How it began
“He had the saddest eyes”
Years ago, on a humanitarian mission in Mexico, Steve Bender saw a group of children throwing rocks at a little boy. The boy had a cleft palate, and he had become the outcast of his neighborhood. Steve never forgot the way the boy looked at him. From that moment, The Cleft Project was born.
Steve presented the idea to the Rotary Club of Newport Beach Sunrise in 2014, and the club got behind it. Club Rotario Rosarito and Club Rotario Playas de Rosarito joined as partners, and Rotarian Rolando Quintero of Rosarito became the project manager. The Quiroz family’s clinic in Tijuana, Cosmed at VIDA, agreed to perform the surgeries.
The mission is simple: find a child in need of cleft lip or palate surgery and, in essence, adopt the entire family. Beyond surgery, The Cleft Project provides clothing, toys and supplies, so the child can become the champion of the community instead of an outcast.
