A Bayside hospital recently earned a grant that will make healthcare and good nutrition more accessible to at-home patients.
Back in October, Rite Aid awarded the $30,000 KidCents Regional Grant to St. Mary’s Hospital for Children. The grant allows St. Mary’s to provide children with special healthcare needs with nutrition education home care visits.
A licensed nutritionist will make monthly visits to St. Mary’s home-care patients and their families and provide assistance with meal planning and grocery shopping and hands-on cooking demonstrations with fresh fruits and vegetables. The nutritionist will also work with the families to develop an individualized, long-term nutrition plan to suit each patient’s needs.
“At St. Mary’s, our dedicated team of pediatric specialists are caring for children with complex and potentially life-limiting conditions,” said Daniel Devine, manager of Institutional Gifts & Program Development at St. Mary’s. “This fragile population’s risk of malnutrition — and the critical medical complications that could arise from it — are of very high concern to us. Through this new grant partnership, the Rite Aid Foundation will be helping St. Mary’s Kids achieve and maintain a more nutritious lifestyle and go on to lead healthy, happy lives.”
Each award cycle, the KidCents program gives $15,000 to $30,000 grants to fund out-of-school programs focused on children’s nutrition, physical fitness and academic success. The program also supports a group of more than 400 nonprofit, kid-focused organizations that work to improve the health of kids in Rite Aid’s service areas as well as other organizations like The Fred Rogers Company, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and Folds of Honor.
During this second award cycle, The Rite Aid Foundation awarded 233 nonprofit grants totaling more than $5 million in select counties in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington.
During the first cycle, The Rite Aid Foundation awarded 180 grants totaling more than $4 million. The next cycle of the KidCents program is set to launch in 2020.
“The Rite Aid Foundation is committed to being a caring neighbor and making meaningful differences for the children and families who live in the communities we serve,” said Tracy Henderson, director of The Rite Aid Foundation and charitable giving initiatives. “The Regional Grant Program significantly expands the reach and impact of our KidCents program, while enabling our partner organizations to provide critical out-of-school time programs that are vital to keeping children and adolescents on track for future success.”
To learn about the upcoming 2020 cycle of the KidCents Regional Grant Program, visit riteaid.com/grants.
