Oral cancer fundraising at UOR

By Cathy Hester Seckman, RDH

“It takes a village,” said committee member Nancy Brohawn when the final number was reported. It did indeed take a village — of hygienists — to raise $7,219 this summer for the Oral Cancer Foundation (OCF).

The Oral Cancer Awareness Committee of Amy’s List has been for working three years to raise money and awareness for the OCF. In 2008, the committee received permission from PennWell Corp. to conduct a fundraising raffle at RDH Under One Roof. Committee members sold raffle tickets with Visa gift cards as prizes, and raised $1,500.

In 2009, the committee repeated the UOR gift card raffle and raised $1,900.

This year, committee members solicited prizes and donations from corporate sponsors, and were able to give away dozens of super prizes (dental products, gift cards, jewelry, gift baskets) and mega prizes (ultrasonic scalers, operator stools, cordless polishers) to raise more than $7,000 for the OCF.

Brian Hill, director of the OCF, told the committee, “I can’t thank you enough for all that the RDH community has done for our organization. Because of your help ... OCF is going to be okay through these difficult economic times."

The committee plans to continue the fundraising raffle in 2011 at RDH Under One Roof Chicago on July 28-30.