Faces of Tomorrow

Neil's Family and Friends Make a Difference

Neil, Deanna, Chris and William

Faces of Tomorrow would like to thank young Neil and his family and friends for their support. Neil was born with a cleft palate. Some would say he was unlucky. His mom looked at his situation and thought about how lucky he was, because Neil was born in a country where children with cleft palates have access to the medical care they need to repair their deformity. They can go on to lead a normal life.  During a visit to Neil's doctor, our very own Dr. Rubinstein, Neil's mom Deanna learned about Faces of Tomorrow and the many children in third world countries that don't have access to specialist like Dr. Rubinstein. She learned that many children are shunned from society, kept from school or even discarded because of their cleft lip or cleft palate and this just broke her heart.

With Neil's 1st birthday approaching, she decided to plan a party for him and his brother William. They already had everything two young boys could want, a loving family, friends and lots of fun toys to play with.  Deanna knew how blessed they were and couldn't stop thinking about the children in other countries who also had cleft palates but did not have access to medical care.

In honor of her boy’s birthdays and Neil's successful palate surgery, Deanna asked her guests to support Faces of Tomorrow rather then bring a present for Neil and William. She threw a party with their friends and then another with their family. In total their family and friends raised nearly $1400.00, enough money to pay for 5 children to have surgery.

It is families such as Neil and William’s that help keep Faces of Tomorrow alive. Thank you Deanna and all your supporters, together we are changing lives!

Letter from Deanna to Faces of Tomorrow

April 17, 2010

Dear Faces of Tomorrow,

We had a big birthday party with our family and close friends for Neil’s 1st and William 3rd birthdays.  We asked family to contribute to Faces of Tomorrow instead of bringing gifts for the boys.  It was a perfect fit; in addition to celebrating their birthdays in our minds we were also celebrating Neil’s cleft pallet repair and a new chapter for him.

Here’s what William had to say about the party . . .

“Kelly took pictures of me.  I went down the slide a lot.  I jumped in the trampoline with Matea.  Kelly took pictures of Neil.  Neil played outside.  People sang to me, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to William and Neil, happy birthday to you, yeah!  And I blew out candles and maybe Neil blew out it too.”
-William (age 3)

Once again we were overwhelmed by the support our friends and family showed in the amount they contributed to our fundraiser.  The boys opened a few gifts the next evening with immediate family.  However we feel so fortunate to have received the biggest gift – being part of changing the lives for others the way Neil’s has been changed.

Thank you again for all that you do.  We will continue to support your efforts anyway that we can.

Love,
Chris, Deanna, William, and Neil