- Overview
- How a MOM site is selected
- Donations
- Timeline
The America’s Dentists Care Foundation launched the first Mission of Mercy in Virginia in 2000. Today, MOM events can be found nationwide, and 2020’s event in Green Bay marks the 10th Mission of Mercy in Wisconsin. More than 15,000 children and adults have now received in excess of $10.4 million in donated care at WDA Mission of Mercy events since 2009.
A successful MOM event focuses on:
- Providing free, critical dental care with a high priority on treating patients in pain and with infections
- Raising public awareness of the barriers to dental care faced by low-income adults and children
- Challenging patients, policymakers and dental professionals to work together, in a bipartisan manner, to improve Wisconsin residents’ oral health
The Wisconsin MOM program provides care to adults and children who have difficulty getting to a dentist. Patients, who must not have any medically compromising condition that prohibits them from receiving care, are seen on a first-come, first-served basis.
Site-selection criteria includes:
- A strong local dental society with dentists interested in helping plan and volunteer
- Local community involvement (e.g., oral health coalition, legislators) to help with recruiting volunteers and fundraising (dollars and in-kind donations)
- A venue that can house a dental treatment project the size of MOM, along with sufficient local hotels and other housing options for 900+ volunteers, the majority of whom travel to the community
For each WDA Mission of Mercy event, funds are needed to help cover dental equipment and facility rental, supplies, pharmaceuticals and food costs. For every $1 in monetary donations received, WDA dentists and other MOM volunteers donate $6 to $8 of care.
If you or your organization would like to help make a difference by making a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Vicki Bohman at [email protected] for more information or send your contribution to:
WDA Foundation
6737 W. Washington St., Suite 2360
West Allis, WI 53214
*Be sure to include Mission of Mercy in the memo line of your check
