Hi everyone, it's Anne Duffy. I am very honored today to have two of my favorite dues with me on this video to let you know about the charities we are giving to in our Do Good Fund this year, 2023. Please help me welcome Susan Cotten and Kristie Boltz, they are going to explain to you why their charity means so much to them, and why it means so much to us in 2023 and beyond.
Anne: Susan, go ahead and tell us about LIHNA.
Susan: Oh, thank you. And thank you for this opportunity. And thank you for being a recipient. this is dear to my heart. Lahaina, the fire in Lahaina. I've been visiting. Maui since I was 18 years old. Just the other day, it was a Christmas of 1976 with my mom and dad. My mom wouldn't let me go to the beach until I went on some historical tours with her to learn about the culture and the history and the people of Hawaii.
And at 18, I was totally just... Mom, come on. But what happened that day on those tours, I fell in love with the people and the culture and the history of Hawaii. And every time I go back, I do something new to learn more about the history and the culture and the people of Hawaii, and especially there on Maui, because that's been really my go to place to recharge and family memories over the years. After I became a dental hygienist and got involved in oral cancer, I discovered there was a dental hygiene school on Maui, and one of my givebacks is I talked to dental hygiene students before they graduate, talked to them about oral cancer, about my journey, and How I've done things wrong clinically in oral cancer.
So it's just really a motivational talk with them about when you step out into the real world and screening and when you're pushed for time. So I've been speaking to the students, at the dental hygiene school on Maui since about 2016 and sometimes it's in person and sometimes it's virtual, but I found a real bond there.
my history of going, loving the people and the culture, and then my love of dentistry and dental hygiene, talking about oral cancer. So when the fire happened in Lahaina, I emailed the dental hygiene director, Leanne, and the former director, Rosie. I needed to know, were they safe? What about the students?
they were safe, their families were safe. But what I discovered in my conversations with Leanne, there were about four dental hygienists who lost family homes in Lahaina in the fire. They lost family homes, they lost family, they lost their jobs. And three dental offices burned. a lot of us know Cindy Ishimoto.
Her husband is a retired dentist on Maui and Cindy's a consultant and speaker. I communicated with her. Currently on Maui, on the west side where Lahaina is, there's one dental office that's open with two dental chairs. So serving that whole side of Maui, there's two dental chairs. The dental community is in need on Maui for themselves financially places to live those that lost everything. They're building from the ground up and that's what this fund is for is to help. Those specifically in the dental community, dental hygienist, dental assistants, front office, dentists with their needs and I had just talked to Elijah Desmond and I was going to, Dentistry's Got Talent and the Dental Festival and I said, Elijah, will you use your influence to help With this fund, and he said, absolutely.
He says, here's what I need. I need a 1 minute video because our schedules really tight. If you put together a 1 minute video, I'll play that. And so Janet and I, with the help of Mark LeBlanc, Jason Rasky, who was the videographer and my sister with video and photos of front street of Lahaina, we put together the 1 minute video. and I have to tell you, Elijah played it and he had an auction. After all the awards at Dentistry's Got Talent, and to date, we've got 14, 000 raised, and yeah, my plan is the first part of December, I'm going to go over to Maui. I'll be staying with Leanne, the Dental Hygiene Director. Using my flight miles to get over there and Leanne's going to deliver the funds to the people we've identified in the dental community who are in need. Their needs are huge.
right now in the world, there's huge needs all over, but it's just a call out to the world of dentistry that our dental colleagues on Maui are in real need and so many ways and.
That's what this fund is about. And it's not going to end at the end of the year when I go deliver it because there's long term needs. I mean, Just like with Christie's, you know, there's just long term needs and I can't thank you enough for giving us the opportunity to share this and making a donation to all of them in need.
Anne: It's our pleasure. It's our honor to do that to help them rebuild. It could have happened to any of us and to be able to be specific for the dental industry. And this do good fund. it's really very special. So, Thank you for sharing about that. And we will be playing your video at our retreat and we hope to be able to add to that fund that delivered to Lee and when you get there.
Thank you for sharing our first charity. Now I'd like to turn to our second charity, which is spearheaded by Christy Bolts. has been near and dear to her heart for many years. So Christy, tell us about Challenge Athlete Foundation.
Kristie: Thanks, Ann. And thank you, Susan, for seeing a need and rising to the occasion to fill it on your own. Well done. So many of us have friends that we love. Whether we've met them in the dental community, Or whether we've known them since we were kids in 1994, a man named Jim McLaren, who happened to be an amputee had some friends who wanted to help him and they put together a small fundraiser, much like what Susan just described to help him get a piece of equipment he needed.
To be mobile. I bet when you woke up this morning, you took your mobility for granted. The older we get, some of us, we wake up with our aches and pains and our creeps, but we get up and we start moving around and we go up and down the stairs. And if we want to go to the grocery store, we quickly hop into our car and we drive to the grocery store and we drive home.
If we want to go to yoga class, we pull out our mat in our bedroom, or if we want to drive to the gym, we venture over. And for some of us like me, we love being Active outside. So we might hop on our bike or throw on our running shoes and Jim McLaren's friends wanted to And so they put together a very small fundraiser. Now, as the story goes, Jim McLaren was participating in a triathlon as an amputee when he was hit by a car and became a quadriplegic. And those friends were there again to support Jim. Out of one has come many. This year, Challenge Athletes Foundation will celebrate its 30th anniversary of providing grants to young and old for pieces of adaptive sports equipment so that no one is left on the sideline. Or stuck at home, or can't get to recess. Believe it or not, the most popular grant Challenge Athletes Foundation gives is a wheelchair for basketball. There are special legs for running. There are special legs for cycling. There are clinics where people can come and learn to play sports like blind soccer. And much like all of us have been so fortunate to be a part of the do community, CAF has created a community where, in the words of one mom, who brings her son to San Diego every October for the community challenge, she said 364 days a year.
My son is different, but on this day, he's surrounded by people who look like him. What a joy to belong to a community of movement, to not be left out because of a physical disability. I am grateful. For each and every one of you for the community that you're a part of belonging to do you make me better. And I am also grateful for the challenge athletes foundation community that I was fortunate to find in 2008. That ride from San Francisco to San Diego, where we raised money to pay for prosthetic legs and wheelchairs for basketball that aren't covered by your insurance. Changed my life, community, mobility, inclusion for the last 30 years. CAF has started and continued with that movement and goal. I hope you'll join me in supporting their efforts.
Anne: Thank you. Thank you, Christy. Thank you for bringing the awareness for CAF. We appreciate you so much. All of you do is how lovely. To know about these 2 charities and and many women end men that have brought this to light. So continue to look into that follow do we've got our do fund.
We would love to. Build these communities with our generosity, with our hearts, our time and our talents. So thank you everybody for joining us today. If you have any questions, you can reach out to me, DM me and let me know. But you will be aware of the, websites, how you can contribute, and if you're not a member of Due.
You can contribute anyway, if you find us on the website or on Zoom. So thank you, ladies, so much for being here with me today. Cheers to you and cheers to your efforts. And may we all come together again because together we're stronger. Let's do it, ladies. Thank you very much.
Susan: Thank you and thank you so much.
Kristie: Thanks, Susan. Thanks, Anne. See you guys soon.
Anne: Susan. Thanks, Christy. Love you.
