COSTA MESA, Calif., – January 22, 2013 – Give Kids A Smile® (GKAS) Fund grant recipients were announced at the annual American Dental Association Foundation Give Kids A Smile Awards Gala in San Francisco, CA, on October 22, 2012. The Gala marked the 10th Anniversary of the creation of the Give Kids A Smile program nationally. For the sixth consecutive year, CareCredit SM 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 non-profit organizations including: 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.”
“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,” stated Gene Wurth, executive director, ADA Foundation. For more information on GKAS, or to donate, visit www.givekidsasmile.ada.org.
About the ADA Foundation
The ADA Foundation is a catalyst for connecting people and changing lives. In its history, the ADA Foundation has disbursed nearly $36.5 million to support charitable activities. These include grants for dental research and access to care, awards and scholarships. In addition, the ADA Foundation supports Charitable Assistance programs such as relief grants to dentists and their dependents that are unable to support themselves due to injury, a medical condition or advanced age; and grants to dentists who are victims of disasters. For more information, visit www.adafoundation.org.
About CareCredit
For over 25 years CareCredit, a healthcare credit card, has been making it easy for patients to receive desired care. Today, CareCredit is available in over 160,000 enrolled healthcare practices and has been used by over 20 million patients. CareCredit is exclusively selected for their members by many state and national dental associations, including ADA Business ResourcesSM, AGD, AAOMS, and AAP, and is also recommended by leading practice management educators.
ADA is a registered trademark of the American Dental Association. ADA Business Resources is a service mark of the American Dental Association. ADA Business Resources is a program brought to you by ADA Business Enterprises, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Dental Association.
