FACE Forward is a club focused on spreading awareness about craniofacial anomalies such as cleft lips and cleft palates.
The club was started by Kaitlyn Bartolutti, who was born with a cleft lip. Bartolutti created the club to raise awareness for craniofacial issues and give back to the community through fundraising and volunteer work.
According to Batolutti, many people misconstrue what problems things like a cleft lip can really cause.
“People only think it’s a cosmetic issue, but with cleft lip and cleft palate, it’s a lot of structural issues,” Bartolutti said. “You have nasal problems, eye problems, ear problems, the whole nine yards.”
The club has also attracted others with similar conditions, and provides a community for those people to become a part of.
“I have a cleft lip and palate. I’ve lived with it my whole life, and I’d never met anyone with it before I came to this club,” said Daveion Perry, the club committee head for finance. “It means a lot to see people with it and without it who help out and support people like me. It’s just a great community.
The club held a walk on Saturday in order to raise money for cleft palate research. The event, Miles for Smiles, was 5 miles along the campus lakes in support of the Our Lady of the Lake Cleft Palate Surgery Department.
The club partnered with an organization called the Blue Disc Project, a nonprofit that collects special feeding tools for children with craniofacial anomalies.
Blue Disc donated many of these tools to the club to be given to hospitals to aid parents of children with cleft palates and lips.
Event participants had other rewards beside the gratification of a good deed. Each runner was given a voucher for Fat Boys Pizza when they finished the run.
They were also entered into a raffle, where the winners got to choose from different baskets filled with rewards from local businesses.
The anticipation from the club leading up to the event was palpable, with the officers expressing their excitement.
“I’m excited just to see the turnout. I mean, no matter the number, I think anybody who comes and shows support, it just means the world,” Perry said. “They took their time to come out, and I think time is the most valuable thing, so anybody spending that for something that we can put together is everything.”
Other officers shared the sentiment about the club’s mission of encouraging confidence and spreading kindness.
“This is a club whose mission is to raise awareness for an important cause,” said Emily Kohnke, the club’s fundraising director. “Cleft palate and craniofacial awareness is so important, because a lot of people don’t know how common it is or even about it at all.”
