Posted by Wes Bradford on Mar 06, 2018

Juan Viteri, one of our Club’s newest members, was born in Quito, Ecuador. He described how encountering challenging circumstances in his early life changed his perspectives. At age 13, he had severe seizures, and was brought to the hospital, where neurologic studies showed 2 brain tumors. He was transferred to a military hospital for specialized care, and there he was told that he should go to the United States for the kind of surgical treatment that he needed.

He came to the US at age 14, where he was helped by sponsors and underwent neurosurgery at Kaiser. Although he has surgical scars on his head, he survived the ordeal and recovered successfully. He and his sisters live in Long Beach. His father is deceased, and the family had to move repeatedly due to housing costs, finally moving into a mobile home.

He began working in real estate, and was able to accumulate some housing properties, where he started helping other housing-affordability-stressed people in the community. With the help of some investors, he now has 35 housing clients in 3 homes in Long Beach. He wants to continue making a positive difference in the community, giving to others as had been provided to him at his time of greatest vulnerability. He heard about Rotary’s role in service to others, and began looking for an evening Rotary Club that he could attend after work. Palos Verdes Sunset provided what he was looking for, and we welcome his participation in our service projects!