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This will be the Nineteenth (19th) Year Del Mar Masonic Lodge 1350 through the Fantastic Teeth Club sponsored by the Masonic Children & Family Services of Texas. Since 2010, over 400 first graders from Montclair Elementary, Smith Elementary, Meadowbrook Elementary, Woodlawn Elementary and John F. Kennedy Elementary have received free “Prevent Tooth Decay “kits. The Program aims to prevent suffering from tooth-aches due to tooth decay, thus reducing missed school days due to dental problems and in turn cutting dental treatment cost for their parents.
Each kit contains a toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, two-minute timer (optimal brushing time), healthy teeth sticker, and a “Tips for Healthy Teeth at any age” brochure, both in English and Spanish, which provide educational information for parents about the importance of caring for children's teeth. The focus is on preventing pain and suffering, as well as reducing the cost of dental services, and a summary of Masonic Home and School services. The Fantastic Teeth Fan Club is a program of Masonic Children & Family Services of Texas, a charitable organization serving children and families of Texas for more than a century. To learn more about MHS, visit www.mhstx.org. Del Mar Lodge 1350 is part of District 37A’s join effort in supporting the program. In the 2019 program, Corpus Christi Lodge 189 provided 152 kits, Del Mar Lodge 1350 provided 425, Oso Naval Lodge 1250 provided 437 and Sunset Lodge 1388 provided 425 kits for a total of 1476 kits. The Masonic Children & Family Services of Texas allocates 300 kits per lodge. This left the District 227 kits short for meeting its goal. The lodges with shortages made up of the deficiency by funding out of their charity account. Del Mar Lodge 1350 funded $209, Oso Naval Lodge 1250 funded $377.17 and Sunset Lodge 1388 funded $200.47. The total donated by the lodges was $786.66. Even with this generous contribution from District 37A Lodges, there are several schools that are not included in the program that should be included in the program. These schools are classified by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) Federal Fiscal Compliance and Reporting Division as being Title I Schools with extremely high levels of “Low Income Percentage” of students. They are Evans SES-98.20%, Garcia EL-93.57%, Shaw ES-99.09%, Oak Park SE-99.32%, Travis-99.22% and Zavala-93.45%. Additionally, there are six school in the mid-to-high 80%. Funding these additional schools will require looking for grant monies. We are hoping through a joint effort we can find the additional funds to bring the schools that are in the 90% and above level low income, and with hard work may be able to find enough donations to cover all the 80% schools also. Follow our progress on the Del Mar Lodge 1350 here http://www.delmarmasoniclodge1350.org/ and on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DelMar1350 . If you would like to help us with the program, email us at delmarmasoniclodge@gmail.com . |
JFK ElementaryPictures will be posted when kits are delivered; stop back by to view.
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Smith ElementaryPictures will be posted when kits are delivered; stop back by to view.
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