Newton honored with International honor
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – It has been 30 years since Sharron Newton first joined a group of doctors and nurses for an out-of-country trip that brought life-changing free medical care and surgeries to needy children around the world.
Since then, Newton, a registered nurse, has made 44 similar trips, traveling to all corners of the globe as she and others perform mostly cleft lip and cleft palette surgeries that literally change the lives of children.
That work was recently recognized by Rotary International as Newton was honored with the most prestigious award a Rotarian can receive when she was presented the 2023 “Service Above Self Award,” which is given annually to only 130 members internationally out of over 1.4 million Rotary members.
Newton is now 72 and past her time of a regular working RN on any local front. But she said she plans to continue taking the trips known as Rotaplast for as long as the teams want her.
“The best way I could describe why I keep doing this is because I feel like every trip is good for my heart,” she said. “Every trip is different, dealing with different cultures around the world, and every trip I learn so much from the people we meet.
“Why continue? It’s actually a selfish reason—because I’m the one who comes back so full of love when seeing these people, and seeing the appreciation they have for what we do. I won’t stop until they say I have to stop,” she added.
Newton and her husband Bill are familiar faces on the Slidell scene through charity work and involvement with many Rotary civic contributions. But twice a year she disappears for nearly two weeks to take the Rotaplast trips that are mostly funded by Rotary International to fix cleft lips and palettes of children around the world. Each team member must pay $300 to take the trip, but Newton donates $1,000 each trip to the overall cause paid for by Rotarians.
The 18-member team is made up of doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists and pediatricians and has taken Newton to many countries in Asia and South America. There is yet to be a trip she doesn’t return from where the stories easily flow about the people they help, and the appreciation they feel for what Rotary is doing.
“When we arrive there is always a long line of people who know we are coming, and they are hoping, praying, crying—all hoping they get in,” she said. “We have seen the most extreme cases of cleft lip and palettes, but when we leave, we know that we have changed the lives for many of these people.”
One story from Chile was about a baby boy who was found by nuns in the garbage due to the severe situation when he was born.
“He lived like that his entire life with the nuns, and when we saw him, he was 18 years old,” she said. “We got to him the last day we were there and when we went to the airport to leave, he had come there, crying and thanking us.”
Newton said that the young man was so thankful that he began to help as a volunteer every year in Chile after that.
Newton said that not all team members try to connect a lot with locals during their only time off, which is Sunday afternoon. But she has always done so and has made many lifelong friends because of it.
“Once in Vietnam they took me for a ride on a motorcycle through the countryside, once in Chile I got invited to dinner at a local home, and in Ethiopia where a famine was going on I got to know a local nurse who walked for miles and miles to get food after her mother had already died,” she said. “I get texts from people around the world who have become my friends.”
“I can never begin to tell all the stories, but what I can say is that these trips do something for my heart, every time I go, and that’s why I will keep going as long as I can,” she added.
Newton said the “Service Above Self Award” was a complete shock when she attended a district conference on March 20 in Hattiesburg.
“Bill and I were sitting there when they began to announce that someone from our district had won,” she said. “When I heard my name, I was so humbled since I never have done this to get recognition or awards.”
The honor is not given just for work outside of Rotary, but includes contributions to the many Rotary community projects, support of national and international projects, and then considers if an individual has done something special besides the club work.
Bill and Sharron first joined Rotary when they lived in California, then joined the Rotary Club of Slidell North Shore when they moved here in 2004. There are two Rotary Clubs in Slidell.