The good work of two members of the Rotary Club of Gastonia East was highlighted on page 12 of the April edition of “The Rotarian” magazine.

Carlos Vargas and Benson Timmons began traveling to Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 2006 to treat children at a burn center there. Every year since, Vargas, a retired radiologist originally from Bolivia, and Timmons, a reconstructive surgeon, have made the trip with a team of surgeons and residents from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

The ten-member team conducted 199 procedures on 34 children in the ten days it worked in Cochabamba in 2010. More than 500 procedures have been performed over the course of five years.

Still, Timmons said, the team can’t keep up with the demand. “Many wait two to three years before we get to them. These are procedures not available to them otherwise.”

The project is a partnership between the Gastonia East club, which helps fund supplies and travel expenses, and the Rotary Club of Cochabamba, which provides housing and meals to the team while on site, and the nonprofits Partners of the Americas and Burn Care International.