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Vidant Beaufort Hospital awarded $100,000 to 23 recipients on Sept. 3, as part of the annual Community Benefit Grants program, which is funded by Vidant Health. This year’s grantees include:

• Albemarle Development Corporation — Meals on Wheels program
• Beaufort County Community College — Avenging Addiction and Ousting Opioids: Combatting County Crisis
• Beaufort County Cooperative Extension — Cooperative Extension Foods and Nutrition Education Outreach to Underserved Communities
• Beaufort County Developmental Center, Inc. Beaufort Area Transit — Essential Transportation
• Beaufort/Hyde Partnership for Children — Watch Me Grow
• Boys & Girls Club of the Coastal Plains — Triple Play of Beaufort County
• CareNet Counseling East — Access to Behavioral Health Care
• Coastal Pregnancy Center — Solomon’s Cribs program
• Community Assistance Rural Empowerment (St. John Church of God, DOC) — Champion Your Health 2020 program
• Cornerstone Family Worship Center Church of God — Beaufort County Health Clergy, Congregations and Communities (BCH3C)
• Eagle’s Wings Food Pantry — Healthy Tastings
• Food Bank of the Albemarle — Supplemental Food Programs in Beaufort and Hyde Counties
• Historic Bath Senior Center — Fitness Bingo
• Hyde County Health Department — Know Your Numbers
• Hyde County Non-Profit Transportation Corporation — Care-to-Go
• Mid-East Commission Area Agency on Aging — Medication Management and Medicare Counseling
• NC Cooperative Extension, Hyde County — Home Food Preservation Series
• NC Med Assist — Mobile and Free Pharmacy Program for Low-Income, Uninsured Beaufort and Hyde County
• Open Door Community Center
• Project DIRECT Legacy for Men and their Families
• Ruth’s House — Play and Space
• The Blind Center of North Carolina
• Zion Homeless Shelter and Kitchen — Project Safe Shelter

Vidant Health’s commitment to improving the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina includes helping people take better care of themselves before needing to be hospitalized. One of the many ways they accomplish this is by making a substantial donation to the Vidant Health Foundation to support the Community Benefit Grants Program.

Due to safety concerns, in lieu of the traditional check presentation ceremony, checks were mailed to grant recipients and a virtual meeting was held to allow grantees the opportunity to come together and share of their program successes along with the innovative ways the organizations are navigating through the challenges that COVID-19 has presented.

The purpose of Vidant Health’s Community Benefit Grants Program is to positively impact the health of people who live in the communities we serve. The program focuses on early detection, wellness and prevention, community health initiatives and direct health care services. This is accomplished by providing education, health management tools and easier access to local programs for the people who need those most.

Each Vidant hospital has its own grants program designed to meet local needs identified by the Community Health Needs Assessment that happens in our region every three years and is conducted in partnership with county health departments. Each hospital has a grants review committee made up of medical professionals and hospital leaders, as well as representatives from the health department, local health coalitions and community members.

This is the ninth year that funds have been distributed from the Community Benefit Grant program in Beaufort and Hyde counties. During that period, more than 100 grants have been awarded totaling more than $1.5 million distributed.