Kahoot: A way to volunteer and pay it forward
Raising a child is expensive. Raising three costs even more. When all three need braces and the orthodontist estimates for the last child it will be $5,000, some families just have to find another way.
“What typically prevents them from accessing care is finances,” says Dr. Juliana Panchura, one of the founders of SMILE Central Oregon.
One of her clients is Franchesca Toscano, a junior at La Pine High School, the last of three kids in the family to need braces.
“I had never volunteered before,” said Toscano. That was until she met “Dr. Julie,” as she’s called by her patients.
Franchesa estimates she has put in 200 volunteer hours already working at La Pine Park and Recreation District, mostly supervising youth programs. All that time is paying for half the cost of her braces.
“The one day I would work in the office serving somewhere between 50 and 70 patients translates into 700 sometimes 1000 hours of volunteer work done in the community,” said Panchura said.
Panchura accepts volunteer time as partial payment. Volunteer hours are valued at $10 per hour. Patients can cover up to half of the cost of their braces. When mom and dad volunteer., that counts too.
“For each appointment, it depends, some I have to have 20 hours, some are 10,” Franchesca said, explaining how many hours she has too work.
But the work goes well beyond simply straightening teeth.
“What we do orthodontically transforms smiles, but volunteering transforms the heart and soul,” Panchura said.
Last year, 320 patients put in 17,751 hours, valued at over $177,000. Already in 2014, the volunteer value is over $165,000.
“I had a boy who played the guitar and piano, go to a senior center and entertain the residents,” Panchura said, recounting the many ways her patients volunteer.
It’s so successful, Panchura started Kahoot, to spread the pay-it-forward style to other industries. On the Website, there’s photographers, doggie daycare services, even painters, all accepting volunteer hours as partial payment.
Toscano may be nearing the end of her braces ordeal. But through her efforts and Panchura’s, she’s sure to be smiling for years to come.
Learn more at http://www.kahoot.org/
