The Xicotepec Project

We are Iowa and Xicotepec Rotarians and their families, Rotaractors/Interactors, Junior Rotarians, undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and a variety of community members. We partner with the local Rotary Club in Xicotepec. Their guidance and connections are crucial to our success. Our work includes construction, dental and medical care, education and more. We have been making these trips annually since 2002, interrupted only by COVID.

Iowa MOST (Miles of Smiles Team)

Iowa MOST is a team of doctors, dentists, nurses, medical students, Rotarians and many other volunteers. We work to bring hope and healing to children and adults living in Guatemala who need cleft lip and palate surgeries, ENT, and cataract surgeries.

Flight to End Polio

Iowa City A.M. Rotarian and Past District Governor John Ockenfels and Rotarian Peter Teahen of the Cedar Rapids West Rotary Club raised awareness for polio eradication by piloting a single engine aircraft all the way around the globe! Polio eradication has been a primary focus of Rotary for over 35 years and continues to be a major initiative. Click the link to learn more and consider donating with a 2:1 match from the Gates Foundation!

RAG4Clubfoot

RAG4Clubfoot is a global Action Group comprised of Rotarians whose purpose is to mobilize Rotarians and provide global leadership to support timely Ponseti Method treatment and appropriate care for all children born with clubfoot. Developed by Dr. Ignacio Ponseti at the University of Iowa, the Ponseti Method is a low cost, low-tech, non-surgical, highly effective treatment for correcting clubfoot deformity.

Vocational Training Teams (VTT)

• Vocational Training Teams through Rotary Global Grants have gone to the following countries to train doctors in the Ponseti Method:  Brazil-2016, Mexico-2017, Bolivia-2018, Dominican Repbublic-2019, Argentina-2021, Ecuador-2022, and Uruguay.