In an interesting convergence of professional skills, one of the participants in Celebration of Smiles Day 2013 is Dr. Allyson Hurley, who is both a Certified Professional Photographer and a cosmetic dentist who is a Master of the Academy of General Dentistry and an Accredited Member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Dr. Hurley’s family dental practice is located in Bedminster, NJ. She is being joined in her April 20 event at the Bedminster Library by Tony Koebli of Images by J and A Photography in nearby Clark, NJ.

Allyson’s long-standing interest in photography accelerated when she wasn’t satisfied with average “before and after” shots, which she knew she would need when pursuing her accreditation by the Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Tony became her mentor ,and through his tutoring, she earned her Certified Professional Photographer status from PPA. In addition to his studio work, Tony enjoys going on location to do environmental photography for seniors, engagements sessions, weddings and families. He has earned multiple awards at the regional, state and international level in PPA. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and mentors other photographers.

Repeatedly named by her peers as among “Top New Jersey Dentists” by NJ Monthly magazine, Allyson believes that Celebration of Smiles Day is a perfect charitable cause for her to support as a dentist-photographer because it helps to fund the work of Operation Smile. While she thoroughly enjoys her genera dentistry practice, she has a special passion for changing lives by repairing fractured front teeth on young people and restoring smiles on older patients. She is the only woman in New Jersey to earn accreditation from the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.

The image shown here is typical of the patient photography Allyson as created for her business website, www.allysonhurley.com. The site also hosts some examples of her nature photography, which you can see at this link. Allyson presently is working on a photo book to be titled The Power of Flowers.

Steve Troup, president of Buckeye Professional Imaging, has announced his lab’s support of Celebration of Smiles Day by offering to provide participating studios with a FREE 5×7 print for each consumer who takes part in the fundraising promotion. The studio will be billed only for the shipping and handling fee of $5.00 per shipment, so Steve urges studios to consolidate their prints to limit this fee.

To take advantage of this offer, the studio must open an account with Buckeye Professional Imaging by using this link. Next, follow these directions:

• Enter PPACH in the referral box.
• Supply a credit card when opening the account. There are no charges made on the credit card until orders are completed.
• You will find a category in Buckeye’s Roes ordering system, called BOSS, which will be identified as “Celebration of Smiles.” Look for this category within the Luster Print catalog. In that category, you can order the free 5x7s. Buckeye assumes you will be ordering only one 5×7 for the promotion participant.
• Additional prints can be ordered in the other catalogs at the normal price. These additional prints can be combined with the free print, so it is all one order.
• The Celebration of Smiles catalog will be available until May 31, 2012.

Many thanks to Buckeye Professional Imaging for their generous support of Celebration of Smiles!

You can drive home the importance of the $24 donation your Celebration of Smiles Day clients are making on April 21 by presenting each of them with a “Thank You for Making a Difference in the Life of a Child!” handout that you can download and print out in your studio. The 8.5 x 11 handout will touch the hearts of your participants when they read about the incredibly important work done by Operation Smile volunteers around the world as well as the commitment of PPA members to support them through PPA Charities. To download the flyer click here.

PPA Charities President Mary Fisk Taylor has announced the results of the first annual Celebration of Smiles fundraiser in support of the organization’s charitable partner, Operation Smile. Held during April and May, a total of 129 members raised over $46,500 to benefit Operation Smile.

“These funds will go a long way toward meeting our 2012 goal of raising $100,000 for this wonderful organization,” Fisk-Taylor said. As of August 1, PPA Charities’ 2012 fund-raising total stands at $72,180. Because Operation Smile’s medical professionals and support staff volunteer their services, it costs only $240 to provide a simple cleft lip surgery to a child in desperate need. Therefore the funds raised by PPA members so far in 2012 means that over 300 smiles will be saved.

The Celebration of Smiles Day promotion provided consumers with the opportunity to receive a mini-session and a 5×7 professional portrait in exchange for a donation to Operation Smile of only $24; therefore, for every 10 sessions photographed by a participating studio, another smile could be saved by the volunteer professionals of Operation Smile. The official date for the first Celebration of Smiles event was April 21, but studios that had commitments on that date were allowed to conduct the fundraiser on alternate dates in April or May.

Next year’s Celebration of Smiles Day is scheduled for April 6, 2013. PPA members who participated in 2012 will automatically receive information about the 2013 fundraiser. Others who would like to participate in 2013 should email PPACH Executive Director Bert Behnke.