2022 Father's Day $45,000 New Smile Giveaway Winner: Jesse Griffin
Our 2022 Father's Day giveaway has come to a close! After spending many hours learning about all the wonderful fathers and father figures, and deliberating for quite some time we were able to decide on our winner! We are tremendously proud to announce Jesse Griffin will be taking home the first place prize and a beautiful new zirconia All-on-4®!
Jesse is in his neice's words: "a person that always keeps the family smiling." Rain or shine he is there to provide a shoulder to cry on. Even on his hardest days he finds a way to keep on going, and supporting the ones he loves. We would like to share some excerpts from his nominations and show you just what makes Jesse so incredible.
Jesse served our country as a Marine in the Afghanistan war. When he returned from the war, his dream was to become a helicopter pilot so he could support his wife Leah and their daughter and son. He enrolled in a Helicopter Pilot Program and was on his way to securing his future as a pilot. Not long after his return, their daughter Chelsey, who was in her early 20’s, passed away unexpectedly, completely devastating Jesse and his family. A few years later, their son Tyler also died in a tragic accident at the age of 21. Jesse and Leah were so heartbroken that I can’t even pretend to imagine how they kept going He later developed an eye disease that has permanently damaged his vision and destroyed his dream of being a pilot. He now works as a maintenance person in a facility for troubled youth.
He has taken care of me because I am a mess most of the time and yet he will always do his best to put a smile on my face. Ever since we met he has always had bad teeth and never liked his smile and in the marines had lots of dental work done but that has been coming out slowly. He has a retainer which has a few teeth on it don’t know what’s that called he is always self-conscious of his teeth and when we go out to eat he has to take his teeth out and he hates it, marines carry a lot of pride. Everyone he meets loves him and where he works is a school for troubled youth he does maintenance there and I know these kids and the staff loves him there, he just that kind of guy you like.
Jesse wakes up every single day doing everything he can to get my aunt through her new normal way of life, missing their two children. He puts her and the rest of us first, even though once again he is suffering the loss of a child as well. On top of everything he has suffered sever vision injuries. He has pain every single day in his eyes to the point of not being able to see like he used to causing him to give up his dream career of being a helicopter pilot, a big reason he joined he military. All of this to say, HE NEVER COMPLAINS! He never hides away asking why he has been given so many challenges! He just gets up and does it again! He had always struggled with his teeth and often hides his smile. He spends so much time trying to keep everyone else smiling that he just keeps his hidden. Giving him such a wonderful gift of a new smile would really boost him back up. We all want to see that confidence again. He deserves it!
We are so happy to be giving back to a man who has done nothing but give throughout his entire life! His willingness to sacrifice to improve the lives of those around him is truly admirable, and we are so excited to give Jesse a brand new permanent set of teeth with the All-on-4® procedure!
Thank you to everyone who entered, we had hundreds of nominations and every single year is it a monumental task to narrow it down. We truly appreciate hearing every single one of your stories and want to recognize all of you for the difference you make in the lives of those around you!
