ChristianaCare announces $1 million in grants to community nonprofits focused on improving health.
The $1 million will be dispersed among 19 different nonprofits including AIDS Delaware, Delaware Interfaith Power and Light, the YMCA and YWCA of Delaware, and Sussex County Habitat for Humanity.
ChristianaCare’s Chief Public Affairs and Health Equity Officer Bettina Tweardy Riveros says this year they focused on projects that support food, housing, and environmental initiatives.
"We have identified housing as a key need, food as a key need, economic mobility, and some other social drivers that impact the health of members of our community," Riveros says. "You can’t be healthy if you don't have a place to put your head at night, you can’t be healthy if you don’t have food for yourself and your family. We know that the impact of changes in the environment and climate change are impacting the health of individuals.”
Riveros adds that clinical care only accounts for about 20 percent of someone's health – economic, financial, and social aspects have a major impact too.
Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids Executive Director Lydia Sarson says they are receiving around $24,000 to help integrate nutritional service partners with their garden program through webinars and handbooks.
“The students bring the harvest to them, they clean the harvest, they prepare it, and then they serve it to the students at lunch," Sarson says. "This is done up to four times per year and we want to make sure that they feel as prepared as possible for these vegetables to come into their cafeteria.”
Sarson says there are extra steps that come with preparing fresh vegetables right out of the ground, including some more uncommon vegetables that they’ll have to get creative to serve.
Sarson says through the program, K-5 students learn how to grow healthy foods.
"Second grade learns about soil, they're the ones who prepare the garden for planting," Sarson says. "Kindergarten and first grade learn about seeds and seed structure, they do the actual planting. Third grade learns about water systems, they'll hand-water and then we'll have an irrigation system that will kick in. Fourth and fifth grade learn about plant structure and function. Fourth grade does the first harvest and then about two weeks later, fifth grade comes out and does the second harvest. They also have a bonus lesson and will clean up the garden and prepare it for the end of the year."
Sarson says this hands-on knowledge prepares them to lead a healthy lifestyle and form good relationships with healthy foods.
Delaware Humanities is receiving around $13,000 and Executive Director Michele Anstine says they are developing an environmental toolkit for humanities-based organizations to use for discussions on environmental justice.
“It includes a basic introduction to environmental justice, also information and an activity that really focuses on different communities and the basics of how communities can be very close together but be experiencing very different environments, very different resources, and how different pockets within an overall community can really be experiencing the world in a different way," Anstine says.
Anstine says the grant will fund 50 of these kits and they already have over 25 organizations that have expressed interest in one.
Anstine adds the environment is a major factor in someone’s health, and the grant will help Delaware Humanities empower communities to understand the deep connection between health and the environment.
ChristianaCare’s community investment fund started in 2019 and to date has provided more than $4 million to 52 community organizations.
