When Brent Jensen went to the Philippines for the first time, he wanted to see a success story of how AgelCare’s surgery changed a recipient’s life.

Jensen, former executive director of AgelCare, was directed to a 22-year-old man that had received surgery to correct his cleft pallet. The deformity causes teeth to spread apart making it difficult to eat and talk.

AgelCare, a nonprofit organization based in Lehi, performs deformity corrective surgeries around the world. The foundation looks for people, not just to give out a charitable donation, but to change someone’s life forever, Jensen explained.

“Now [the man from the Philippines] owns his own business, he’s married to a beautiful girl … his whole life turned around,” Jensen said.

Today AgelCare is holding $10 Tuesday, an event to raise money for the equipment and facilities that enable AgelCare to perform surgeries.

“It’s a great way to do something small to have an impact on lives all around the world that are less fortunate than you,” Robinson said. “We’ve really made it easy for people to have a big impact from something small.”

Ten dollar Tuesday asks for each person to donate $10 to AgelCare and then ask 10 friends to do the same. 

Those who contribute, and get  friends to donate, will receive a free T-shirt.

“It makes it an attractive charity to donate to since you know that so much of your money is going to help people,” said Timothy Robinson, managing director of AgelCare.

Some of the more common surgeries that AgelCare conducts are on cleft pallets, cataracts and clubbed feet.

“Normally parents [of children with these conditions] don’t let them go to school because they’re picked on and looked down upon,” Jensen said.

In countries where AgelCare provides surgeries, such as Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria and Thailand, the cost of surgery is cheaper than in America.

“A lot of these surgeries only cost $15 to $35 dollars,” Jensen said. “For 10 bucks, it goes a long ways to helping somebody.”

For more information or to donate to $10 Tuesday, visit www.tendollartuesday.com.