Making the world better, a smile at a time

Our 2020 community impact

 Battling hunger Improving access to oral health. Educating our children and adults.

spoon fork knife  Associates prepare 17,000+
meals for those in need.
1

fruit basket

Delta Dental donates 
$250,000
to support NJ foodbanks to help address food insecurity. 2

14,000+ 
children, developmentally disabled, seniors, and veterans receive free dental care. 3

smile

600 smiles
restored through Smiles for Our Heroes since 2017. 4

Captain Supertooth’s oral health message reaches
apple nearly 5,000 schoolkids.

female child smilingPANDA program teaches
300 dentists and educators how to spot child abuse.6

Fighting social injustice. Helping people soar.
Providing COVID-19 relief.

savings icon Delta Dental and associates donate
$62,000
to organizations like the Urban League.7

exclamation point Our company makes a
100%
commitment to diversity and inclusion.8

medical bag

Associates boost spirits of those facing health issues with
350 superhero capes and health kits.9

heart icon Golf outing raises
$95,000
for Special Olympics New Jersey.10

female dental hygienist icon  36,700
hospitals, frontline workers, and others receive supplies to support oral hygiene during COVID-19.11

coin icon$28 million committed to support communities and dentists financially impacted by the virus.12


 


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More about our community impact:

1During our Community Impact Week in September, more than half of our associates volunteered with more than 20 agencies in person and virtually. This included preparing more than 8,000 meals for Rise Against Hunger and packaging 263 boxes of food (9,424 meals) at the Community Foodbank of New Jersey.

2Delta Dental donated $250,000 to three organizations in New Jersey to combat food insecurity caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The funds supported the Community Food Bank of New Jersey in Hillside, Fulfill in Neptune, and The Food Bank of South Jersey in Pennsauken. The three organizations dedicated the funds to help food pantries with capital needs, such as refrigerators, storage shelving, and delivery trucks. Community Foundation of New Jersey coordinated this initiative.

3The Delta Dental of New Jersey Foundation awarded nearly $1 million to community programs in New Jersey and Connecticut in 2020. Programs support dental care for the underinsured and uninsured, and dental education programs. You can see the full list of 2020 SMILE grant recipients here. The Wheeler Clinic said this about what our support means to them: “Delta Dental is a true partner in our work to make high-quality oral health care accessible and available to our patients and communities. During the pandemic, they’ve adjusted to help us meet vital unmet needs and ensure that oral health is prioritized, in a time when health care delivery has changed so much.” – John Sponauer, VP, Marketing Communications and Philanthropic Giving, Wheeler Clinic.

4Smiles for Our Heroes is a two-day event that provides free dental care each November to veterans and their families. Sponsors include Delta Dental of New Jersey, Zufall Health, and the New Jersey Dental Association.

5Captain Supertooth visits schools in February (National Children’s Dental Health Month) to educate pre-K through first graders about the importance of a healthy smile, visiting the dentist, and choosing smile-friendly foods.

6Our Foundation’s PANDA (Prevent Abuse and Neglect Through Dental Awareness) program is offered free to groups of dental professionals, teachers, and nurses to help them recognize and report suspected child abuse.

7Delta Dental and our associates provided support to the National Urban League, Urban League of Morris County, Urban League of Greater Hartford, Moms of Black Boys United, Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, and more.

8Our Diversity Council issued a powerful We Stand Together Statement this year to emphasize that diversity in all its forms is respected, honored, and valued at Delta Dental. CEO Dennis Wilson pledged, “This company is sincerely dedicated to the fundamental premise of diversity and inclusion, and seeks to be a model of those values.”

9The superhero capes and other materials were prepared by associates during Community Impact Week to boost the spirits of clients and patients at Wheeler Clinic, RAIN Foundation Shelter, Children’s Specialized Hospital, and Zufall Health Veterans Program.

10This marked the 30th year of the Delta Dental Golf Classic. Funding from the event enables more than 26,000 Special Olympics New Jersey athletes experience the joys of friendship, teamwork, and sports competition.

11Pandemic-related oral health donations included 7,000 oral health kits for frontline organizations and Foundation grantees, plus 18,200 toothbrushes and 11,500 tubes of toothpaste to hospitals and nursing homes. In addition, we donated 2,000 gloves to several healthcare agencies.

12More than $28 million was committed to community and relief efforts around COVID-19. We provided emergency donations to community organizations, delivered much-needed premium relief to our individual and fully-insured group customers, offered no-interest loans to dentists, and reimbursed dentists for PPE supplies. We also created a directory of dentists who were open for emergency visits when most dental offices were still closed.