Judy Burkett is retiring after 37 years of putting smiles on the faces of needy area teens.
Burkett, who turns 65 on Monday, is stepping down this month from the Beacon Journal Charity Fund, where she has served as executive director since 1997.
Before taking over the nonprofit’s leadership role, she was a case investigator for the organization. The agency helps an average of 50 teens a year get free care from local orthodontists who accept reduced fees from the charity fund for their work.
In both positions, Burkett visited the homes of children and teens who applied for free braces to help determine which applicants qualified for the orthodontic care.
“That was and still is my first passion — the home visits and visiting the families and the one-on-one visits with the kids,” she said.
Over the years, she saw countless times the difference orthodontic care made in the lives of children in working-poor families who couldn’t afford the average $5,000 to $6,000 cost for braces.
There was the boy with an overbite who stopped her as she left a home visit to say, “Mrs. Burkett, I pray every day that the kids will stop making fun of me.”
Or the letter from a thankful mother 15 years ago recounting how her son changed from a shy, average student to one who gained amazing confidence after getting braces with the agency’s help. He ended up valedictorian of his graduating class.
“The difference that it’s made in their self-esteem and self-confidence is phenomenal,” she said.
The charity fund started at the newspaper at the urging of editor and publisher John S. Knight. The charity and the newspaper went separate ways in 1987, but Beacon Journal employees and former employees still serve on the agency’s board of trustees.
The agency’s $130,000 budget this year for orthodontic care and $16,000 to provide oral health education to third-grade classes throughout Summit County comes primarily from donations from area foundations.
Burkett is being replaced by Mark Fairhurst, who joined the organization this year to serve as the new executive director.
Burkett said she and her husband, Bill, plan to enjoy their retirement years by spending time with family and with regular trips to Florida.
But she’ll never forget the many smiles she helped shape over the years.
“I’m going to miss it a great deal,” she said. “It’s just very near and dear. It’s difficult for me to explain to someone who has not gone out to the homes and not seen some of the situations that we’ve seen and the expressions on the kids’ faces, the emotions that are involved and the gratitude that we get from the parents.”
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/abjcherylpowell.