Care Foundation Grants $1.2 Million To Local Groups, Events

The Care Foundation is donating $50,000 to a two-day free dental clinic coming to Springdale next month.

The grant to Arkansas Mission of Mercy is part of the $1.2 million in grants the community foundation announced Tuesday.

By The Numbers

Care Foundation Grants

The Care Foundation announced $1.2 million in grants Tuesday to groups focusing on improving health, educational and quality of life opportunities in Northwest Arkansas.

• $500,000 : The Jones Center, Springdale. General funding for the 220,000-square-foot facility providing affordable recreational, educational and youth programs.

• $255,000: Arkansas Better Chance pre-K programs in Siloam Springs, $80,000; Gravette, $75,000; Huntsville, $60,000; and Decatur, $40,000. Provides preschool to children in families falling under 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

• $220,213: High school graduation student advocate programs at Springdale, $108,000, and Bentonville, $112,213. Programs provide students at risk of dropping out of school with individualized support plans to help them graduate.

• $200,000: Community Clinic. Offers medical services to low-income and uninsured people on a sliding-fee scale based on income. It has medical clinics in Springdale, Rogers and Siloam Springs; dental clinics in Springdale and Rogers; and school-based health centers at Jones Elementary in Springdale and Owl Creek in Fayetteville.

• $50,000: Arkansas State Dental Association’s Arkansas Mission of Mercy. Free dental clinic May 16-17 at Northwest Arkansas Convention Center, Springdale.

• $13,100: Hispanic Women’s Organization of Arkansas. Provides resources to support citizenship, voter registration and access to community services for Hispanic and Latino families.

Source: Community Foundation

The Care Foundation, a fund of the Endeavor Foundation, grants money to groups and events in Benton and Washington counties focusing on education, health and quality of life.

"The grants are not chosen by a competitive process but by what we see as community needs," said Jill Kaplan, vice president of strategy and communication at the Endeavor Foundation.

Grants are awarded throughout the year after the foundation's board approves them. The board is comprised of business, civic and community leaders.

Some Care Foundation grants are part of multi-year commitments, such as the $500,000 donation to The Jones Center and $200,000 to the Community Clinic, while others are event specific such as the dental clinic.

Mission of Mercy will provide the free dental work May 16-17 at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale. This is the eighth year for the program, organized by the Arkansas State Dental Association. It rotates between five sites across the state and was last in Springdale in 2009.

Terry Fiddler, a dentist and Mission of Mercy executive director, said the program is paid for by grants and donations. Main sponsors are the Walmart Foundation and the Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation.

He said the Care Foundation grant will help pay for supplies and hotel rooms for the volunteers traveling from outside the area. He said about 45 people go to every clinic. About 400 of the event's nearly 1,000 volunteers have medical background including dentists, dental hygienists and nurses.

"This money is huge for us," Fiddler said. "It makes the difference of seeing 500 more patients or not."

He said attendance over the event's two days typically runs between 1,800 and 2,500 people. The clinic served almost 13,000 people and provided more than $6 million in free dental care in its first seven years.

The Care Foundation also gave $75,000 to Gravette schools for the Arkansas Better Chance pre-K program. The foundation has supported the program in Gravette since 2007, said Zane Vanderpool, principal at Glenn Duffy Elementary School.

The program provides preschool to families making less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Income limits are $31,460 for a single-parent with one child and $47,700 for a family of four.

Vanderpool said the program serves 60 children. Fifty are paid for through grants and are income-based. The remaining 10 are tuition slots paid by parents.

"What that translates to us here in Gravette is about half our kindergarten class the next year," he said. "What is so nice about the program here at the school is the students are used to the facility and some of the faces they see in the hallways."

He said the grant will help supplement staff salaries. Without the foundation's support he would be forced to try to find another source of money or consider cutting part of the program.

"The parent interest and support of this program has been huge," he said.

The Care Foundation has invested more than $57 million in Northwest Arkansas over the past 15 years with a focus on health care, education and quality of life. It was established in 1999 with proceeds from the sale of municipally owned hospitals in Bentonville and Springdale.

The Endeavor Foundation is a charitable community foundation based in Springdale.

NW News on 04/23/2014

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