Students at the Ocean City Intermediate School are very supportive of Rob Malfitano's cause.
By Maddy
Rob Malfitano has an active schedule. From basketball, to baseball, to wrestling and surfing, to earning distinguished honors, he is always busy doing something. The 11-year-old Ocean City resident even plays trumpet in the school band.
And somehow the fifth-grader at Ocean City Intermediate School still finds time to fundraise and help children just like him, born with a cleft palette, get surgery to repair it, so they too can lead active lives.
For a second year in a row, Rob has handed out donation buckets in classrooms for fellow students to donate money to the Smile Train, a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c) organization and charity providing corrective surgery for children with cleft palates in 87 countries.
Before being adopted by Jenny and Vince Malfitano at just 2½ years old, Rob, originally from China, received his first corrective surgery at 1½ years old by Smile Train surgeons.
“My point is to give back to Smile Train because of what it did for me. They gave me the surgery I needed,” Rob said in an interview at his Ocean City home with his parents and sister Rose. “I feel so lucky to have had the surgery.”
Ocean City Intermediate School is holding the Smile Train fundraiser for a second year in a row.
Last year, Rob raised $1,500 through the donation buckets and an anonymous donor matched it by five, totaling $7,500. Smile Train has the same match this year. Rob has to raise is $1,500 again. He is hoping to raise even more than that this year. The cut-off to send back the funds is Feb. 15. The fundraiser has been going strong for the last two weeks and will wrap up in about two more.
To date, Rob’s fundraising has provided enough money for Smile Train doctors to perform about 30 surgeries, though Rob said he doesn’t know for certain how many procedures were actually done.
The family said Ocean City Intermediate School Principal Geoff Haines has been so supportive about Rob’s fundraising efforts.
“We started with change, but then Principal Haines said we should take any donations,” Rob said of the principal telling him they should just leave it open for people to not only donate coins but also cash.
Students at the Ocean City Intermediate School are very supportive of Rob Malfitano's cause.
He said students have been so positive about his cause.
“The past couple of years kids have been asking me about Smile Train. I explain it and they say it’s cool,” Rob said. “I gave the fifth grade a speech. I made posters. I still have to make more posters. I just hope I raise a lot of money before the deadline.”
Rob’s dad called him brave.
“He is a tough boy,” said Vince Malfitano, a retired assistant prosecutor with Gloucester County. “He is very stoic about his situation.”
That is because Rob, who has had 15 procedures to repair his cleft palette, is not done with surgeries.
“He is looking at four or five more. One of the surgeries coming up is major surgery,” Vince Malfitano said. “He has had some tough surgeries in the past, which required difficult recoveries. The boy never complains.”
Jenny Malfitano, an accounting professor in Pennsylvania, explained that having a cleft palette also can affect hearing and sight. She said that is one of the reasons the family of seven, which includes three other children, is so supportive of Smile Train.
“We were giving to Smile Train for the last 20 years. At Christmas time we would say we could make a donation in honor of our family and years later we decided to do an adoption, and out of that came the adoption of Rob.”
She sent the file photos of Rob over to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Smile Train did the initial surgery and when he came to the United States, CHOPS did follow-up surgeries.
“Smile Train did such a great job,” Jenny Malfitano said, adding that adopting Rob has brought such joy into their lives.
“Rob is such a good boy. He is a self-starter,” she said. “He does it all.”
In fact, in addition to sports, band and fundraising, he somehow manages to find time to operate his own business. He is an entrepreneur, the family said.
Just last year, Rob began a trash can removal business.
“Trash can troubles? Away for a week? I will take your trash cans back. Reasonable rates. Call my account manager, (mom) 856-832-7030,” according to Rob’s advertising flier.
Last year, he raised enough money to buy a metal detector and a surfboard. He even opened a bank account.
But he doesn’t necessarily want to go into waste management.
“I was thinking about being in the medical field,” Rob said. “I might be a teacher or go into the criminal justice field. I am young, so I have time.”
For more information about Smile Train visit https://my.smiletrain.org
Rob Malfitano looks over some paperwork from Smile Train.
