Healthy Smiles of Spartanburg to Receive Offering from Upcoming Spartanburg Community Thanksgiving Service
November 13, 2011
SPARTANBURG, SC – November 22, 2011 – On Tuesday, November 22, 2011, the Spartanburg community will gathertogether at Mount Moriah Baptist Church, located at 445 S. Church Street in Spartanburg, for the annual Spartanburg Community ThanksgivingService. Sponsored by The Spartanburg County Foundation, this annualevent brings together clergy from numerous churches and denominations,and is open to all members of the community.
The Spartanburg Community Thanksgiving Service provides anopportunity for the community to gather together and collectively givethanks, said Rev. Dr. Benjamin Snoddy, pastor of Mt. Moriah BaptistChurch. In addition, it is an opportunity for the community to provide a financial blessing to a local nonprofit. This year, Healthy Smileswill receive that blessing.
Healthy Smiles of Spartanburg works diligently to promote the oralhealth of Spartanburg County children through enhanced oral healthservices, community education, and advocacy. Since the inception of its free dental clinic in 2007, Healthy Smiles of Spartanburg has providedover 1,300 children with critical dental care at no cost to theirfamilies, utilizing the state-of-the-art dental clinic on the centralcampus of Spartanburg Community College. In 2011-2012, Healthy Smilesof Spartanburg plans to screen 22,000 students in partnership with allseven Spartanburg County school districts.
Assistance received through the offering will be used to finance theneeded dental supplies, educational materials, dental professionalsutilized in the free clinic, and dental referrals outside of the freedental clinic.
Each year, a committee of local clergy selects an organization toreceive the offering. As a sponsor of this event, The Spartanburg County Foundation matches the plated offering dollar-for-dollar up to$5,000.
It is a privilege for the Foundation to take part in such a specialcommunity-wide event, said John Dargan, president and CEO of TheSpartanburg County Foundation. In 2000, the Foundation began matchingthe offering collection, and since that time, over $128,000 has beengiven back to Spartanburg County nonprofits.
The Spartanburg Community Thanksgiving Service will begin at 7:00p.m. at Mount Moriah Baptist Church. A reception will be held in theFamily Life Center Gymnasium immediately following. This event is open to the entire Spartanburg community.
The Spartanburg County Foundation is a community trust established for the purpose of promoting such charitable pursuits, as in thejudgment of the Trustees of the Foundation, will best make for themental, moral, intellectual, and physical improvement, assistance,relief, and well-being of the citizens of the Greater SpartanburgCounty, South Carolina area.
