Celebration Dinner at completion of our VN 2013 Dental Relief in Tien Giang

Tonight we had our celebration dinner with Tien Giang Red Cross.  The Red Cross staff keeps a record of the supplies we gave at each school, and the number of children and adults we served during the dental relief operation.

Tien Giang province comprises one city (thành phố), one town (thị xã), and eight districts (huyện):

1. Thành phố Mỹ Tho
2. Thị xã Gò Công
3. Gò Công Đông
4. Gò Công Tây
5. Chợ Gạo
6. Châu Thành
7. Tân Phước
8. Cai Lậy
9. Cái Bè
10. Tân Phú Đông 

This year, our team has traveled to all 8 districts of Tien Giang.  List of items we gifted:
Toothbrushes     8,396
Toothpaste        2.097
Notebooks        2,456
Pens                  2,456
Bath towels       1,320
Family bar soap 1,342
Dry milk               100 lbs.
Blankets                 20
Cash                  $956.00
The Red Cross computed an estimate of $17,000 US dollars in donated goods. 
This number does not include the contribution we made in dental services, the estimate would be more than $30,000.00 US dollars if calculated according to the cost of dental treatment in VN, but if we calculate according to the fees of dental treatment in the US, even if we go with the low fees of $100 per extraction of a permanent molar, $50.00 for fluoride treatment, the total estimate of the dental services we performed for 1250 children would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Total children and adults served:  8,461

The plaque given to us to commemorate our 10th anniversary for serving children and families living in poverty in Tien Giang.  It is hard to believe that it was 1993 - 20 years ago when I went to VN looking for ways to bring dental services to children living in rural villages, two decades went by just like that! The first decade was quite different than the second one.  We can only hope that the third decade will keep getting better.

So many reasons to celebrate!

I will always feel indebted to Dr. Lien and treasure our friendship with Tien Giang Red Cross!

12 of us are the core team of DDS4kids VN 2013, there are over 30 people in our supportive team as you can see here, but the real team is much bigger, the countless family members and friends and supporters and past volunteers who directly and indirectly in all kind of ways contributed to the success of our dental operation today.  If you read these lines, I hope you know we are grateful for your support and friendship, and thousands and thousands of families living in deep poverty wanted to thank you themselves if they could.