By Sandy Kemper | Smiles Forever Founder & Director
Smiles Forever Joins Global Giving in Sharing Gifts of Love in Our Corner of the World
Valentine's Day Greetings from all of us here in Bolivia. Today gives testimony to the power of love and how even small gifts and acts of kindness can be potent medicine. We have chosen today to invite you to join our community as a recurring giver at any level. Here's news about how valuable your donations will be as we announce plans to run a 3-year dental treatment study with the children of Villa Tunari, a stable indigenous community in the Bolivian jungle.
Launching Recurring Giver Recruitment Campaign as we actively fundraise for Villa Tunari Project
If you have been on the fence about joining the Smiles Forever recurring donor campaign, decide today. Or in other words, make the leap before February 29th Leap Day if possible. We are off to a modest start, and if you could be one of the 3 additional recurring donors needed, we'd make the next platform & win Global Giving points. Doesn't that sound fun and easy? Our goal for between now and the end of March is 50 new donors. We would love to have a consistent funded base to make planning a trip to Villa Tunari every 6 months for the next three years less nerve-wracking. Smiles Forever has already begun the treatment of 400 school children. We took our staff and a team of volunteers last fall and stayed a full week, working out of a 2-chair clinic in 100 degree heat. We held seminars for educators and families. In order to be accepted into our ambitious project, students had to bring back signed parental permission slips.
Learning More with Global Giving's Storytelling Tool
Admittedly, we weren't the first ones in the pack to adapt our feedback model to Global Gving's storytelling tool. We have been stuck in the planning mode for far too long--now we have a winning idea for collecting pictures & insight & seeing how our "clients" see us. This understanding will be priceless and even more so because it will be in a form we can share with the world. We love you, "te amo," Global Giving & Global Giving UK for providing the method and the nudge needed to get out there in the heat & humidy with our smartphones and take pictures as we collect stories.
Adopting individual children, families or the whole village--your choice
Smiles Forever pledges to keep you all updated with personal profiles. What makes this indigenous tropical community unique in part is their welcoming attitude and lack of fear of modern inventions. These children and even their parents enjoy having their pictures taken and do not balk at having them shared--quite the reverse--they are eager and proud. Our team's departure back to serve Villa Tunari with some of the latest in dental technology is coming soon, either late March or early April. The logistics of transportation and housing, not to mention purchasing supplies to last a week, are daunting. That's why your help is so critical.
Volunteer Opportunity
I should mention since this project will extend for three years to collect statistically valuable information, if you are a dental professional and wish to put together a team, or if you belong to a service group, please consider coming to Bolivia. You are more than welcome to contact me directly.
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