Newport Beach groups provide free dental and vision care to countries it’s hosting

Newport Beach has a special connection to the countries it’s hosting through the multiple charity services that have been provided through Steve Bender, the co-chairman of the Newport Beach Host Town Committee and his numerous organizations.

Ayuda, Doc in a Box and Steve’s Vision, all nonprofit organizations that provide free dental and vision care, sent groups of 70 dentists to Rosarito, Mexico, in December 2014 to provide free dental care to more than 400 children.

Steve’s Vision and Doc in a Box sent 44 volunteers to Fiji in April 2015 to provide free dental and vision care to over 353 children and provided free reading glasses to senior citizens.

In July 2015, another one of Bender’s organizations, The Cleft Project went to Rosarito and performed the first of three surgeries on a child with a very bad cleft palate.

As stated on thecleftproject.org:”Cleft lip and cleft palate are facial and oral malformations that occur very early in pregnancy … A cleft lip is a physical split or separation of the two sides of the upper lip and appears as a narrow opening or gap in the skin of the upper lip.”

After performing the first surgery, Bender explained, “We’re not only changing his life, we’re actually helping make him the champion of the community instead of the person the kids push around.”

Bender is also already planning his next project: providing Special Olympics athletes in Orange County free vision, dental and hearing services.

Balandran, a student at Mater Dei High School, writes for the Los Angeles Times High School Insider.