On Sunday morning, Laces for Braces raised funds to help cover orthodontics expenses for patients who don’t have braces coverage. 

By Bridget Bronsdon 

Nothing stopped the young runners of West Hartford, even heavy rain, as they hit the Conard track Sunday morning to run in Laces for Braces. 

The philanthropy fun run, created by West Hartford orthodontist Natalia Menjivar and sponsored by Fleet Feet, raised money to help cover orthodontics expenses for local children. For every lap completed, West Hartford Orthodontics pledged $100 to the Smile Scholarship Fund, “which is going to help offset out-of-pocket expenses for Husky patients that don’t have coverage by the state for braces” Menjivar said. 

“I recognized that there was a segment of our community, children with the state dental insurance who for the most part were not receiving coverage for braces because their cases were not deemed severe enough, and I can tell you first hand it’s challenging to demonstrate significant case complexity to get that state benefit. So the goal of this fun run, and with all of your help, we’ll create an internal fund called the Smile Scholarship Fund that we’ll be able to award scholarships to those patients on Husky whose braces treatment couldn’t get covered by the state,” she said.

As an orthodontist and running enthusiast, Menjivar said she combined her two passions to create the event. The philanthropy is also a culmination of her community service project as part of the West Hartford Parent Leadership Training Institute, a 20-week program that she graduated from in June. “It’s an organization that helps to create advocates of parents,” and provides parents with the tools for local advocacy work, Menjivar said. 

During the fun run, participants had 45 minutes to make it around the track as many times as possible and earned popsicle sticks to track their completed laps. After running, participants turned their popsicle sticks in for prizes and treats.

Thanks to Menjivar’s hard work, the event was a huge success and with 40 runners in attendance, they completed 243 laps (over 60 miles), and earned $24,300 for the Smile Scholarship Fund. 

The event also had a raffle for kid’s shoes and 5K/10K training program for adults from Fleet Feet, race t-shirts, medals for the top finishers, and even featured appearances by Spiderman and Elsa. Local families also showcased their true West Hartford spirit as they suited up with umbrellas, raincoats, and sneakers to brave the weather. While kids ran, parents cheered, gave high-fives, and many joined in on the fun. 

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