The holidays are for giving back to your community as much as it is about gift-giving, and dental practices have a unique opportunity to engage with local communities. You can choose giving back with your team’s skills in the dental field, or you can invite your patients and volunteer with local charities. Whatever you choose, you’ll be helping others while also creating a stronger team.
Hold a food or clothing drive for a local charity
Holding a food or clothing drive is a great way to involve your patients, especially if it benefits a local charity. Invite them to bring items with them to appointments, and set up a collection box in your foyer. Not only will this benefit others, which is the ultimate goal, but your practice will also be known as a charitable, caring business.
Think your patients may need some extra motivation? You could hold a giveaway with the entry being a donation. This could be dental services like whitening, or something family oriented like a “Night at the Movies” gift basket.
You could choose:
- Canned food for a food bank
•Coat drive for underprivileged children
•Blankets or hats for your local children’s hospital
•Your local Toys for Tots chapter
We’d recommend contacting local charities to see what their biggest need is, so you know the best way to help.
To make sure your practice and your patients can have the biggest impact, start promoting your initiative the month leading up to your collection dates. You can notify your patients via email, in office during visits, or mailers. (Or however you typically contact them.)
Volunteer as a team in a shelter or food bank
Volunteering with your team in a shelter or food bank is a great way to grow closer as a team while helping others. Partnering with local charities can build personal and business relationships that can last. We tend to forget how fortunate we truly are, and helping those less fortunate is a great way to give back to your community.
Types of volunteering opportunities:
- Serving food at a shelter
- Organizing donations at a food bank
- Delivering meals to shut-ins
- Spending time at an animal shelter
You could even ask patients to join your team, which can help instill a family aspect of your practice and build stronger relationships with your patients. Share this opportunity with them by inviting them while they are in for an appointment, or including it in your email newsletter.
Perform community outreach with dental services
As a dental practice, you have a set of skills some aren’t able to afford; consider setting aside an afternoon (or an entire day) for some dental-based community outreach. It could be for children who are unable to have regular dental care, or the community in general. You could donate cleanings or more involved procedures.
Your community outreach can include:
- Service trips (short- or long-distance)
- Pediatric dental care
- Wellness checkups
- Involved procedures like fillings
Community outreach involves your entire practice and helps those in need with services many take for granted.
This season, give back to your community as a team, however and wherever you can. You’ll be helping others, and building stronger bonds as a practice. Your version of community outreach could be dental related, or it could be simply giving your time to help the less fortunate. Whatever you choose, we applaud you for helping others and giving back during this holiday season!
