Dear Friend,

Happy Summer! Whether you are preparing for the kids to finish their school year, or you can't wait to leave cold weather behind and enjoy some fun in the sun, we are hoping that this quarterly e-news finds you in good health & happy spirits!

We are wrapping up the school year with final dental triage visits to our 40 Community Partners, including schools across Essex, Union, and Passaic Counties. How does a Community Partner benefit from KinderSmile Oral Health Program? Just ask the Belleville School District, in its second year of partnership with us.

Thanks to support from Partners for Health Foundation, NCOHF America's ToothFairy, the Horizon Foundation of New Jersey, The Montclair Foundation, and private donors who believe all children deserve access to quality dental care, KinderSmile Oral Health Program is constantly expanding.

If you know a school or children's program which could benefit from KSOHP, please introduce them to us! Questions are best directed to ksf@kindersmile.org or 973-744-7003.

Congratulations, graduates!

In our last TOOTH TALK, we shared the exciting news from 5 KinderSmile Foundation volunteers who were accepted to dental school. Dozens of pre-dental students volunteer with our Community Service Learning Program every year, in order to get hands-on clinical experience, learn more about the field of pediatric & public health dentistry, and give back to their community through volunteerism.

But did you know that students of all majors are welcome to volunteer with CSLP?

Gabriela Cevallos, International Business & Management

Take Gabriela Cevallos, an international business and management major from Montclair State University. Gabby volunteered as an intern with our nonprofit beginning September 2018. She expressed interest in our community outreach programs, and the "behind the scenes" administration that goes into running KinderSmile Foundation.

We quickly matched Gabby with the Perinatal Health & Wellness Program, where she bloomed into a true team leader. By the end of her fall semester, Gabby had a strong rapport with all of the moms enrolled in PHWP, and she was presenting the oral health curriculum in English & Spanish.

Her passion for helping the immigrant community, paired with her intelligence and initiative, earned her a part-time position as PHWP Coordinator as soon as the staff vacancy arose. She organized this year's PHWP "Graduation" with great success, celebrating the 75 mothers who made a choice to prioritize oral health this year. 

Dr. Lucia Arias (pink gown) volunteers to treat the uninsured moms who graduate from PHWP.
Learn more about this program at www.kindersmile.org/programs/phwp.

How fitting that Gabby herself celebrated her own graduation five months later. As an empowered woman, Ecuadorian immigrant—and now, first-generation college graduate—she had every reason to be beaming with pride at Montclair State's graduation this May. She earned every accolade, and we look forward to her remaining a member of the KinderSmile Foundation team for a very long time.

"She turned her can't into can and her dream into a plan!" 

 
Gabriela Cevallos, MSU Class of 2019

Halema Jalil, Chemistry & Public Health

Halema has volunteered with all aspects of KinderSmile Foundation, from assisting the dentists at our dental home to educating local students at KSOHP offsite visits. Her positive energy and enthusiasm for learning could not be contained to New Jersey alone, so Halema excitedly prepared to embark on her first ever mission trip abroad with KinderSmile Foundation.

Halema and local school children show off their smiles during an education session at the makeshift clinic where KinderSmile Foundation provided free dental care in Ecuador.

The mission trip team served two villages outside Quito, Ecuador, the last week of May 2019, and repeat-volunteers say it was the best mission trip of KinderSmile Foundation history. Halema herself gave a beautiful testimony to her life-changing experience in a recent LinkedIn post shared below:

"A week ago today, i went on a mission trip to Ecuador with KinderSmile Foundation, which was a crossroad between two of my passions, giving back + dentistry, needless to say it was the highlight of my life. ⁣

I have always wanted to find someone that had nothing, and give them everything, with nothing in return, and today I was able to serve 370 men, women, and children where access to oral health services is limited, meant everything to me.

This community was filled with people who have been so welcoming, so grateful, and the nicest people i have ever encountered in my life. Every service ended with 'may God bless you' and I couldn’t help but feel like i served my purpose in this life.

This trip tested my faith, my patience, my discipline as I went on this mission on the last 10 days of ramadan, I continued to keep my fast, all my prayers, while serving others and it’s the most peace and happiness i’ve ever felt in my life. I couldn’t have went at a better timing with the greatest people as we worked through the craziest conditions (barely having any light, limited seats, limited materials, & etc) but we found a solution every time.⁣⁣

It truly does take a village. I want to be apart of every village I can, to help in any way that I can. ⁣⁣in the end, I owe my God everything."

Ecuador 2019 mission trip team, from top left to right: Sydney Bennett, Juan Barnes, Dr. Jessica Neto, Halema Jalil, Dr. Angela Crincoli, Dr. Lucia Arias, Crystal Pineiros, Julian Spain, Mario Arias, Dr. Nicole McGrath-Barnes, and Janeth Guevara.

As always, huge thanks to all of the readers who are part of the KinderSmile Foundation "village." It takes every member of our family—from donors to volunteers to school nurses to staff—in order to successfully make change in our community. Thank you for believing and supporting the change to ensure every child has access to a dentist. Together, we can eradicate preventable dental disease. #ItTakesAVillage

Blessings,

Nicole McGrath-Barnes, DDS, FACD
President & CEO
KinderSmile Foundation