GSDM Students and Faculty Volunteer at Local Book Fair
Five members of the Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) community—three 4-year DMD students, one two-year Advanced Standing DMD student, and a faculty member—volunteered at the 29th Annual Charles C. Yancey Book Fair on July 25 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center on Tremont Street.
The Book Fair, which offered free books and entertainment for children, took place from noon- 2 p.m. It is named after Boston City Councilor Charles C. Yancey, who is the longest serving member of the Boston City Council, having been first elected in 1983.
Councilor Yancey and his wife, Marzetta, founded the Charles C. Yancey Book Fair in 1987 and have since distributed more than 450,000 books to more than 18,000 children in the city of Boston.
While the volunteers from GSDM did not distribute books, they did serve a valuable role at the book fair. The GSDM volunteers assisted the Masonic Youth Child Identification Program (MYCHIP) in obtaining “tooth prints” from children. The MYCHIP program seeks to provide tools for law enforcement to more efficiently locate missing children.
The GSDM volunteers also set up a general dental resource table in an effort to promote positive oral health practices to the families attending the fair.
“Our students and faculty have a strong track record of lending a helping hand to the surrounding community,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter. “I am very proud of the GSDM community members who volunteered to assist with the MYCHIP program at the Charles C. Yancey Book Fair.”
The GSDM volunteers were: Assal Abdossalehi DMD 16; Ana Keohane AS 16; Megan Sullivan DMD 18; Vanessa Thai DMD 16; and Clinical Instructor in the Department ofHealth Policy & Health Services Research Dr. Mohammad Mourad.
Submitted by GSDM Communications