Volunteers at Give Special Kids A Smile and Give Veterans A Smile 

February 2nd and 3rd 2024

Southern Alameda County Dental Society (SACDS) was founded in 1955 as a local society of the California Dental Association and the American Dental Association.  It is 501(c)6 non-profit organization.   

At SACDS our advocacy and charitable goals are to provide avenues to better serve the public. We strive to expand oral health awareness via community outreach, programs, and services.   We currently provide local dental screenings for public schools and non-profit organizations in the area, and our main professional outreach events are Give Special Kids A Smile (GSKAS) and Give Veterans A Smile (GVAS).  

Our organization is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization. (donations are not tax deductible.)  However, as a professional organization we do not do any fundraising for our philanthropic activities. Our main source of income is members’ dues, and those dues go directly back to the members in the form of society administration and continuing education. Our past community outreach programs have been self-funded by whatever limited funds we have left in the budget.   

This year, our funds for GSKAS and GVAS have been depleted and in order to continue the program, we need your help.  At both of our events we have a large team of dedicated volunteer Dentists, RDAs, RDHs, dental labs, lay persons, Blue Star Moms, etc.   In addition to human volunteers, we always have multiple therapy dogs and even therapy ponies on site to alleviate the stress and fear involved in dental care.   

However, in 2025 to continue our events, we need to rent space, purchase dental supplies, and materials. The cost of that endeavor is extremely high.  We do not have the funding to continue the program without the assistance of generous sponsors.      

 Our Give Special Kids a Smile Program (GSKAS) and Give Veterans a Smile Program (GVAS) is a two-day event that treats individuals (both children and adults) with developmental and/or physical disabilities and our nations Veterans with completely free and comprehensive dental care.

Our goal for 2025 with the availability of a larger venue is to treat over 100 patients each day.   As we have at all our past events, for 2025 we will provide everything from screenings to cleanings, restorations, extractions, root canals, and even dentures. (The Larell Denture technique allows us to mold, prep and deliver full sets of dentures in a day.)   Our strategy for 2025 is to rent a large space at our local fairgrounds and with the generosity of Healing California (www.healingca.org) we will be able to treat more patients than ever before.   However, Healing CA can only provide the full dental clinic set up, all other rentals including the space and supplies costs will be up to SACDS.  

Please help us continue our mission of providing quality dental care to those populations who need us the most.   Thank you! 

Here from some of our 2023 Give Special Kids A Smile and Give Veterans A Smile patients.