About Us
Who Is Cleft Care International?
At Cleft Care International, our vision is for every child to be free to grow, learn, pursue education, communicate, and thrive.
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The scope of our work is to support through grants of funds and goods the comprehensive care of children and adults born with cleft lip and palate.
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Specifically, we seek to support organizations around the world who perform surgeries and provide comprehensive pre- and post-surgical care to those with no financial means to pursue the care themselves.
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We employ no staff and keep operating expenses to a bare minimum to ensure that every dollar donated to a partner organization can go directly to support their programming in helping children born with cleft lip and palate.
Stewardship
Cleft Care International holds rigorous standards for selecting partners with shared goals, aligned vision, and effective processes for collaboration. We follow a careful research and selection process to engage in a formal cooperation agreement with any prospective partner organization, including thorough vetting, interviews of staff and representatives, and closed-loop verification of the activities, use of funds, and outcomes.
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Members of Cleft Care International regularly travel to Guatemala and other countries of future cooperative partners to monitor the status and progress of programs personally. We meet with representatives of recipient organizations to review operations, visit facilities, examine financial reports, and evaluate strategic direction and fit with Cleft Care International's goals.
We want our donors to be confident that we exercise great care in distributing funds and supplies to partner organizations, ensuring that all resources are deployed for purposes consistent with our mission.
Our Board
Casey Brown has volunteered on nearly two dozen medical missions to Guatemala as a translator, volunteer coordinator, and photographer. She served for over a three years on the board of another non-profit organization providing international cleft care before founding CCI. Casey brings significant financial, operational, and process experience to Cleft Care International with nearly 15 years of business ownership. She lives in Columbus, OH with her family.
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Rachael Mebus has served as a nurse in the post-anesthesia care unit of more than fifteen medical missions to Guatemala, Zimbabwe, India, and Ethiopia. She has significant volunteer experience in healthcare, including the organization and implementation of a rural health clinic in Northern India, a board position on the Hartford Hospital Department of Philanthropy, Neighborhood Health Project, and Columbus House Health Clinic. She is a board certified acute care nurse practitioner with nearly ten years of critical care experience. Rachael lives in New York, NY.
Lauren Stenzel is an RN involved in medical missions since 2017 with over 15 missions in Guatemala and Peru. She spent nine months in Arusha, Tanzania, enhancing medical care for infants through education, resource development, and medical protocols. Lauren brings nine years of nursing experience to her work in the NICU, PACU, and pediatrics. Lauren lives in Minneapolis with her husband and daughter.
Maureen Cahill has managed over 80 international medical missions over the past 20+ years. She served as board member and executive director for another cleft organization before joining CCI, bringing extraordinary strategic and tactical NGO experience to help our mission. Maureen also has 30+ years of experience in marketing, communications, PR, business ops, and change management. Maureen lives in Minneapolis with her family.