BETHEL — The West Parish Congregational Church will be hosting a yard sale in the basement of the church from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 27 to raise money for the the Smile Fund, a local fundraiser for adult dentistry.

According to the Rev. Virginia Rickeman, the Smile Fund began about 10 years ago as a church project.

“We sat down and tried to figure out what sort of things in the region we could help out with,” Rickeman said, adding that the church discovered there was a large number of elderly people in the region who required reconstructive dental work but lacked the financial resources to pay for it.

“We deal primarily with dentures,” Rickeman said. “We try to help as many different people out there as possible.”

The Smile Fund primarily aids people in SAD 44, which encompasses the towns of Andover, Bethel, Gilead, Greenwood, Newry and Woodstock, according to Rickeman. Rickeman said that the fundraiser has helped 55 people in the past 10 years.

He said that the basement yard sale was introduced to the fundraiser about eight years ago.

“We’re accepting just about anything except for clothes and electronics,” Rickeman said, explaining that a district exchange store exists in town that takes in people’s unwanted clothes and helps raise money for the local food bank.

“We try to direct clothing over there,” Rickeman said. “We’re not trying to start a competition or anything.”

Rickeman said that the church tries to host a fundraiser for the Smile Fund “whenever we start getting a lot of requests from the community.”

“We’re always keeping it in the church’s consciousness,” she said. “Sometimes the community has more of a need for the program, so that’s when we reach out. The community has been very helpful in donating.”

Any items that people wish to donate will be accepted at the church during the week prior to the sale.

For more information, call Rickeman at 824-0550.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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