Gentle Dental, a dental provider with 11 locations in San Diego County, participated in the 2016 Halloween candy give-back program with Operation Gratitude. Operation Gratitude annually sends more than 200,000 care packages filled with miscellaneous supplies and goodies to U.S. soldiers and veterans. With the help of the community, Gentle Dental was able to send about 300 pounds of candy and 150 toothbrushes and toothpaste to the troops.
The Candy Buy-Back program provides a way for parents to minimize the candy temptation for their kids and themselves by dropping off the excess candy at the Gentle Dental locations.
Aileen Lao, practice manager of Gentle Dental of Carlsbad, said many service members miss out on trick-or-treating with their little ones and this is one way to share in the festivities.
To encourage kids to participate Gentle Dental pays them a dollar for every pound of candy they bring in.
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The Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation, an affiliate of The San Diego Foundation, recently awarded $70,200 to Rancho Bernardo nonprofits and schools at the 27th Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon at The Rancho Bernardo Inn. This year, RBCF focused grantmaking on programs that enhance civic engagement in the community of Rancho Bernardo. Twenty-five grants were given, ranging in size from 500 to $7,500. The largest was $7,500 to Highland Ranch Educational Foundation to replace old classroom technology used by students. The two smallest grants of $500 each were given to two projects at 4Community Solutions: RB United’s Community Preparedness & Recovery Project the Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame annual recognition event.
RBCF Board Chair Debbie Kurth said the funds raised directly improve the lives of those who live, work and play in Rancho Bernardo.
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At the San Diego-based Plant With Purpose’s 2016 Planting Hope Gala recently, $246,000 was raised to help families out of poverty through sustainable agriculture, land restoration savings-led microfinance and local leadership development. Plant With Purpose transforms lives in rural areas around the world where poverty and environmental degradation intersect. It helps impoverished farming families change their circumstances, provide for their children, and improve their communities.
One example of what the nonprofit does is the story of the Garcia family in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Alier Garcia and his wife and two children were not able to sustain themselves in their rural community and Garcia realized he need to leave the area to provide for his family. Plant With Purpose met with him and helped him build a cistern that enabled him to restore his land and plant a flourishing farm to feed his family, which eventually led to a nursery and teaching others in the community how to do the same.
Another issue in rural communities that PWP addresses is that the vast majority of rural families have little or no access to formal banking systems, leaving few alternatives other than turning to loan sharks who charge oppressive interest rates. Now, Village Savings and Loan Associations provides a financial safety net. This sustainable form of microfinance trains groups of individuals to save their own money and then make loans to group members to develop small businesses, invest in their farms, improve their nutrition, send their children to school, and stay and thrive in their own communities. The group decides on a fair interest rate, and those interest payments then go back to the group, which increases each member’s individual savings.
Based on the success of his improved farm, VSLA was able to provide Garcia a loan to build a greenhouse to grow 500 tomato plants, bringing prosperity to the entire community. Visit plantwithpurpose.org. To view a video on Alier Garcia and his farm visit youtube.com/watch?v=uzHCyitFZZE&t=3s
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Center for Community Solutions announced that it raised $6,300 on “Giving Tuesday,” exceeding its goal of $5,000. In related CCS news, the nonprofit announced that during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October it partnered with the band Bon Iver, an American indie folk band. Bon Iver recently founded a charitable campaign, 2 A Million, to bring gender equity issues center stage and help end domestic violence and sexual abuse. October marked the launch of Bon Iver’s international tour and in each city the band visits, it will partner with a local nonprofit organization. Bon Iver partnered with Center for Community Solutions in San Diego to raise awareness at the band’s sold out October 26th show at Copley Hall.
Verna Griffin-Tabor, CEO for Center for Community Solutions, said CCS was honored to partner with Bon Iver to raise awareness around these vital issues.
Send Kudos/Giving items to sglidden@sdbj.com.
