The Panama Project

From isolation to global impact. A community-led model uniting reefs, rainforests, and people.

A Mission Interrupted

In early 2020, as the world braced for the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve Bender — Rotarian, humanitarian, and PADI Master Diver — landed in Panama to prepare for another global outreach mission. As CEO of Ayuda International, Bender leads a team of volunteer dentists and dental students from the University of Southern California (USC), providing more than a million dollars’ worth of free dental services each year to underserved communities.

As was his routine, Bender flew out early to set up equipment and coordinate logistics. But overnight, everything changed. When Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) abruptly shut down, his team was stranded in California — and Steve was stranded on Isla Colón, a small island in the Bocas del Toro archipelago off Panama’s Caribbean coast. Cut off from his team, air travel, and his mission, Bender suddenly faced an unthinkable pause. But what could have been a time of helplessness became a moment of transformation — the beginning of an idea that would ripple far beyond the islands.

A Crisis Becomes an Opportunity

With borders sealed and supplies dwindling, the vulnerability of the outer islands became painfully clear. Indigenous Ngäbe-Buglé families, seniors, and small fishing communities were cut off from food, fuel, and medicine.

Refusing to stand by, Bender tapped into his Rotary roots and logistical expertise. He organized a grassroots supply network, ferrying medicine for the elderly, staple foods for families, and fuel to remote communities by boat.

What began as a makeshift effort, soon evolved into a coordinated lifeline. “The pandemic showed how fragile isolation can be — but also how powerful community becomes when we act for one another, ” Bender recalls.

From isolation to global impact.

Diving Deep for Conservation

Between supply runs, Steve returned to the sea — and was confronted with another crisis: coral bleaching, dwindling fish stocks, and invasive lionfish destroying the ecosystem.

Determined to act, he founded the Rotary Reef Program, a partnership between Coral Reef Organisations, divers, scientists, and local fishermen.

Together, they built artificial reef structures, created a coral seed bank, and launched a lionfish initiative that turned an ecological threat into an economic opportunity — supplying restaurants while restoring balance to the sea.

Feeding and Empowering a Community

On his delivery rounds, Steve noticed imported pineapples arriving from the mainland — even as local fruit lay rotting on the ground.

That contradiction inspired Bocas Bounty, a community exchange encouraging locals to share what they grew: fruits, vegetables, seeds, even fish. What started as a food-security response blossomed into a movement for local resilience.

Soon, Bender coordinated boatloads of fruit saplings to the islands, transforming backyards into food gardens and rekindling self-reliance across the archipelago. “It wasn’t charity, ” he says. “It was empowerment — reminding people they already have what they need to thrive.”

Reforesting for Future Generations

A visit to a Green Macaw Rescue Centre in Costa Rica revealed yet another loss: the Great Green Macaw had vanished from Panama, driven out by the destruction of its nesting tree, the almendro — known locally as The Tree of Life.

Partnering with local conservationists and the Panamanian government, Bender launched a mass reforestation effort. What began with 5,000 almendro saplings in its first year has now grown into more than 15,000 trees taking root across the islands — a living corridor of hope stretching toward the rainforest canopy.

“With every sapling we plant, ” Steve says softly, “we’re not just restoring a forest — we’re rebuilding the rhythm of life itself. Each tree is a promise that the macaws will one day return, and that we’ll leave behind a world still worth inheriting.”

The Panama Project:
From Local Roots to Global Reach

What began as small, scattered efforts has grown into The Panama Project — the flagship of the 7 Seas Initiative and a model for integrated, community-driven sustainability.

Described as a “living laboratory” , the project unites environmental restoration, cultural preservation, health care, and education under one framework: the 4-7-8-17 Model, blending Rotary’s Four-Way Test, Seven Areas of Focus, Eight Pillars of Positive Peace, and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. By 2025, its reach expanded through an AI-powered impact platform, helping Rotary clubs worldwide measure and scale their projects toward the shared goal: 100 Projects in 100 Countries.

The Oral Hygiene Initiative

During the first restorative dental clinic in Panama, the team discovered an alarming trend: children in Bocas del Toro suffered worse dental decay than peers in orphanages across Mexico, Thailand, and Cambodia — simply because they had access to sugary drinks but no preventive education.

The team responded with action. Over 1,000 bamboo toothbrushes and fluoride kits were distributed, supported by educational programs that blended oral health, hygiene awareness, and service tourism — proving that small changes can create lasting impact

What’s Next::
The Phoenix Rises Reach

The next chapter is already underway. Building on his decade-old “Doc in a Box” model, Steve is developing The Phoenix Project — a purpose-built humanitarian catamaran designed to deliver healthcare, clean water, and essential services to hard-to-reach coastal communities.

The Phoenix will serve as a floating clinic and logistics hub, equipped for medical care, desalination, reef research, and emergency relief.

Its modular design allows rapid reconfiguration — one day a dental unit, the next a coral-spawning lab. “It’s not just a vessel, ” Bender says. “It’s a platform for resilience — proof that hope can travel on water.”

Building Beyond the Islands

As The Panama Project grows, Bender’s vision is expanding on land, too — through Newport Home, the sustainable-living company he founded to bring his island lessons to modern construction.

In collaboration with Ophelia Jen, founder of ArchiMAT, Bender and the Newport Home team will host the Sustainable Building and Product Showcase at the Environmental Xperience at EarthX 2026.

The showcase will spotlight innovators who are redefining how we live and build — from solar-powered systems and advanced water-making technologies to biomaterial architecture and regenerative design prototypes. Architects, engineers, and students will present real-world solutions that make sustainability not an aspiration, but a way of life.

“Building better isn’t about luxury, ” Steve says. “It’s about legacy — leaving behind homes, systems, and ideas that honor the Earth

Why It Matters

The Panama Project isn’t just a pandemic story — it’s a human one. It shows how isolation can give birth to innovation, and how one person’s skills, when aligned with community needs, can transform entire systems. From coral reefs to classrooms, rainforests to dental chairs, the project embodies Rotary’s timeless principle: Service Above Self — multiplied through collaboration, creativity, and compassion.

A Call for Collaboration

As The Panama Project enters its next phase, it invites scientists, business leaders, volunteers, and students to join hands — not just to observe progress, but to participate in it.

Through the 4-7-8-17 platform, the project stands as living proof that collaboration isn’t just a principle — it’s the engine that transforms isolation into connection, and connection into global change.

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