Dollars for donuts

Chelsea BrinkmanIt’s no secret that mission trips are one of the highlights of dental students’ college experience. And it’s also no secret that donuts are a highlight for many people. The college’s Christian Dental Society, when brainstorming ideas for a fundraiser for their annual service trip to Guatemala, combined these two highlights and decided to raise money by selling donuts.

And they’ve been selling like hotcakes, so to speak.

Most Fridays for the past several months, a group of D.M.D. students have been selling Krispy Kreme donuts, sometimes from a table in the lobby of the dental building and also from the Henry Schein Dental Store on the college’s second floor.

With a goal of raising $4,000 to help pay for supplies, travel, accommodations and food, the donuts are just one of the ways they’re fundraising.

“Some people, when they find out why we’re selling the donuts, give us extra donations. Between that and donut sales, we’ve made $900,” said Guneshi De Mel, a second year dental student and one of the trip’s organizers.

The students, along with faculty and volunteer dentists, who travel to Guatemala this summer will see patients in Palin, a small town outside Guatemala City. For many in the community, this will be the first time they have ever seen a dentist.

For more information about the trip, contact Sergio Jacas (sjacas@dental.ufl.edu) or Guneshi De Mel (gdemel@dental.ufl.edu).