New grantee also has employee volunteer

The Patterson Foundation is proud to announce our first quarter of grant awards for the 2025 calendar year. We are awarding nine nonprofits just over $166,000 in grants. Of these, one supports assistance dogs, two are pop-up dental events happening across the country and six organizations are dental focused, including three new organizations to our grant program.

One of the new grantees is also granted volunteer time, thanks to Gayle Banic, a CAD/CAM specialist who referred the nonprofit to the Foundation’s application process.

Footbridge is a North Carolina organization that provides free dental clinics for veterans, active military members and their families, as well as uninsured individuals. The Foundation awarded $25,000 to support a capital expansion project.

Gayle was a dental assistant for 25 years and has been with Patterson Dental for eight. Volunteering at Footbridge has been a footbridge for her, too – she missed doing chairside work and the wins she’d be part of in creating healthy smiles.

Footbridge gives her that connection between her current role and hands-on dentistry. “When you’re changing somebody’s smile, you’re changing their life. I missed those wins.”

Gayle talked about working for a company that supports community outreach as part of its culture. “I love the team that I work with. I love the company that I work for. Obviously being able to do these clinics and having the support of my company has been great. I can see a different side of dentistry than when I was in the four walls of the office I was at. It’s been a good transition.”

Her philosophy about volunteering is simple. “I feel as though people have done good things for me, and I’ve just always wanted to do good things for other people. I’ve been given this skill, and I have been put into this position with Patterson to be able to give back. If we can give back to a community and put a smile on their face, then please do it. Initially sometimes people think, ‘Oh, it’s a whole weekend.’ However, you’re helping a lot of people.”

Of Footbridge, she added, “They have a collage of pictures on their mobile trailer and there’s actually one of me doing a scan with the CEREC scan – and I think I might have my Patterson shirt on!”