Today, our speaker was our very own Dr. Roy Maynard! Before Roy began his presentation, President Mark Sprosty reminded everyone in attendance of the upcoming May social as well as the meeting location on May 30 at Savannah Technical College. After all announcements were finished and Happy dollars collected, Roy began his presentation on Project Smile which is a non profit dental mission program that was founded in 1992 by another RCSE member, Dr. Steve Acuff.
Project Smile is a partnership between the diocese of Christ Church Episcopal and an Episcopal diocese in Belize. The focus of the mission is to provide preventative and restorative dental care as well as other auxiliary programs. There are two groups of 16-18 volunteers who travel to Belize either in January or March. In the 3.5 days they are working, they provide care to 200 kids which are brought in from 3-4 surrounding area schools. Some of the dental procedures they perform are cleanings, sealants, fillings, and extractions. They also provide health educations such as teaching the importance of brushing, flossing, and proper nutrition. He then discussed the logistics of traveling to Belize, some of the obstacles they have had to overcome (customs and malfunctioning equipment just to name a few!), team building exercises, and the auxiliary programs such as art and giving away books. Over the 30+ years they have been going to Belize, over 23,000 kids have been impacted.
Roy then talked about why mission work matters. He said that it is a calling. With Project Smile, they are meeting real needs and that small acts make a big impact. The power of a smile can never be underestimated and with this mission, they are creating more smiles for more children!