gifts in action:

MGE’s Generosity Helps Kids Start the Year Smiling

Thanks to the generosity of MGE: Management Experts, children across the country are receiving the tools and encouragement they need to build healthy habits and brighter futures.

Support from MGE’s 2025 charity auction helped America’s ToothFairy begin the fiscal year by equipping Dental Resource Program partners in 18 states with back-to-school oral health education materials—enough to reach 10,000 children, plus their parents and caregivers. These resources included educational booklets for children and rack cards for parents, giving clinics and community partners practical tools to teach families why oral health matters and how to care for their smiles at home.

At E.A. Hawse Health Center in Baker, West Virginia, and Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas in Pittsburg, Kansas, expanded Smile Guardian kits helped staff create fun, eye-catching oral health outreach using banners, hand-held signs, and other themed event materials.

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In addition, five partners received expanded kits with extra event materials such as pop-up banners, dental-themed handheld signs, and superhero capes and masks. These enhanced resources helped turn oral health outreach into a fun, memorable experience for children while giving program partners eye-catching tools to use at screenings, school events, and other community activities.

In Escanaba, Michigan, school nurse Bridgette Ernest is helping students with moderate to severe impairments learn healthy habits through oral health education. Thanks to support from MGE: Management Experts, she received Smile Guardian materials to strengthen her outreach and send helpful resources home to families.

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MGE’s support also helped extend that impact beyond our Dental Resource Program. Through our New Year Smile Guardian kits, 100 educators, health professionals, and community outreach leaders in 29 states received resources to provide oral health education in schools, community programs, screenings, and outreach events—reaching an additional 2,500 children and their families.

For Lisa Fockler, a classroom teacher at Dover South School in Ohio, the kits helped turn oral health education into something children could take with them beyond the classroom. She shared, “The kids loved the little workbooks and getting a new toothbrush to take home.” For many children, that simple combination of education plus tangible tools can be the first step toward healthier routines at home.

In Missouri, Jamie Pollock used her kit to provide oral health education and screenings for children in Head Start programs, helping families take home practical tools for healthier smiles.

In Missouri, dental professional Jamie Pollock used her kit to support oral health presentations and screenings for children in Head Start programs. She explained that many of the families she serves have limited funds for hygiene products, making these materials especially meaningful. After receiving her kit, she shared, “Truly so great to screen, educate, and have tangible materials for them to take home.”

Other recipients used their kits in equally creative and important ways—from teen-led outreach in schools and after-school programs, to school-based screenings, to community wellness events designed to connect families with preventive care and practical resources. Together, these efforts reflect the power of meeting children where they are with education that is engaging, accessible, and immediately useful.

Smile Guardian resources supported outreach in many forms—from community education efforts at Community Dental Care in Maplewood, Minnesota, to a hands-on children’s dental health workshop in San Diego, California, where Gemma Hernandez-Salazar helped children practice brushing skills and provided take-home materials for families.

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In all, MGE’s support this year helped provide resources to reach 12,500 children, plus parents and caregivers, while also strengthening America’s ToothFairy’s broader mission to increase access to oral health education, preventive services, and care for children who might otherwise go without.

We are deeply grateful to MGE: Management Experts for supporting this work year after year through their annual charity auction. Their continued partnership is helping more children learn, smile, and thrive.

To help bring Smile Guardian kits to even more communities, support our Smile Guardian Program by sponsoring oral health education resources for children and families in need.

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