What is Big Day of Giving?
A program of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation’s initiative to grow local philanthropy, Big Day of Giving is an annual 24-hour community-wide movement that unites the region’s nonprofit sector to help raise unrestricted funds for the organizations that strengthen the capital area. Since 2013, the giving day has generated $52 million for more than 600 local nonprofits!
Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 6th!
Donate to help support the Foundation’s programs:
- Smiles for Kids
- Smiles for Big Kids
- Smiles for Kids Orthodontic Program
- Puppet Shows for Children’s Oral Health Education
- Community Outreach
Make your donation on The Big Day of Giving site »
Learn more about the Foundation’s Programs:
Smiles for Kids
Our largest and most far-reaching project, Smiles for Kids® (SFK) (originally founded in 1991 by Dr. Gerard Ortner and Dr. Don Rollofson) was adopted and expanded by the Foundation in 2003. It partners member dentists with local schools to screen and provide dental education to thousands of children each year. From the screenings, underinsured and underserved children are treated by member dentists and their teams on SFK Day each February. More than half of those children are then “adopted” for further pro bono treatment – including specialty and orthodontic treatment. Each year, thousands of dollars in pro bono treatment is provided to children in the five county SDDS area. Smiles for Kids is making great strides toward reversing the disheartening statistics that plague the children of our community.
Since 1991, Smiles for Kids has:
- Served more than 450,000 children
- Treated 17,000 children
- Provided more than $14 million in free dental services to thousands of children
- Provided over 1,200 children with pro bono orthodontic treatment
Smiles for Big Kids
The Smiles for BIG Kids® (SFBK) program kicked off in 2009 to provide necessary dental services to uninsured and low-income adults. While SFK addresses the dental needs of children, SFBK promotes oral health to adults, provides donated dental treatment for uninsured, low-income adults age 19+ who are in need of urgent dental care, as well as education on maintaining proper oral health. This program is available to all area adults who meet the program’s eligibility requirements, and especially targets the needs of our community’s low-income elderly population, as well as the parents of children served by the SFK program. Since the program’s inception, over $1.5 million in services has been provided (an average of $2,500 per patient).
Puppet Show
SDDS, SDDF, and Sutter Health teamed up with Puppet Art Theater to bring more dental education into our local schools, and now they’re upgrading the service even more! We are now offering to have the show “Clay and the Sugarsaurus Rex” live-streamed to students! With the conversion to so much online learning, it is important to adapt and make sure children are still getting the education they deserve.
To check out this great new service, head to ToothFairyPuppetShow.com! There you can learn more about the content taught in the puppet show, how schools can schedule a show, and even watch a small preview of the show! We’re happy to announcing this new option for our puppet shows!
View the videos below to see what the Puppet show is like:
Clay and the Sugarsarus Rex
A show developed for Pre-K through 1st graders. To book the show head to: toothfairypuppetshow.com. See a preview of the show below.
The Adventures of Sir Enamel
A show developed for K through 4th graders. To book the show head to: sirenamel.com. See a preview of the show below.