Lessons in a Lunch Box

From bright smiles to bright orange lunchboxes, we’ve satisfied our carrot craving with Lessons in a Lunch Box. This national oral health and nutrition program reaches underserved elementary school children by dangling a carrot… in a bright orange lunch box filled with all the supplies needed for healthy teeth. The Benco Family Foundation continues to support this terrific hands-on educational program for second and third-grade students across the country. Stay tuned for our bigger and better program rolling out to your region soon.

 

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55,000
elementary school children
50
different states
53
dental schools

Global Smile Foundation

The Benco Family Foundation supports Global Smile Foundation’s efforts to bring first-class surgeons to more than 400 patients in the developing world suffering from congenital facial deformities. The largest group served are children with cleft lips and palates. Without surgery, simple tasks like eating and talking are extremely difficult, not to mention the social stigma of living with a very visible facial deformity. And, it’s all fixable. With the help of the Foundation, Global Smiles and their hundreds of medical and dental volunteers have been performing these life-changing surgeries for over 30 years.

 

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93%
funds mission expenses
850+
doctors, nurses, & surgeons
$1,400
average cost of treatment

Virlanie Ella Yallah Home

In addition to fixing cleft palates around the world, we are dedicated to helping the children living on the streets outside our Benco Manilla office. The Benco Family Foundation continues to support the Virlanie Ella Yallah Home, which provides a family living environment for teenage street boys in the Philippines. Our foundation supports social integration programs, education and skills training, to help these boys transition from being at-risk street kids to becoming independent young adults. Our Philippine-based Benco Associates go above and beyond at Virlanie, with computer training and life skills to help prepare these boys for life after Virlane. Their mission is near and dear to our hearts: to give back the smile to street children.

 

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12
homes established
7
outreach programs
17,000
children cared for

United Way

United Way and the Benco Family Foundation support not only our community, but your local community too. This year you generously contributed nearly $57,000, which was matched by your Foundation. You and the Benco Family Foundation are working with United Way to conquer childhood poverty through Real Men Read, a volunteer reading program that brings in MENtors from the community to read to kindergarten students for one hour each month to help foster early literacy; and through the Nurses Pantry Program which ensures all students and families have basic necessities like school uniforms, medicated shampoos, underwear or a toothbrush, to help keep children in school and learning.

 

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Keep A Breast Foundation

“I Love Boobies!” This is the empowering mantra of the Keep a Breast Foundation, which educates young people around the world about breast cancer. Since 2012, the Benco Family Foundation has contributed over $200,000 to support the Keep a Breast Foundation through the sale of fuchsia Natural Extension gloves. Thanks to our Benco Associates and customers… that’s over 500,000 boxes of gloves!

 

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Medical Teams International

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a dental school close by providing free services. Sometimes just finding a dentist is difficult. In the Pacific Northwest, thousands of people live in remote communities with minimal access to dental professionals but are in dire need of dental care. Medical Teams International recognized the need to bring treatment to those that don’t have it and mobilized 11 dental RV’s fully equipped, with help from the Benco Family Foundation, last year reaching over 20,000 people with free oral health care.

 

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Give Kids A Smile

The Benco Family Foundation partnered with Tufts University School of Dental Medicine to provide more than 200 children in the Boston area with free preventive and restorative dental services, oral health educational games, art projects, puppets, and of course, free toothbrushes for all. It’s all part of Give Kids A Smile, a national initiative providing pediatric oral health care to 5.5 million children.

 

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Head Start

Addressing the learning and developmental needs of vulnerable young children is a complex endeavor. That’s why the Benco Family Foundation supports Head Start in multiple and unique ways. Each and every year, we donate over 3,000 toothbrushes to our Luzerne County chapter to ensure kids posess the most essential tool for maintaining oral health. We also adopt two classrooms, sponsor field trips, volunteer in person and raise additional funds through company “Jeans Days” at our headquarters where Benco Dental associates donate and dress down. And because successful Head Starters often go on to pursue higher education, we provide $2,000 annual scholarships for program graduates attending college.