The Obici Healthcare Foundation recently announced the award of more than $2 million in grants to 18 nonprofit organizations serving Suffolk and Western Tidewater.

“The Foundation Board of Directors and staff are excited by the quality of the programs being offered by this group of grantees committed to providing care in the Foundation’s service area,” said George Y. Birdsong, foundation chairman.

Award amounts among new and renewed grantees range from $15,000 to $500,000.

“Grants made by the Foundation continue Amedeo Obici’s legacy of improving the health status of people living in the service area,” said Gina Pitrone, foundation executive director.  “Mr. Obici, the founder of Planters Peanuts, was successful in business and passionate about helping the people in Western Tidewater and Gates County, N.C.”

The private foundation was created in 2006 with assets established through the generosity of Obici and funds from the merger of Louise Obici Memorial Hospital and Sentara Healthcare. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded more than $36 million in grant funding.

The successful Round 17 grantees are listed below with their award amounts and program descriptions:

• American Diabetes Association — $52,958 to raise diabetes awareness and stress the importance of early detection, disease management and health risk factors in Franklin and Southampton County.
• Bon Secours Maryview Foundation — $75,000 for the Care-A-Van to provide free, mobile medical services to the medically underserved in Western Tidewater.
• Eastern Virginia Medical School — $61,923 for the Igniting Change: Western Tidewater Healthy Faith & Communities Project to develop collaborative strategies that create policy, systems and environmental changes that will result in more healthy food choices and physical activity through churches, public housing and community organizations.
• Eastern Virginia Medical School — $500,000 to establish a Specialty Care Center to focus on the detection, prevention and management of diabetes and its most common complications.
• ForKids Inc. — $60,000 to improve the health of poor and homeless families in Western Tidewater through intensive case management, access to stable housing, permanent supportive housing and referrals to community resources.
• Franklin City Department of Social Services — $35,120 to increase the number of children and families enrolled and renewed in Medicaid and FAMIS.
• Girls on the Run — $49,466 to support the expansion of the after-school running program in Western Tidewater to 10 schools and community centers.
• Horizon Health Services Inc. — $75,000 to provide dental care and smoking cessation services in the Franklin, Southampton, Isle of Wight, Surry and Sussex service areas.
• Isle of Wight Christian Outreach Program — $15,000 to offer healthier food choices to the economically-disadvantaged families in Isle of Wight County.
• Sentara Obici Hospital — $56,250 to provide life coaches in Sentara Obici Hospital’s Emergency Room who will help uninsured and underinsured patients obtain primary care services and other resources.
• Southampton County Public Schools — $60,000 to provide students and families of Southampton County Public Schools with access to behavioral health services.
• Southeastern Virginia Health System — $150,000 to provide matching capital funds to help establish a new Federally Qualified Health Center in the city of Franklin.
• Suffolk Partnership for a Healthy Community — $25,000 for a planning grant to work with Active Living by Design, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the re-evaluation of current tactics for improving the health of the community and the management of the Healthy People Healthy Suffolk initiative.
• Suffolk Partnership for a Healthy Community — $33,750 for Suffolk on the Move to increase the registration and sustainability of walking groups within businesses, schools and civic and faith-based organizations.
• The Children’s Center — $25,000 to pay for nurse visiting services for those expectant or new mothers that may not quality for other nurse home-visitation programs designed for an under-served population.
• The Planning Council — $56,886 to implement a community-based model for healthy eating in Western Tidewater that connects local producers of fresh fruits and vegetables to childcare programs in Western Tidewater.
• Virginia Legal Aid Society — $75,000 to help disabled clients navigate the complex Medicaid and Medicare application and appeals processes.
• Walk In It Inc. — $25,000 to support a comprehensive program for elementary through high school-aged females that encourages healthy self-esteem, healthy decision-making skills and healthy lifestyles.
• Western Tidewater Community Services Board — $75,000 to continue Western Tidewater’s first outpatient medical detoxification program that provides daily testing, counseling, support and referral services to substance abusers.
• Western Tidewater Free Clinic — $500,000 to provide operational support for medical and dental care and chronic disease management of uninsured patients.