WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (May 28, 2014): The board of Quantum Foundation, under the chairmanship of local businessman and philanthropist William A. Meyer, approved six new grants totaling $710,000 at its board meeting held on May 22, 2014. The private foundation based in West Palm Beach funds projects that tackle health problems in fresh and innovative ways. Every dollar the foundation grants, about $7.5 million every year, stays in Palm Beach County to benefit local communities.
Quantum Foundation’ latest grant recipients include:
Alzheimer’s Community Care ($60,000)
This grant seeks to improve care for families living with neuro-cognitive disorders by creating a nationally-recognized community-based model for patients and family caregivers.
Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches ($70,000)
This grant aims to fund the expansion of the organization’s food delivery system to include homebound seniors to the Lake Worth area.
Place of Hope ($100,000)
This grant helps bridge the gap for young people aging out of the foster care system by providing support and services, including career and employment training and housing assistance, at the organization’s southern campus – The Haven.
Center for Family Services ($125,000)
This grant provides financial support to assist the organization in its work to strengthen families through counselling, education and homeless intervention.
Florida Atlantic University Community Health Center ($205,000)
This grant supports the Health Center in providing comprehensive, culturally-sensitive primary health care services to the community while enriching student learning and faculty research and scholarship.
Legal-Aid Society ($150,000)
This grant funds the Society’s work to ensure access to the justice system for low-income, disadvantaged and traditionally underserved residents of the county to ensure they are represented in issues of medical relevance such as access to benefits and access to quality care.
Quantum Foundation is West Palm Beach’s largest health-related grantmaking organization with 100% of funding dollars staying in the county. The foundation has assets of approximately $140 million and since its inception in 1997 has awarded over $115 million to hundreds of grantees in Palm Beach County.
The 12-member board unanimously approved the grants which will provide much needed services directly aligned with the foundation’s mission. One of this grant cycle’s funded projects helps Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches (MOWPB) better care for local homebound seniors by providing the nutrition they need for their personal optimal health.
Meals on Wheels Expansion Project
Founded in 2010, Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches (MOWPB) has focused on reducing the number of malnourished and food insecure seniors in the county. According to the Health Consequences of Senior Hunger in the United States study, food insecure seniors are 50 percent more likely to be diabetic, twice as likely to report fair or poor general health, three times more likely to suffer from depression, and nearly 14 percent have high blood pressure. The Quantum Foundation grant will enable MOWPB to expand its service, currently offered in West Palm Beach, to the neighboring Lake Worth area. In 2013, volunteers of MOWPB delivered more than 13,000 hot nutritious meals in West Palm Beach and now the organization plans to deliver 4,000 more to seniors in Lake Worth.
“We’ve identified downtown Lake Worth as an area in great need for our services,” said MOWPB Executive Director, Charles Ring. “We’re also starting to move into parts of Riviera Beach and other key areas where there is a high percentage of aged and homebound seniors. These people are often hidden away because they have limited mobility. Most can’t drive or cook safely anymore. We don’t want them to be forgotten. Often Meals on Wheels is a lifeline for these seniors. Our volunteers represent their food, and often their only companionship or human connection for the day. It’s very gratifying work and Quantum Foundation’s grant will help us do more of it.”
Quantum Foundation’s President Eric M. Kelly said: “Health is multi-faceted and means different things to different people. While the foundation has always worked to ensure a robust health workforce for the county and funded the county’s community health center system, we clearly acknowledge that without meeting people’s basic needs, it’s impossible for them to be healthy. Good nutrition, health education, exercise – all these are the building blocks of good health and assisting our senior with the most basic need of wholesome food is the motivation behind the Meals on Wheels grant.”
Quantum Foundation welcomes letters of inquiry/grant applications from non-profit organizations working directly within its focus areas. For more information, please visit the organization’s website at www.quantumfnd.org
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Background:
Quantum Foundation is a private grantmaking organization that funds approved charities and certain government agencies serving Palm Beach County, Florida. The organization’s mission is to inspire and fund bold initiatives that improve the health of Palm Beach County. According to the latest data compiled by the Florida Philanthropic Network (FPN), Quantum Foundation is the largest Palm Beach County-based health funder with 100% of grant dollars used to support local communities.
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