Special to
L’Observateur

VACHERIE — Dr. James Stafford is helping children in need – one smile at a time.

This spring and summer, as part of the Crown Council’s Smiles for Life campaign, Stafford offered teeth whitening services at a reduced price and donated 100 percent of the proceeds to help children facing serious health and educational problems.

During the four-month campaign, Stafford raised $1,870. Half of the funds raised were contributed to Bayou Land Families Helping Families for use in the local community.

The rest of the money was contributed to Crown Council and Smiles for Life humanitarian initiatives in the Dominican Republic and other national programs that benefit programs for kids with an emphasis on health, education and inner city programs.

The check was recently presented to Rhiannon Traigle, executive director of Bayou Land.

“We had a great campaign this year and would like to thank everyone in the community who came out and helped to make it a success by purchasing whitening services during our campaign,” said Stafford, a Crown Council dentist located in Vacherie. “It has been great seeing the beautiful smiles of our patients after performing whitening services, but it is even better to see the smiles on the faces of the children our contributions are helping to support.”

The Smiles for Life Foundation is the children’s charity organization of the Crown Council, an organization of leading-edge dentists throughout North America.

Each year over a four-month period, participating Crown Council dentists offer professional teeth whitening services at a considerably reduced price and donate the proceeds to children’s charities.

“Smiles for Life is a win-win situation,” said Greg Anderson, director of the Crown Council and one of the founders of the Smiles for Life campaign. “Patients get a brighter smile, our member dentists get the satisfaction of contributing to their community, and, best of all, children who really need our help get a reason to smile.”

For more information about Smiles for Life, visit smilesforlife.org or call Stafford at 225-265-3026.