Jennifer Teale
Helping Others to Smile: Your Donations at Work
Every week, the Foundation receives many thank-you letters and reports from grant recipients as to how your donations are supporting community projects. In this issue of Dental World, I would like to take the opportunity to share some of that correspondence with you.
Wisconsin Dental Foundation, West Allis, WI
The WDA Foundation's Donated Dental Services program is a vital resource for disabled, elderly, and medically compromised individuals in Wisconsin. Although the great majority of the treatment is donated, it takes support from many individuals and organizations to keep the program operating. Your support helps bring renewed dental health to thousands of disadvantaged state residents. Since the DDS program began in 1998, more than $6.8 million in care has been provided to 2399 patients at no cost to the patient. Without the support of generous donors like the Foundation of the Pierre Fauchard Academy, many of those individuals likely would go without the dental care they so desperately need. We are most grateful for your generous support. We simply couldn't maintain this high level of oral care without you! Thank you.
Meet Each Need With Dignity Pacoima, CA
Thank you for your generous donation toward MEND's Dental Clinic! Your support is substantial and helps communicate an important message about your partnership in our communities.
This year marks the 40th year of MENDing poverty. MEND continues to operate on three driving forces: responding to our recipients and delivering services in ways that maintain the dignity of all who come, recruiting volunteers in every program, and in our fundraising and public relations activities. This is accomplished while maintaining low overhead so that 95% of MEND's revenue goes directly to those who are in need.
South Bay Children's Health Center, Redondo Beach, CA
Thank you for the grant to be used for supporting needed dental services through charitable dentistry projects. Words never seem adequate to convey what this means to our clients, who, without the assistance from this grant, might go without necessary dental treatment. Thank you for insuring that children will have healthy, pain-free mouths.
MAP International, Towson, MD
On behalf of the children of Bolivia and the impoverished communities in Chilimarca, I want to express our profound gratitude for your commitment to serve and support people in this developing world. We want to assure you that the grant you approved for Bolivia will be used in the most effective and effi- cient way in order for children to have access to preventive and curative dental health services.
Dental Lifeline, Denver, CO
Dental Lifeline Network is especially grateful to you for helping our organization and our volunteers restore oral health to thousands of deserving people who have no other way to receive care.
This year in particular, we truly feel the magnitude of your contribution and involvement. Recently, our Donated Dental Services program reached a milestone of $200 million in donated services to more than 106,000 people with disabilities or who are elderly or medically fragile. We could never have reached this benchmark in the 25-year history of DDS without your support.
We cannot begin to express to you the level of gratitude that we receive from patients in heartfelt letters, e-mails, and calls every day. During a time when people count their blessings, please know that you are included in that count by thousands of patients across the country.
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
The OSU Dental H.O.M.E. Coach is a 3-operatory mobile dental van operated by the Ohio State University College of Dentistry. The grant funding from the Foundation was extremely helpful in assisting our program with the purchase of supplies. The coach providers and staff delivered 9722 procedures through 2830 encounters in 218 days in the Columbus, Ohio, community. Please accept our thanks for your generosity and the recognition of our efforts to make a difference in the lives of underserved children.
Volunteer Ministry Center, Knoxville, TN
Please consider this letter the report of the VMC Dental Clinic program for Volunteer Ministry Center. In 2011, the clinic served 633 people in 67 days and provided 1009 procedures including 181 fillings, 433 extractions, and 43 sets of dentures. Our clinic is the only resource in the city for individuals with no income who are in need. We are very grateful to the Foundation of the Pierre Fauchard Academy. With your support we are able to provide much-needed dental care to this underserved population.
In closing, I hope you agree that the donations you give to the Foundation have put smiles back on the faces of many, many people worldwide. Thank you ever so much for your generosity.
--Jennifer Teale,
Executive Director of the Foundation of the Pierre Fauchard Academy