Updates from Simply Smiles

We began this month by celebrating Three Kings Day, unwrapping gifts, and enjoying the many features of our recent renovations, including a new commercial kitchen and cafeteria. We also marked an important milestone: For the first time in almost three years, all of the youth at our Children's Village are back to in-person school in Oaxaca! With frequent changes to classroom models and monitoring public health guidelines, the kids and staff have deftly navigated ever-changing school schedules. Here's to a safe, healthy academic semester ahead for our students!

As part of our extensive expansion and renovation project, the original wing of our village campus received a makeover, complete with a fresh coat of paint (in Simply Smiles blue and green, of course), a commercial kitchen and cafeteria, new storage areas, and a dedicated counseling room.

Celebrating the holidays

Despite record-setting snow drifts and winter weather, the holiday spirit could not be squelched! Our Reservation team and the kids kicked off 2023 by opening gifts, sharing a delicious meal, and the comfort and warmth of our foster homes. A special thank you to those who supported our gift registry and holiday party efforts on the Reservation.

Keeping the power on

With the support of our donors and a generous grant from the South Dakota Community Foundation, we've successfully installed a whole-site generator! The system automatically turns on during an outage, and it powers all of our foster homes and the counseling building even for extended outages. This is yet another element of our village infrastructure that will help to keep our foster families safe.

Seeking foster parents!

Our search continues for more foster parents to join our Reservation staff. Our team has worked diligently to craft a position that professionalizes foster care. Our foster parents are full-time employees and are supported in a manner that facilitates focus and energy being directed where it needs to be: the well-being of the Native youth in our care. Our ability to accept and care for children depends on finding, hiring, and onboarding capable, compassionate, and committed individuals. If you (or someone you know) are looking for a career change, apply and help to spread the word:

Creating the Reservation Village

Make a commitment to keep the youth in our care safe, healthy, and comfortable by becoming a recurring donor. You can support the cost of fuel/heating, food, water, electricity, and much, much more at whatever amount works for you. Learn more and sign up for this sustainable way to give:

Congregations, school & community groups: Recurring giving is an excellent, manageable way to show your support for Simply Smiles!

Thank you for being a part of the Simply Smiles community!