BRIDGEPORT – Thursday, May 1, 2013 – The 6th Annual Connecticut Mission of Mercy (CTMOM), a free dental clinic being held at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport on Friday-Saturday June 7-8, 2013, is still in need of roughly 300 more community volunteers.
“Volunteers are the backbone of this event,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “We need more community-minded people to share their time and talents for this worthy cause. I’m so grateful that the Connecticut Mission of Mercy is coming to Bridgeport.”
To date more than 1,200 people have signed up to volunteer for the two-day event, and organizers are again praising people’s willingness to generously give their time.
“We’re almost there – with a little more than a month to go before the Connecticut Mission of Mercy opens its doors on June 7, we have more than 1,200 volunteers signed up to offer their time and talent to make this year’s clinic a success,” said Dr. Ernie Spira, CTMOM Co-Chair. “We are hoping to have 1,500 volunteers registered when CTMOM rolls into Bridgeport. The volunteer outpouring every year is staggering, and we cannot thank people enough for so selflessly offering themselves to such a good cause.”
Those who wish to sign up to volunteer for the 2013 Connecticut Mission of Mercy are encouraged to do so at www.cfdo.org/cfdo1_ctmom.html prior to May 14. Non-medical community volunteers are needed for the following tasks: traffic/crowd monitors, waste management, food service, foreign/sign language interpreters, escorts, set up and tear down. Descriptions of these jobs can be found on the above-mentioned website as well.
This is the 6th Annual Connecticut Mission of Mercy and it is expected to provide free dental care for more than 2,000 patients in need. CTMOM is being offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and services include dental and general health screenings, x-rays, cleanings, fillings, extractions, oral surgery and prosthetics. The clinic will open at 6am on Friday and Saturday, June 7 and 8, at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.
Last year in Danbury, 2,008 patients from 168 cities and towns were treated, and more than $1.3 million in free dental care was provided. To date, since first coming to Connecticut in 2008 (previously clinics were held in Tolland, New Haven, Middletown, Waterbury and last year in Danbury) CTMOM has treated nearly 9,000 patients and provided more than $6 million in free dental services.