Charitable Oklahoma agency battles through budget cuts
D-Dent, an agency in Oklahoma which connects uninsured, disabled, elderly and low-income families with dentists donating free oral healthcare across the state is having to turn people away, despite losing their entire state funding. The agency, which picks up the cost of laboratory work for it’s clients, recently lost their $130,00+ funding due to government budget cuts.
However, executive director Shirley Harris still has to turn people away; ‘We have probably fifteen to twenty calls a day from DHS for people who, through no fault of their own, can’t take care of themselves.’ Harris then explained how hard it is to turn people away; ‘That person on the other end of the phone has enough problems and for us to say “I’m sorry, we can’t help you”….I can’t tell you how that feels.’
D-Dent usually helps around eight hundred people annually and, with fundraising activities, they aim to battle through and help six hundred people this year.
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