life-changing cures are modern-day medical miracles.”

Alex Trebek, Host of Jeopardy!

Over the years, at both Smile Train and WonderWork, we were very fortunate to earn the trust and support of dozens of major celebrities and famous supporters.

But none of them helped us as much as Alex Trebek did.

I first met Alex Trebek when he came to our 100,000 surgeries celebration for Smile Train around 2004. We had invited all of our donors to come to celebrate and it was a free event. We originally rented a venue that could hold 300 people. But as RSVPs poured in, we had to change the event location three times as the numbers grew and grew.

Ultimately, more than 1,800 Smile Train donors from more than 40 states (including Alaska) came that night to celebrate with us. Alex was one of them. We never realized he was a donor until he RSVP’d for that event.

I got to sit with Alex during dinner that night and what a treat that was. He was incredibly down-to-earth, gracious, intelligent, and interested in what we were doing. Afterward, we stayed in touch. He kept sending us very generous donations and we kept sending him updates on our progress.

When we scheduled a major donor event in Los Angeles, I asked Alex if he would consider hosting it and to my surprise he said yes without any hesitation. He did an amazing job.

He could light up a room like no one I had ever seen before. And all of our donors absolutely loved him. Most of us had been watching him on TV all of our lives so he was really like a member of the family.

That very successful first event that Alex hosted led to many others. It seemed every time we asked Alex would say yes. And every event Alex hosted sold out almost immediately. In Seattle. San Francisco. New York. Washington D.C.

He even flew to the Jordan Vineyard in Sonoma Valley once to host a very high-end, intimate dinner with our biggest donors.

During these events, he would tell stories and show a side of him that you never get to see on the Jeopardy show. Most people don’t know this about Alex, but he’s done quite a bit of travel to developing countries. Most of it was with a great charity called WorldVision.

Alex would tell this one story about visiting a large orphanage in Southeast Asia. During his visit he passed by a large pen filled with three and four-year-old children who were all holding up their arms and yelling to him to pick them up.

Alex walked right over and picked up this very cute, loveable little three-year-old boy. The boy hugged Alex and Alex hugged him back. but when it came time to put the boy down Alex realized what a mistake he had made.

The boy would not let go.

He had never been hugged before.

You can imagine how it ended.

Every time Alex would that story everyone in the room and started crying.

Including Alex.

In addition to all of his generous donations, all the events he hosted for us, and all of the big and little things that he did to help us over the years, there was one very big thing that he did that was remarkable.

A friend of mine had sent me a video clip of a very prominent U.S. billionaire businessman being interviewed on CNBC.

He was bragging that he intended to give away all of his money before he died. He was in his early 70s and he was worth about $3 billion so this was quite a statement.

The anchor asked the billionaire how much money he is already given away in his life and he said he and his wife had given away around $700 million. The anchor was impressed with this and said wow, how come no one knows about all the money you’ve been giving away?

The billionaire responded, “There hasn’t been much publicity about my philanthropy because my wife and I hate going to charity events and besides, every night we’re in bed by 7 o’clock so we can watch Jeopardy.”

Wow! I was so excited about this opportunity I couldn’t sleep. 

I immediately forwarded this video clip to Alex along with a  letter I drafted for him to send to the billionaire. The letter said, “I don’t know what is more impressive, the fact that you going to give away $3 billion or that you watch me on Jeopardy every night with your wife!” 

The letter included an invitation for the billionaire and his wife to have dinner with Alex.

And me.

Luckily, the billionaire lived just 1.5 hours away from Alex in Southern California.

As usual, Alex didn’t hesitate – he said yes. And the next thing I knew I was sitting with Alex, this billionaire and his lovely wife having dinner.

Alex turned on his charm and we had a great time.

Two weeks later we received a very, very large donation.

Thank you, Alex,

Like millions of other Americans, I was shocked and saddened when Alex announced he has pancreatic cancer last spring. As usual, he handled the announcement with grace, dignity and courage.

I sent him a short note to let him know we were all rooting and praying for him – just like the rest of the country. If anyone can beat the odds of this horrible cancer, Alex can. Right away, he sent me back a handwritten thank-you note. Typical Alex. Thoughtful, generous. A class act.

I am so glad I got to meet and know Alex Trebek and I will always be grateful for all of the help and support he gave us for so many years.

His kindness and compassion helped us provide life-changing surgeries for hundreds of thousands of children no one else would help.

God Bless Alex Trebek.