An awards ceremony was held at Marion Regional Center to honor grant recipients. Picture are: Patty Herrera of Dignity Health; Linda Quesenberry, executive director of Los Osos Cares; Maureen Titus of Saint Benedicts Church; and Patrick Caster of Dignity Health. Photo courtesy of Dignity Health
Dignity Health Central Coast awarded nearly $400,000 in grant funding to seven non-profit community organizations. Los Osos Cares received a $75,000 grant for their humanitarian efforts.
The $393,172 in grant monies were awarded through the Community Improvement Grants Program created by Dignity’s parent company, CommonSpirit Health. At the close of January, Linda Quesenberry, acting as fiscal agent for the Estero Bay Resource and Outreach Project, joined with six other organization leaders at an awards ceremony at Marian Regional Medical Center to accept the award.
The intent of the program is to help non-profit organizations with an interest in building healthier communities by improving health and living conditions. Criteria for this funding cycle was based on the priority areas identified in the hospital’s Community Benefits Report and Plan and Community Health Needs Assessment: Educational Attainment, Access to Primary Care including Behavioral Health and Oral Health, and Health Promotion and Prevention.
An additional requirement was that funding help underserved populations such as seniors, needy families, and the homeless. The grant requires that there be collaboration indicated with three or more other organizations that share distinct, complementary, and substantive project roles.
The Estero Bay Resource and Outreach Project is made up of member organizations in the Accountable Care Community that provides assistance to the underserved including access to the resource center, clean laundry programs, nutritious meals and food delivery, assistance accessing healthcare and healthcare education, continuing education/scholarships, information such as community resource guides and computer access, referrals, community meetings, emergency basic needs and transportation assistance, and a senior program that includes computer classes and the Estero Bay RUOK outreach program.
Funds from the $75,000 grant will be shared with: Los Osos Cares Inc, Wilshire Community Services, Morro Bay Lions Club, St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church, Transitions Mental Health Association, City of Morro Bay Resource Connection, Monarch Dream Center at Cuesta College and French Hospital Medical Center.
Other organizations awarded grant monies from Dignity Health are MARBLE, Multi-tiered Youth Mental Wellness Project; Oral Health to Care: Service Expansion for Uninsured and Underinsured; 5 Cities Wellness Connection for People experiencing Homelessness; Senior and Caregiver Support; Youth Leadership and Education Project, Santa Maria Stabilization Center.
For more information about Los Osos Cares, go to losososcares.com.
