Noted explorer and Pelham native Adam Shoalts and Fonthill dentist Dr. Peter Fritz canoed across Lake Ontario last Friday, Sept. 13. Their mission was to raise funds for the Build Your Smile Dental Foundation (BYSDF), an organization dedicated to improving access to dental health and education, as part of their “Canoeing for Care” initiative.
“We started at Peter’s house, right next to Charles Daly Park in Lincoln, and paddled all the way to Cherry Beach in Toronto,” said Carly Zanatta, a project coordinator in Fritz’s dental practice.
“Adam stayed in the canoe the entire time, while the rest of us rotated every 45 minutes.” In addition to Shoalts, Fritz, and Zanatta, the crew included Joe Coughler, Luke Stephenson, and Tara Ulch, while Donna and Rene Lavoie escorted the team in their sailboat, which was also used as a place to rest and refuel in between the time in the canoe.
This year’s paddle challenge aimed to shine light on the limited access to critical dental care and widespread oral diseases in Uganda. BYSDF provides year-round dental care and oral hygiene education to rural communities in Uganda. According to a news release, the Build Your Smile Dental Foundation (BYSDF) “operates on the fundamental belief that dental care is a human right, not a privilege restricted to a select few.”
For more information or to donate, visit the Canoeing For Care website, https://bysdf.org/cfc/
