The Exclusive by Lisa Lori: Smile Gala 2015 & The Smile Collection

The amazing Eli Manning with the Lori boys

Last night in NYC, The Perfect Provenance (www.theperfectprovenance.com) launched our new Smile Collection of tees and tote bags to benefit Operation Smile. It was a beautiful night with so many friends and family. My boys got to meet one of their sports idols -- Eli Manning. How awesome is that? He was a true gentlemen and someone my children truly look up to.

With the lovely Kate Walsh, hostess for the evening and Operation Smile supporter

There were so many memorable moments last night but two in particular really stand out -- one was when one of Johnson & Johnson's employees approached my son Luke and said, "can I take a picture with you?". After the picture, he told us that he had posted a photo on his Operation Smile fundraising page of a Luke bear and challenged other employees to 'buy' it from him. It went viral and employees began to pledge money to 'buy' it, sending it around to different countries until so many people had contributed that one Luke bear raised $40,000!!! He is going to try and top that this year!! Amazing!

Our new tote bags are available now! www.theperfectprovenance.com -- #smilemore in style!

Another incredible moment was when an Operation Smile supporter who had met us last year at the gala, approached me and said I think my son and Luke went to Overland summer camp together last summer. He facetimed his son Aidan with Luke and they were reunited (they had not spoken since last summer). Then during the live auction, his son was skyped in on the phone and said in front of the large audience that he wanted to pledge $1,000 for the auction to support his friend Luke Lori. It was truly beautiful.

I cannot thank Bill & Kathy Magee, Dr. Ron Zuker and all of the Magee family, the Operation Smile family for all of the joy they have given my family, and so many more people around the world.