Work in progress in the new clinic.

“Project Smile” began in 1992 as a cooperative effort between the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia and the Anglican Diocese of Belize, in Central America. We are a prevention oriented dental program for indigent children.

Every year various teams of volunteer dentists, along with auxiliary personnel, both trained and untrained, travel to Belize to St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church in Belize City. There we have a permanent 7-chair dental treatment facility in an unused classroom at St. Mary’s School. This is an urban school in a rundown area of the city.

In 1997 we sent donated kitchen appliances from Georgia to Belize and now we have a modern lunchroom where volunteers serve hot cooked meals at lunch instead of the children chewing sugar cane or having no lunch at all. More than 100 hot lunches are served every school day to children regardless of their ability to pay the 50 cent charge.

In February, 2001 at St. Mary’s School we created a safe school yard with storm drainage and constructed a playground with swings and large state-of-the-art playground equipment.

In 2002 Project Smile installed the first computer lab for children in Belize. We enlisted the help of U.S. Peace Corps volunteers to teach computer skills to students at St. Mary’s School. As of 2004 we have subsidized the salary of a full time computer instructor.