Give Kids A Smile Fund grant recipients announced

Jan. 23, 2013
Announcement made at the 2012l ADA Foundation Give Kids A Smile Awards Gala in San Francisco.

COSTA MESA, California--Give Kids A Smile Fund grant recipients were announced Oct. 22, 2012, at the annual American Dental Association Foundation Give Kids A Smile Awards Gala in San Francisco, Calif.

The gala marked the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Give Kids A Smile program nationally. For the sixth consecutive year, CareCredit donated $100,000 to the fund, enabling recipients to make care more accessible to underserved children.

CareCredit’s 2012 donation was used by the ADA Foundation as Continuity of Care Grants and awarded to 13 nonprofit organizations. THey included Bethany for Children and Families (Moline, Ill), Children’s Dental Services (Minneapolis, Minn.), Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Community Smiles (Miami, Fla.), Community-University Health Care Center (Minneapolis, Minn.), Dental Care International (Las Vegas, Nev.), Dental Society of Chester County and Delaware County (Exton, Pa.), Goodwin Community Health Center (Somersworth, N.H.), KinderSmile Foundation, Inc. (Upper Montclair, N.J.), Montana State University, Area Health Education Center (Bozeman, Mont.), North Texas Dental Society (Plano, Texas), Research Belton Foundation (Kansas City, Mo.), and Vilas County Health Department Northwoods Dental Project (Eagle River, Wis.).

“Children in underserved communities need to have access to dental care. Dental disease not only causes health problems, but can also make it difficult for children to thrive in school,” said Cindy Hearn, senior vice president for CareCredit and 2013 board member of the ADA Foundation.

“As the founding donor of the GKAS Program Growth Fund, CareCredit remains committed to improving the lives of children who have little to no access to necessary dental care.”

Added Gene Wurth, executive director, ADA Foundation: “The ADA Foundation greatly appreciates CareCredit’s continuing support of the GKAS Fund, which we will use for grants to support programs that help achieve the GKAS program goal of cavity-free kids by 2020."

For more information, visit www.givekidsasmile.ada.org.

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