More than $200,000 was raised at the Little Baby Face Foundation's ninth annual gala benefit, held Nov. 17 at Bridgewaters at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan.The funds support the foundation's efforts to treat children from throughout the US and around the world suffering from cleft lip/palate, missing or malformed ears, and other disfiguring facial deformities. Many of the surgeons and clinicians volunteering their time and talents to treat the children are from Lenox Hill Hospital and the Manhattan Eye Ear and Throat Institute. The North Shore-LIJ Health System was among the sponsors of the event. Among those benefitting from Little Baby Face Foundation's (LBFF) work were 13-year-old Mateo Usma and his 10-year-old brother Jorge of Florida, who both received free ear reconstruction surgery. They are shown here with their father and LBFF benefit committee chair Diane Romo, wife of the organization's president and founder Thomas Romo III, MD.

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