Delta Dental of Massachusetts Donates $500 to Be Like Brit
Delta Dental of Massachusetts, the largest provider of dental benefits in the state, donated $500 to provide oral health supplies to the Be Like Brit orphanage in Haiti. The orphanage was created in memory of Rutland resident Britney Gengel who was killed during the 2010 earthquake. The donation was made in response to a Facebook post by the organization about the children running out of toothpaste.
“Our mission is to improve the oral health of all, so when we learned that Be Like Brit needed help to teach children in Haiti about good oral health habits, we immediately reached out,” said Ralph Fuccillo, chief mission officer at Delta Dental of Massachusetts. “The Be Like Brit staff works around the clock to provide care for these children, helping them learn, grow and thrive and we are honored to be able to assist them in their mission.”
Poor oral hygiene is the leading cause of cavities, the most common dental disease, but it is almost 100 percent preventable. With the help of Delta Dental of Massachusetts’ donation, the children of the Be Like Brit orphanage will have plenty of toothpaste so they can continue practicing good oral health habits by brushing the recommended two times a day for two minutes.
Britney Gengel was a nineteen-year-old Lynn University sophomore when she traveled to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to work for an aide group. Inspired by the appreciation she and her group received from locals, she told her mother just before the earthquake struck that she one day dreamed of returning to Haiti to create an orphanage of her own. Britney’s parents, Len and Cherylann Gengel, vowed to carry out their daughter's wish by building an orphanage in Grand Goave, Haiti. The Be Like Brit orphanage officially opened on January 5, 2013 and today offers 33 children a place they can call home.
To learn more about Be Like Brit, visit http://belikebrit.org/.
About Delta Dental of Massachusetts
Delta Dental of Massachusetts (deltadentalma.com), the largest provider of dental benefits in the state, is a national leader in innovative programs to improve the overall health of our members, prevent oral disease, and reduce health care costs for employers, groups and individuals. Headquartered in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Delta Dental of Massachusetts covers over 2 million members. Delta Dental of Massachusetts is a member of the Delta Dental Plans Association (deltadental.com) whose member companies provide dental benefits to more than 59 million people enrolled in more than 97,000 groups in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.