Paige Alenick, age 18, of Wyckoff Lake, N.J., remembered not to take anything for granted one night while she was brushing her teeth.

Alenick stated how lucky she was to have the simple gift of being able to brush her teeth. In Third World countries — where there’s not enough food, water or shelter — not enough people stop to think about oral health,” she said.

According to the New York Post, Paige did research and found that you don’t even need toothpaste to help protect you from oral disease, just the brush can help. And this is when she decided to start collecting toothbrushes.

When Paige was a sophomore in high-school (2011) she began the Donate a Toothbrush project.

Paige said the project really took off when her father helped her build a website, which produced local news and regional press.

Paige was invited to speak this year at the United Nations Assembly Youth Conference, on account of her outstanding work.

She has collected and distributed more than 145,000 toothbrushes to families in developing countries as well as locally, says ASDA’s blog, Mouthing Off.

Supplying 10,008 of those toothbrushes in 2014: PRO-SYS, which donates a toothbrush for every Tapered or Antimicrobial toothbrush sold.

Additionally, Paige applied to the Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program as she began her college search in her junior year of high school. The Kohl’s program rewards young volunteers for their community service and, since its inception in 2001, has awarded more than $3.9 million in scholarships and prizes, according to a company press release.

Having learned of her acceptance to New York University’s (NYU) Liberal Studies program just last month, Paige received the timely news that she’d been selected as one of Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program’s 10 national scholarship winners.

While in college, Paige plans to expand her project even further.

To read the full story: https://nypost.com/2013/09/19/donate-a-toothbrush-lands-nj-student-big-scholarship-money/