The Taylorville Kiwanis Club heard about efforts to provide free dental services to children, and Ameren’s response to the December 1 tornado, during their weekly luncheon Tuesday at the Taylorville Memorial Hospital auditorium.
Kiwanis member Raedena Ryan reported on the "Healthy Teeth, Healthy Kids" program, supported by the local Kiwanis Club. She told the club that Dr. David Trost leads an organization called "Miles of Smiles" that provides free dental checkups to school children across the state. They in turn refer students from Taylorville schools in need of urgent dental care to Central Illinois Smiles.
A grant of $2,500 from our Kiwanis Club (matched with another $2,500 by the TMH Foundation) was used to fund oral surgery and other services beyond what Dr. Greg Haarman's clinic, Central Illinois Smiles could provide. Haarman is also a Kiwanis member.
Program speaker for the day was Karly Combest, Community Relations Coordinator Division 4 for Ameren Illinois on Storm & Disaster Preparedness. She reported on the Taylorville Tornado last December First which included a peak outage count of 2,600 of which all were restored by midnight on December 3rd. 273 total resources were engaged in the restoration effort, they replaced 140 poles, 39 transformers and over 10,000 feet of conductor. Ameren responded to 68 gas leak calls and four different locations of blowing gas.
Combest had with her Shelley Beierle, Distribution Design Specialist of Ameren Illinois, Pana Operations Center.
The Taylorville Kiwanis Club is part of global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time. Weekly meetings are held Tuesdays at noon at the Taylorville Memorial Hospital auditorium. For information on the club, go to taylorvillekiwanis.com.
