Brightening Lives Through Brighter Smiles Project Summary- Community Project Completed

Brightening Lives Through Brighter Smiles Project Summary- Community Project Completed

Brightening Lives through Brighter Smiles Project Summary April 24, 2020 Most meaningful takeaways from the experience? For the Brightening Lives through Brighter Smiles community project the most meaningful takeaway is that even in the midst of a pandemic --– COVID-19- --we can still serve our community! In the middle of this project, COVID-19 forced my group to social distance. The college closed and several members left their dorms here in Garrett County and returned to other parts of the state or nation. I am thankful to say that with determination, the project was completed on time! How did the event/project/performance go? It is fair to say, we hit some bumps along the way! The Honor Society was on track to complete the project with several members taking on parts of the project. When COVID-19 caused the college to close and shelter in place, it changed things up quite a bit. By the time this happened 5 sites had accepted the offer of dental kits to distribute throughout the community, supplies were ordered, Ian Bode had created the specially designed art work,  and plans were made for members to meet to assemble the dental kits. In the end several members were not able to participate in the completing of the project. Kits were still assembled. When kits were ready to distribute, 2 agencies were able to accept the kits, 1 agency is on hold for delivery until after the state of emergency is lifted, 1 agency  could not be contacted so a replacement agency was identified, and the 5^th agency did not know when they could agree to accepting donations due to COVID-19. Dental Hygiene Kits were delivered to the Garrett County Local Management Board’s housing assistance program, Garrett County Lighthouse, and Garrett County Healthy Families. Kits will be delivered to the Dove Center after the state of emergency is lifted. Even though we hit some bumps along the way because of COVID-19 and social distancing, the project was well worth the effort! Would you do the event/project/performance again? Absolutely! How could we better support community efforts that promote public health and the arts? Offer more opportunities for groups like Phi Theta Kappa to secure funds to be able to complete projects that allow them to give back to the community. Attendance Count: Kits will serve 144 adults and 96 children. Kits were provided to 3 organizations. The 4^th organization will receive their kits following the COVID-19 pandemic