People in Need

The Ben Massell Dental Clinic of JF&CS is the most advanced free dental treatment facility in Georgia. Yes, that’s right – treatment is free. The Clinic changes the lives and smiles of underserved patients in the Atlanta area who otherwise could not afford dental services. They receive top notch care from a caring staff of dental residents and interns, seasoned volunteer dentists and hygienists who are dedicated to serving people in need.

Two of those caring professionals are dental residents, Dr. Poonam Kalaria and Dr. Jean Chien who recently served as volunteers at the clinic. Both women learned that for patients at the Ben Massell Dental Clinic, there are many barriers to receiving quality dental treatment.

“Patients at Ben Massell often reveal that they have been in pain for months or even years, because financial, transportation, language, education barriers have prevented them from getting care,” said Dr. Chien. “From the brief time I have been with Ben Massell, however, I have witnessed the dedication of the staff and volunteers to eliminate these barriers.”

“The clients are unbelievably appreciative of the care we provide,” added Dr. Kalaria. “We treat our patients for more than just the bare minimum. We want to go above and beyond, make dentures, and make sure you like the smile we make you, the color of the teeth, all of that. We understand that teeth are important for self-confidence. We don’t treat teeth like a luxury, but as a basic right.”

Dr. Chien agreed. “The dental volunteers are always extremely supportive in making sure all patients are provided timely and excellent care. The patients may not always see the same volunteer dentist, but they always see the same staff at the front desk and the same dental assistants in the operatories. It is evident that these familiar faces put patients at ease and make the environment at Ben Massell a very pleasant one for clients.”

“On numerous occasions patients confide in us about their struggles to find a job, medical care, or affordable housing,” Dr. Chien said. “As a dental resident at the clinic, I can immediately refer these patients to our team of on-site social workers and help patients find solutions to non-dental problems. It has been amazing to be able to learn from the volunteers as well as Ben Massell’s team of staff about providing compassionate and holistic care to underserved clients.”

“Dr. Kalaria recalled a patient in his 40s, whose life was positively impacted by the Ben Massell Dental Clinic. “He was in a car accident with an 18-wheeler, and he was left for dead on the side of the road,” she said. “His teeth were ruined, he lost his job and his house, and his relationship with his family was strained. It seemed like he had lost everything, including his teeth.

Dr. Kalaria was the resident who took out this patient’s remaining teeth, as none of them were salvageable. “He was fitted and set up with dentures and is set to get his permanent implants soon. Today, Dr. Kalaria said he is an entirely different person. Every time we see him, he is happy, hugging all of us and shedding tears of joy. He calls me his guardian angel, and we all want the best for him.”

Dr. Kalaria graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a major in economics and served as a risk analyst for seven years before deciding she wanted to switch careers to have more work life balance, and a career that was more meaningful. She eventually settled on going to dental school.”

Dr. Chien comes from a family of those in the healthcare field. Like the rest of her family, she is passionate about healthcare, but she is also an artist. “My search for a career in which I can combine my passion in health care and art landed me in dentistry,” Dr. Chien explained. “To be able to make art that is functional, aesthetic, and comfortable in people’s mouths has been very rewarding!”

The Ben Massell Dental Clinic is always looking for volunteer dentists and hygienists. To learn more about how you can make a difference, like Dr. Chien and Dr. Kalaria, visit www.benmasselldentalclinic.org/volunteer

With Passover ten days away, many community members will need extra funds to purchase Passover food items. Jan and Marsha Spector, longtime supporters of the Jewish community, have created a Feed the Hungry Challenge Match to feed hungry Jews at Passover. The Spectors will match dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000, for new and or increased contributions made to the Maos Chitim Fund by the end of Passover. Make your donation here.

“Food security is a basic human right,” said Jan Spector. “It saddens us to think there are Jews in Atlanta who are going hungry or who must choose between food or medicine or gas for their cars. At Purim, we learned of the halachic imperative of matanot l’evyonim — giving gifts to the poor to make sure no one is hungry. Let’s make the words of the haggadah come true, so that all who are hungry can come and eat.” To donate and learn more, please contact Arielle Orlansky.

With the understanding that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted our cities, Repair the World Atlanta launched a local cohort of Serve the Moment last fall. It offers a ten-week opportunity with a stipend for young adults to engage in critical racial justice work, tackle food insecurity, strengthen our education system, and combat social isolation, alongside contextual and Jewish learning. We’re honored to share reflections from two members of the Serve the Moment Corps, Justine Stiftel and Grace Parker, who were clearly changed and challenged during their service in Atlanta this spring.  

A fall cohort of Serve the Moment will soon be recruiting new members. To be put on the email list for the Fall 2021 application, please email servethemoment@werepair.org   

Justine Stiftel (They/Them):
“You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it,” the famed quote from Pirkei Avot (The Ethics of the Fathers), came up frequently during my time as a Serve the Moment Corps Member through Repair the World. Indeed, the twenty young adults in our spring cohort could never have finished our work responding to the lasting economic and social effects of the pandemic. Nonetheless, we made plenty of headway repairing our communities and strengthening our connections to Judaism. 

I had the pleasure of being partnered with Second Helpings Atlanta, a non-profit redistributing surplus food to those in need. I revised and evaluated their contact system, improving communications with their food donors, partner agencies, and volunteers. I learned the serious impact that the pandemic had on food access in our city. Thirty to forty percent of the food produced in America ends up in landfills, while one in five children in Atlanta is food insecure. It was an honor to contribute to fixing this disconnect. 

At our cohort’s weekly calls, we reflected on our experiences with our different non-profits. We heard from Jewish leaders and non-profits across the metro, expanding our knowledge of the needs of the most vulnerable populations. As the program lined up with the seven weeks of the Omer, we often connected with the seven lower sefirot. 

In 10 meaningful weeks, Serve the Moment has enabled me to learn about my city, my career goals, and my Judaism.  

Grace Parker (She/Her):
If there’s one thing that I learned from this past year it is that even in the toughest of times, there is always a silver lining. For me, that silver lining has been my experience with Repair the World’s Serve the Moment program and my partner organization, Concrete Jungle, a local nonprofit working to address food insecurity. Through Serve the Moment, I was able to dedicate the extra time on my hands toward meaningful and impactful work during a period that felt overwhelmingly helpless and hopeless for so many, myself included.

Having just moved to Atlanta during the pandemic, I was also able to connect to my newfound community in a truly special way — meeting new people, seeing new places, and taking part in conversations I would not have been exposed to otherwise. I feel incredibly grateful for this program and the countless lessons it has granted me, from lessons in empathy to a deeper connection with Jewish community service to fresh perspectives on rectifying the injustices our world faces now more than ever. I did this program to serve others, but ultimately, with each smiling face receiving their weekly nutritious groceries, I was given the greatest gift of all.