“It takes a long time to learn that life is a journey, not a destination. You’ve got to enjoy the ride while it lasts.”

 

The Space Coast is home to plenty of admirable men who also happen to be fathers. They’re generous, patient, honest and compassionate. This June, we’ve profiled local dads who put family first.

 

Dr. Ross Clevens, 49

Facial plastic surgeon, Clevens Center for Facial Cosmetic Surgery

As Dr. Ross Clevens’ practice thrives in a new health center in Melbourne, the certified facial plastic surgeon and his wife, Dani, feel it’s important to give back to the community.

After a medical mission trip to Tanzania, they created Face of Change (FaceOfChange.info), with the goal of feeding the hungry in Brevard County. Volunteers have packaged hundreds of thousands of meals destined for Africa and for home.

Like the volunteer surgery he does for victims of domestic violence, his work with Face of Change is rewarding. After one event, he says, “I got left alone in the gym with these hundred thousand meals waiting for the food bank to come pick it up. You just stand there in an empty gym and you look at these boxes of a hundred thousand meals sort of towering over you … your eyes sort of well up.”

He and his family live in Merritt Island. They moved to the Space Coast in 1996 after his schooling and training at Yale, Harvard and the University of Michigan.

Dr. Clevens, 49, enjoys the creative and artistic side of his work and adventurous travels with his family, including two sons, ages 18 and 20.