FOR A GOOD CAUSE:

The little girl held a spittoon for her father, a Newport Beach dentist, so he could pull the rotted teeth of orphans in Mexico. It was the first time she realized some children didn’t have parents like she did.

She thought, “I don’t want them to be without moms and dads.”

She’d be riding in the car, see cardboard boxes by the side of the road and think, “There could be a baby inside there.”

Pretty heady stuff for an 8-year-old, but Debbie Magnusen said those experiences inspired her to care for abandoned babies.

Today, her “Project Cuddle” has saved more than 632 babies that might otherwise have been left in a Dumpster, park or cardboard box.

What surprised Magnusen was that she received most of the organization’s hotline calls from pregnant women before they delivered — not after.

Magnusen said she hoped women would call before they did something tragic, and she expected to be running out at all hours of the night to rescue abandoned babies.

“Honestly, I thought I’d get the call saying here’s the baby, go pick it up,” Magnusen said.

Instead, “Project Cuddle” received calls from women who wanted help, some so they could keep their babies, others who needed help so they could turn them over to loving families wanting to adopt them.

The first call the hotline received came the day after it was launched.

“A woman had been raped. She told me she hated her unborn baby and I’d better figure something out or she’d leave it in the park when it was born,” Magnusen said.

Because the woman was four days from delivery, Magnusen quickly arranged for a doctor, hospital room, an attorney, a counselor and found an adoptive family. She was also by the woman’s side in the delivery room, something Magnusen has done many times since.

“After that delivery, the birth mom said for the first time she’d done something she was proud of,” Magnusen said.

Elizabeth and Doug McKibben had been trying for years to conceive a child when Elizabeth heard about “Project Cuddle” through a friend. Private adoption agencies were very expensive, and the wait time was almost five years. The McKibbens gave their number to Magnusen and were surprised when they heard back within two weeks.

“Debbie called, and said, ‘Are you ready to be a mommy?” McKibben said. The couple met with the birth mother, who was five months’ pregnant, and both were in the delivery room when daughter Bryn was born.

“I looked right at [the baby], put my finger in her hand, and she grasped it. The birth mom said that was her answer, that everything is meant to be the way it was.”

The baby went home with them that day, and as soon as things settled down, Elizabeth became a volunteer with “Project Cuddle.” That was almost 10 years ago. She began by answering hotline calls, and still fills in when she’s needed, but spends most of her time promoting the organization, hoping to raise awareness so women don’t feel trapped and desperate when they discover they’re pregnant.

Prasad and Maria Turley own Prasad Photography studio in Newport Beach. Prasad is a distant cousin of Magnusen’s who wanted to become involved.

For the past two years the couple has donated their time to photograph the families who rescued and adopted a child through Project Cuddle.

The Turleys used those photos to create a calendar for the organization. Each month features a picture of mother and child, with a quote from the mom describing how she felt when she looked into the baby’s eyes for the first time. All of the quotes were touching, Turley said, as parents shared how getting a baby was something they’d been waiting for all their lives.

“What a difference Project Cuddle has made, for the children and the families that adopted them,” Turley said.

HOW TO HELP

Project Cuddle is sponsoring “Race For A Life” a 5K scenic run/walk May 31 in Fairview Park, Costa Mesa. For more information, call (714) 473-2848 or go to www.projectcuddle.org.

SUE THOENSEN may be reached at (714) 966-4627 or at sue.thoensen@latimes.com.