Hospital to dole out grants

GLENDALE — Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center will award $95,000 in grants today to nine local community organizations, such as Glendale Kiwanis Youth Inc. and Union Station Homeless Services, to help the groups fund their service programs.

The hospital selected Glendale Healthy Kids, New Horizons Family Center, YWCA of Glendale, Glendale Community Free Health Clinic, Holy Family College Preparatory, Homenetmen Glendale Ararat Chapter, the Salvation Army of Glendale, Kiwanis Youth and the Union Station to receive grants.

“They best articulate and deliver the information dealing with current health topics,” said Bonnie Butler, the hospital’s volunteer services manager.

The organizations had to submit proposals to the hospital’s Mission Council, which oversees the grants, that showed whom they provided services for, the types of programs they had and how much funding they had received in the past, she said.

The council reviewed the proposals and selected the groups that best met the hospital’s criteria, Butler said.

In order to get selected to receive the hospital’s grant funding, the groups had to serve Glendale residents and be proactive in poverty, women’s health care and immigration issues, she said.

“All of these groups proved they could deliver,” Butler said.

The groups must later demonstrate how they have used the grants to help their community, she said.

The Homenetmen Glendale Chapter will use the grant money to pay for after-school athletic and art programs that were created to help children and teens live healthy lifestyles and stay out of trouble, group spokeswoman Atineh Haroutunian said.

The grant comes at a time for Kiwanis Youth when funding was most needed, member Jeri Benton said.

“It means a great deal to us,” she said.

The organization has seen a drop in contributions since the economic downturn and was concerned about maintaining some of its programs that provide prenatal services to mothers and children who are younger than 5, Benton said.

“This means a lot to us because our funding, like everyone else’s, is diminishing,” she said.

The grant will help mothers get prenatal care at local free clinics, pay for free breast pumps, help fund car seat inspections and give car seats to parents who need them, Benton said.

“It will enable us to do more,” she said.

For Glendale Healthy Kids, the hospital’s grant will help pay for health education programs and for health-care access and referrals for low-income residents, organization Executive Director Camille Levee said. “It’s absolutely a godsend,” she said.

The organization has seen a 28% increase in referrals since the economy began slumping, so the grant was greatly needed, Levee said.

A Glendale clinic recently referred a 17-year-old girl who had a heart rate of 220 to the organization, which in turn helped her get free health care at Glendale Memorial Hospital, she said.

The organization has seen more teens without health care since the recession, Levee said.