Anthem's Dental Drive to benefit kids

Photo courtesy of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Riley Hodges, left, and his brother Mitchell of Milford fill a bag with dental hygiene products during Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s community drive Sunday, June 8 at Stop & Shop in West Haven.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Connecticut Food Bank have teamed up to provide dental hygiene products to children in need throughout the state through a campaign titled, "Give Tooth Decay the Brush."

The campaign is a four-week internal dental drive at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The goal of the collection drive and the special events is to collect or buy enough toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss to assemble a minimum of 2,000 dental kits. Working in collaboration with the Connecticut Food Bank, Anthem will distribute these kits through the CFB's "Kids' Backpack Program," which sends home healthy food, snacks and beverages in the backpacks of needy school children in Bridgeport, Danbury, Derby, Middletown, New Haven, Stamford and Stratford on Fridays during the school year. The oral hygiene kits Anthem assembles will be placed in the last backpack distribution of the school year and in the first distribution when school resumes in September.

Additional money raised during the drive will help CFB's Kids' Backpack Program continue to grow since the current weekly distribution cost is $10.50 per child.

Any additional supplies of toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss and other oral hygiene products collected will be provided to the Connecticut Food Bank to distribute through its 36 food pantries throughout the state to anyone who visits one of the Food Bank's sites and is in need of dental supplies.

Anthem is now running a four-week internal campaign in support of the dental drive where employees can donate money, individually wrapped soft, adult size toothbrushes, sealed, packaged full-size tubes of toothpaste and packaged dental floss.

Anthem also held a community drive on Sunday, June 8, at Stop & Shop in West Haven. KC101 radio joined Anthem at the event to help promote the drive.

They collected $1,135.65 from the local community in cash and dental items.

Anthem has already delivered 1,000 dental kits to the Connecticut Food Bank along with 17 boxes of miscellaneous dental supplies for its food pantries.

The final event and check presentation will take place during halftime of a Connecticut Sun basketball game at the Mohegan Sun Casino June 29.