At The Piazza Center, we believe in supporting and sponsoring local charities as well as donating our services to those in need around the world. In 2019, we will be supporting two local charities that are doing work to help those in our own backyard and traveling overseas on medical mission trips to donate our time and surgical skills to help children in need.
Please join us in supporting these worthy causes by making a donation today.
Giving Back to Our Community
Texas Advocacy Project
The Texas Advocacy Project provides free legal services to victims of domestic violence. The Piazza Center will provide support for this worthy cause by providing swag bags and other promotional materials for their fundraising events. Our goal is to add value to this organization while creating brand awareness for The Piazza Center.
Our philosophy regarding TX Advocacy:
We love that this organization is actively working toward a day when all Texans can live safely in hope, not fear. They do this by creating confidence and empower victims to have a voice. We firmly believe in a similar mission, empowering our patients to live confidently.
Breast Cancer Resource Centers of Texas
The Piazza Center has been actively involved with the Breast Cancer Resource Centers of Texas for many years. This organization is the beneficiary of our Cocktails & Curiosity Program each year. In 2019, we are focused primarily on spreading awareness of the organization. We will be sponsoring a table at their Art Drawing event on Saturday, June 8, 2019.
Our philosophy regarding BCRC is:
We love that this amazing organization strives to embody understanding, preserve dignity, and always see the woman as well as the disease. We believe this organization’s mission empowers patients to live confidently, which is congruent with our philosophy at The Piazza Center.
Sharing Our Skills Overseas
Medical Missions for Children
The Piazza Center’s Dr. Antunes will travel to Antigua, Guatemala, from June 22 – 29, 2019, with Medical Missions for Children to treat children affected by Microtia (a birth defect where kids do not have an ear) and repair cleft lips/palates. Dr. Antunes will be traveling with fellow surgeons from Harvard, the University of Michigan, and NYU to treat these kids every year. Dr. Antunes has gone on this mission trip every year for almost a decade, visiting the same clinic every year. The children we treat receive regular follow-ups into their teenage years.
HUGS – Help Us Give Smiles
From October 12-19, 2019, Dr. Antunes will be joining the first mission from the HUGS foundation to treat children with nasal deformities secondary to cleft lip and palate. These deformities often lead to nasal obstruction and breathing problems that can aggravate sinus issues, sleep apnea, and so on. Dr Antunes will lead the team on this mission and will travel with two renowned cleft rhinoplasty surgeons, Dr. Vito Quatela from Rochester, NY, and Dr. Tom Wang from Portland, OR. Although this is the first mission, the plan is to return to this clinic on a yearly basis.
Austin Smiles: Guatemala
Creating Smiles, Improving Lives
The inspiring nonprofit organization Austin Smiles is an important part of the Austin Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (ASPRS) history. Although it is an independent group, many area plastic surgeons have been heavily involved with both Austin Smiles and ASPRS through the years, and The Piazza Center is proud to have a close association with this wonderful organization.
Dr. Piazza and Heather Fontenot, RN, LSA, will travel to Guatemala from October 5 to 13, 2019, to donate their surgical skills and provide care for needy children.
Austin Smiles began in 1977 as a nonprofit group dedicated to repairing cleft lips and palates for underprivileged children in Central Texas. Previously, such children would have to travel to medical schools in Dallas, Galveston, or San Antonio if they did not have medical insurance. What began as a solution for local children grew over the decades to also include several annual trips to Latin America and the Caribbean, where they serve rural families who have little access to the care their children need. To date, Austin Smiles has helped improve the lives of more than 4,000 children.
