But airline baggage rules are proving to be his greatest enemy. When Fox and his nine fellow Cupertino team members boarded the airplane on June 19, carrying only two personal bags. Everyone's third bag was replaced with a box of medical supplies.

Rotaplast is a nonprofit offshoot of the San Francisco Rotary club and makes it its mission to provide surgeries to repair the cleft palates of children in countries where such procedures aren't readily available. But the clubs that participate provide more than necessary funding—the clubs' members travel to the sites as well and serve as backup support to the visiting medical teams. This trip to Antigua, which lasts until July 1, is the Cupertino Rotary's first.

Fox has been on a Rotaplast mission before and several other foreign Rotary service trips and says it's quite an experience. "It feels a bit like M*A*S*H because you drop in and set everything up. It's all self-sufficient," he says. "In the U.S., we don't have unfixed cleft palates. You don't even see bad repairs anymore."

While Rotaplast has become its own nonprofit organization and supplies the medical teams for each mission, it's the responsibility of a participating Rotary club to raise funds and provide backup. The Cupertino Rotary club committed to the cause early in 2004 after discussing the idea for the past two years. The trip costs about $50,000 for the medical team's expenses and supplies. About half of that came from the Rotary's golf tournament, and the other half has come from individual sponsorships.

The manpower, however, is the most vital component. Nine team members with the Cupertino Rotary are flying to the site, including Fox, former Rotary district head Jim Walker and Cupertino City Councilman Richard Lowenthal. But many are also bringing their families and other helpers recruited from the community. "It's a way to make us more self-sufficient. If water is needed, we get it. We take interpreters. We do a lot of documentation for our own purposes," Fox says.

One reason for the extensive record keeping is to thank the many organizations and individuals who have donated items for the families of the afflicted children.

A group of Rotary spouses in Maine has made a collection of quilts for patients. The San Jose Rotary is sponsoring a round of hepatitis vaccinations for the Antigua hospital staff. Students, including those from Monta Vista High School, raised funds to ship crates of 280 wheelchairs to places in need, including Antigua. There, members of Interact—the high school equivalent of Rotary—will distribute them.

Fox has pushed the limits with Rotaplast to get as many teenage volunteers to go on the Antigua trip as possible.

The families of the children who are receiving surgery stay in something akin to a Ronald McDonald House for the duration of the mission. Many come from rural areas where the only languages are old Mayan dialects, so the young adults going along will keep the youngsters entertained in addition to performing other Rotaplast duties.

"I've told them, 'This is the hardest work you'll ever love,'" Fox says. "'You'll cry because of the work you've done and you'll cry because you didn't do enough.'"

Fox hopes that this is just the first of many Rotaplast missions that the Cupertino Rotary will undertake. There is a possible trip to China coming up in October 2005, but interest and sponsorship will be gauged after the Antigua trip is complete.

Another Rotary chapter is embarking on a China trip this October, and Fox will serve as a volunteer team member on that mission. Like his Cupertino peers, he doesn't see Rotaplast as a burden. In fact, he says, he would rather vacation on a Rotaplast trip than on a beach. "By how we spend our money, we're prioritizing, and this is a priority," he says.

Fox and his fellow Rotarians have been collecting toys and stuffed animals to take to the affected children and their families—hence the eBay obsession—but the team members all found themselves limited by the luggage restrictions but stuffed as many items in their two bags as possible. In place of those Beanie Babies left behind, the plane instead carried 35 boxes of medical supplies.

"We do it because we're selfish," Fox says. "If you want emotion, give a wheelchair to someone who can't walk. It's wonderful to do something like that."