Our first big little moment.

Joel Hanna, Co-founder, big little brush

Updated: September 20, 2017

We recently stopped by the Red Dust office to meet with Nina and Scott to drop off a batch of big little brush toothbrushes for their Healthy Living program. So cool to meet them in person and hear first hand about the important work that they do to #closethegap.

The Healthy Living program, which operates in remote indigenous areas around Central Australia, teaches primary school students the essential elements to good health including nutrition, hygiene, substance misuse and physical activity. All of this is conducted in a conscious and respectful way. The kids in this program will be using our super cute kids brushes when they arrive at school each morning to learn the importance of good oral hygiene. What a cool idea to make this part of the school day, and I’m sure most parents would appreciate this daily task being taken care of at school!

Like a lot of community focussed organisations, Red Dust achieve huge results relative to their resources, so every little contribution really helps. We are so happy to be able to contribute to the work that they do, and really look forward to doing more together in the future!

📷 photo credit: Red Dust

April 14, 2017

Earlier this week the big little brush crew had a really big moment, which we’re hoping will become a small moment in the near future. A Big Little Moment maybe? Andrew in our team passed on our very first financial contribution to our first program partner!

If you’ve not heard of them before, let me introduce you to Indigie Grins, an oral health care and education project in a great little town called Hamilton, at the foot of the Grampians in Western Victoria. The main coordinator is a total dude whose name is Stuart Wilder.

At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, people like Stu never fail to impress and inspire me. Stu is a nurse practitioner by vocation and generally focussed on men’s health, which means that an oral care program for indigenous kids isn’t exactly his day job. From the first conversation I had with Stu I knew we’d be keen to work with Indigie Grins.

Unfortunately, it’s 2017 and there’s still a huge disparity between the health outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. People like Stu and programs like Indigie Grins are so important and effective at working to #closethegap. If you want to learn more about this, the Australians Together website has some great information.

More about Indigie Grins, they provide toothbrushes, toothpaste and oral care education to kids in the local community with a focus on Indigenous health. When I came across the project I was really impressed with not only what they’re doing but also how they’re doing it. Indigie Grins grew out of a research study that was conducted by the local health service, in conjunction with Melbourne University. The study demonstrated that education measurably helps to improve oral care outcomes, particularly for children.

You can read a heap more about the research and results here, the project and its outcomes for the Indigie Grins kids are really encouraging. Definitely worth checking out.

We’re starting with a small contribution of $500 (all we could scrounge from our lean, start-up budget given we haven’t even sold one brush yet!) which will purchase toothbrushes, toothpaste and some placemats (the kids use the placemats to track their progress and can score themselves some kind of prize if they brush their teeth twice a day for a whole month… I’m not sure I’d qualify!). Also, when we have our toothbrushes in the country, we’re going to take a bunch down to Stu for him to use in the program.

I wrote at up the top of this post that this is a big moment, because this is our first, moderate contribution. We’re hoping that in the future it’ll become a small moment because we want to, with your support, contribute heaps more cash to project like Indigie Grins in developing communities around the world.

We’re stoked to be working with Stu and the team at Indigie Grins, can’t wait to tell you all how it goes.