As the past president of MOAA's Western North Carolina Chapter, former Air Force Capt. Donna Culp helped lead the charge to facilitate the ECU Smiles for Veterans collaboration, which provided critical dental care to veterans in need.

'I just don't like to see people in need forgotten or left behind or mistreated or anything like that.'

The chapter hosts Stand Down events with nonprofits that provide care and services to veterans, and dental care was identified as an area where veterans needed support. The chapter teamed up with East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine clinics and the Veteran Smiles Foundation to screen veterans for dental issues and see what care they need.

Culp created a screening tool for veterans asking how they feel about their current dental care, if they're dealing with any issues, and what they hope to get out of the dental program. She spoke with one veteran who used her screening tool and had several abscessed teeth but no dentist or insurance.

"He'd been casting about trying to get help and was getting nowhere," Culp said. The veteran was offered immediate dental care and later said that he had been at the end of his rope with his painful dental issues and was even contemplating suicide.

"It saved a veteran's life, and it saved a family because he was married with children," said Culp, who served for more than six years as an occupational therapist.

Culp also applied for Community Outreach Grants through The MOAA Foundation to help cover some of the costs for veterans in need of dental work, she said.

"I just don't like to see people in need forgotten or left behind or mistreated or anything like that," Culp said.

In addition to her work with the local MOAA chapter, Culp also volunteers in Ukraine and offered refuge and help for people affected by Hurricane Helene in September.