Los Osos Cares recipient of $75,000 grant
Photo: Supplied by Dignity Health – In the photo from left are: Patty Herrera of Dignity Health, Linda Quesenberry, Executive director of Los Osos Cares, Maureen Titus of Saint Benedict’s Church, and Patrick Caster of Dignity Health.
– Dignity Health Central Coast recently awarded $393,172 in grant funding to community non-profit organizations, and Los Osos Cares is one of the humanitarian groups that benefitted from a $75,000 grant.
On Jan. 30, 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. These grants are awarded through a community improvement grants program created by Dignity Health’s parent company Common Spirit Health.
The intent of the annual community grant 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 were based on the following 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.
Los Osos Cares matches these Dignity Health funding criteria. Another requirement is for the funds to serve 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 guide 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.
-By Ruth Ann Angus
