Founder of Oral Health Task Force Awarded with 2025 Virginia McKnight Binger Heart of Community Honor
Paul Nelson, founder of the Oral Health Task Force (OHTF), is one of seven recipients of the 2025 Virginia McKnight Binger Heart of Community Honor. The Heart of Community Honor has recognized 333 Minnesotans since 1995. Each recipient receives a $10,000 cash award and is recognized at a reception at the McKnight Foundation. For four decades, the McKnight Foundation has honored individuals who have had a significant impact on the state of Minnesota and its communities but who have not been widely recognized for their work in the past, it is named for Virginia McKnight Binger, the Foundation’s first board chair and the daughter of McKnight’s founders William and Maude McKnight.
Since 2013, the OHTF has worked in collaboration with Grand Marais Family Dentistry and regional grantors to ensure no child misses out on important dental services. As a result, Cook County now has the lowest rate of children’s cavities in the state. What started as a program aimed at school-aged children has grown to include young people up to 26 years old, expectant moms, uninsured or underinsured seniors 65 and over, and members of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. OHTF provides community education on the importance of early preventative care and provides financial assistance through a generous financial assistance package that makes dental care at Grand Marais Family Dentistry more affordable and accessible.
To receive financial assistance for dental services, please fill out an application and turn into Sawtooth Mountain Clinic or Grand Marais Family Dentistry. Applications can be found on our website or at the clinic front desk.
You can donate to the OHTF by sending a check to Sawtooth Mountain Clinic. Please include Oral Health Task Force in the subject line and drop off at the front desk or mailing to:
Sawtooth Mountain Clinic
513 5th Ave West
Grand Marais, MN 55604
Learn more about the Virginia McKnight Binger Heart of Community Honor here.
2025 VMB Heart of Community Honor Media Release
About Sawtooth Mountain Clinic
Sawtooth Mountain Clinic has been a community health center for 45 years. Our mission is to provide access to high-quality, patient-centered, primary and preventative healthcare for all persons throughout SMC’s service area of Cook County Minnesota and the Anishinaabe Nation of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, on whose ancestral tribal lands we stand.