Donor Rewards and Motivates Children Around the World
In this donor spotlight, Treasure Tower® founder, Kathy Ruggiero tells her story and explains why she partners with Roseman University's College of Dental Medicine.
From an early age, Kathy Ruggiero has always been involved in enterprising pursuits. “My dad was an entrepreneur,” she said. “I have him to thank completely for passing the bug onto me!”
As a child, Kathy ran a lemonade stand, conducted door-to-door sales, and sold plastic flowers in her school. While in her first year of college, she sold and delivered an astounding 400 final exam survival kits to her Brigham Young University classmates.
In 1983, Kathy graduated with a degree in interior design. However, poor job outlook prevented her from working in that field. “While I never pursued a career in interior design,” she remarked. “I like to joke that I used my skills to design the interior of the most amazing toy dispensing machine called the Treasure Tower!”
Treasure Tower® is a rewards system used to help motivate nervous or restless children. Each tower is outfitted with 8 to 12 compartments and dispenses up to 1,300 small toys or novelty items. These rewards systems are used in dental offices, doctor’s offices, and schools around the country and right here in the College of Dental Medicine.
The idea for this unique incentive program came to Kathy while visiting a dental office with two of her sons in 1999. “My boys had finished their dentist appointment, and they were trying to choose their toy from the treasure box behind the receptionist’s desk,” she recalled. “They started asking if they could have multiple toys and I joined them behind the desk to make sure they only took one. As I looked into the treasure box, I remember seeing lots of broken and dirty toys and I silently thought how I didn’t really want them having anything out of that box.”
She continued “I remember thinking how cool it would be to have toys dispensed through a machine so they would be organized, sanitary, and the child would only get one (rather than taking handfuls).”
Bringing her idea to life took significant effort. “It was a long process of about 18 months before we had the tokens designed and Treasure Tower® ready to test the market.” Kathy explained, “It took me nine months alone to design the inner tumbling system so it would consistently dispense a capsuled toy.”
After a successful market test, Kathy’s company expanded rapidly. She remarked, “We hit the pavement running and have never stopped.”
To meet the demand, Kathy established a network of Treasure Tower® business owners and distributors who provide the Treasure Tower® service to thousands of dentists, doctors, and teachers across the country and around the world. And though her business has grown, Kathy continues to manage about 170 Treasure Towers locally, including the ones in our building.
When asked what she enjoys most about her work, Kathy said “The best part [of running Treasure Tower®] is knowing we are helping to motivate and reward millions of children every year.”
“We all respond to positive reinforcement,” she explained, “but children especially need a little motivator at times to help them overcome fears or do things they might otherwise feel incapable of doing. That might mean being cooperative during a dental appointment, getting a shot at the doctor’s office, undergoing [chemotherapy], or getting out of bed to walk after surgery at the hospital. At school it might mean having good classroom behavior, achieving academic goals, being on time, and having perfect attendance. Children love earning their tokens and realizing they can do hard things!”
For Kathy, partnering with Roseman is a great way for new dentists to see these systems in action. “We love Roseman University!” she exclaimed. “We appreciate the opportunity the dental students have to learn about and use the Treasure Tower while they are there [and] hope they will want to have Treasure Towers installed in their offices once they graduate.”
In addition to providing the towers in our lobby, Kathy graciously supplies toys and tokens for our annual community engagement events. “We love being able to contribute free tokens and toys for the Back to School Brush-UpTM every fall and for the Give Kids A Smile® event every spring,” she said. “These are both such wonderful programs.”
We would like to take this opportunity to recognize Kathy’s contributions to the College of Dental Medicine and thank her for being an invaluable partner and donor.
To learn more about Treasure Tower®, visit www.treasuretowerrewards.com.