To support antibody testing to ensure a safe blood supply, provide information to individual donors related to their antibody status, and collect information to help inform public health decision-making.
Grant Impact: “Thanks to generous support from donors, including the Nantahala Health Foundation, we were able to extend the program through June 30, 2021. Based on the amount of blood we collected in the same time period last year, we estimate we will collect and test approximately 17,000 units of blood for COVID-19 antibodies in the Western NC Chapter from October 2020 to June 2021. By offering these antibody tests to our blood donors, we are providing the Western North Carolina community with valuable public health information. On behalf of those that we serve, thank you for your generous support of this critical program.”
To purchase and provide for student use 60 desks and 60 chairs constructed of anti-micro bacterial materials for three classrooms and to purchase a UV cleaner.
Grant Impact: “We have a student in this grade level who is wheelchair-bound. Previously, he could not join his peers in the same furniture due to restraints in adjustments. This furniture has allowed us to provide a classroom that he can be fully integrated with no difference made in the materials he is using.”
To provide community food sites budgets to purchase local farm products that meet the needs of their programs.
Grant Impact: Through the AFFF program, ASAP paired Carringer Farms of Macon County with the Community Table in Sylva. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship that they plan to sustain. Belinda of Carringer Farms told ASAP, “We are thoroughly enjoying working with Paige and Gary at The Community Table. It’s so neat to work with ones who are not only partners through the grant but have become great friends. It makes us feel really good that we can provide fresh produce to all.”
Photo provided by grantee.
To support the purchase of their current facility, thus providing AWAKE the security of a more permanent operational headquarters.
NHF funding also supported the establishment of a new nonprofit titled Child Medical Collaborative, which serves to address the lack of child medical providers in our region who specialize in the treatment of abuse victims.
NIMble 2021 Impact: After communicating their Capitol Campaign goals with the community, their landlord notified them of his intension to donate their current facility to AWAKE, thus creating a Permanent Home for Children.
CHIP 2021 Impact: “We have been able to hire an Executive Director, a Supervising Physician, Physician’s Assistant, and Registered Nurse. Additionally, we contract with three Nurse Practitioners, and we are able to provide 24/7 access to medical providers for the western counties associated with this grant. Additionally, more than 10 offenders have been charged, hundreds of children have been examined, including numerous sexual assault kits collected, and a functioning and collaborating new nonprofit has been successfully piloted.”
Photo provided by grantee.
To support the initiation of a hiking program, Club Summit, for children/youth and their adult mentors, thus introducing at-risk and under-served children to the value of spending time in their natural surroundings, increasing their physical fitness level, and instilling long-term, healthy habits around leisure activity and nutrition choices.
Grant Impact: By the end of the program year, 80 pairs have experienced activities in the natural environment, while 99 pairs experienced activities in the natural environment, which included hiking and horseback riding. These matches came from Cherokee, Clay, Macon, Graham, Jackson, Swain and the Qualla Boundary.
Photo provided by grantee.
NIMble 2021: To repair trail maintenance equipment and ensure their secure storage, thus ensuring safe equipment is available to volunteers, including Macon County Schools STEM students, during scheduled workdays and further ensuring trail users experience the benefits of the resulting safer, more enjoyable outdoor activity.
CHIP 2021: To provide Macon County High School students with a variety of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) educational opportunities and to explore future environmental career paths via youth and volunteer trail maintenance experiences.
NIMble 2021 Impact: “The success of this past year’s Youth Conservation Corps program led one of our major donors to double his gift, from $10k to $20k, in anticipation of doubling our YCC hiring program in 2022. The U.S. Forest Service is also attempting to increase their funding to this program for 2022.”
CHIP 2021 Impact: There are many stories, but the big one is the overall impact that the project had with improvements made to our trail, coupled with seeing young people bond, learn teamwork, build backcountry skills, learn trail-building skills, and overall psychological benefits from being in nature. Our YCC team was made up of total strangers, who on their first day were nervous, distant, and uncertain. By day three they were laughing, sharing stories, and cooking and working together wonderfully. It was a great experience to see them at the end of their four weeks in such great mental and physical condition. Perhaps some of this was due to the fact that they were required to turn their cell phones in for the project.
Photo provided by grantee.
2020: To purchase fetal nonstress test equipment to expand access to these services for expectant mothers in Jackson and Swain counties.
2022: To purchase an ultrasound to provide obstetrics-related services at its Jackson County/Sylva Clinic.
2020 Grant Impact: “With funding from the Nantahala Health Foundation, BRCHS was able to purchase two fetal nonstress test (NST) monitoring systems to measure fetal heart rate and response to movement in mothers in their third trimester to ensure the baby is doing well and receiving enough oxygen. This test is generally ordered when an expectant mother has a complication like gestational diabetes or preeclampsia or needs a procedure like amniocentesis. An NST may also be ordered if a baby is measuring small for his/her gestational age or is not very active. During the project period, 65 NSTs were administered to 29 unique patients, exceeding the project goal of 50 encounters. With an uptick in cases related to the Delta variant, COVID-19 remains a risk factor with in-clinic visits. BRCHS continues to follow all recommended protocols for women who are pregnant. Not having to refer these patients to local hospitals or other practices means an expectant mother can have consistent provider interactions and receive test results in real time, while not having to go to a second location and risk additional exposure to the virus.”
To increase access to emergency, restorative and preventative dental services to low-income residents of Western North Carolina (2019) and to enhance the organization's technological capacity to better serve free dental clinic patients by purchasing six Microsoft Surface tablets, six Dell computers, and practice management software licenses (2020).
2019 Impact: “Without the personnel funded through this grant, the Free Dental Clinic would have been forced to close. With their staff dentist, dental assistants and a hygienist, they were able to see 599 patients during 968 visits and complete 3,848 procedures in 2020 against extraordinary odds.”
2021 Impact: “The Dental Clinic’s new technologies allow our patients to complete intake information through their cell phones and/or home computers. We are seeing better communication with our patients and fewer missed appointments. Along with medical screening that we capture with the technology, we are also able to screen for social determinants of health that allow us to offer community resources to our patients.”
Grant Distribution Date: December 2022
Number of Partners: 11
Total Funds Invested: $25,000
Grant Distribution Date: Varied
Number of Partners: 2
Total Funds Invested: $10,000
Grant Distribution Date: December 2021
Number of Partners: 6
Total Funds Invested: $385,000
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Grant Distribution Date: June 2021
Number of Partners: 27
Total Funds Invested: $204,222
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Grant Distribution Date: December 2019
Number of Partners: 28
Total Regional Investment: Nearly $1.5 million
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Grant Distribution Date: December 2022
Number of Partners: 7
Total Funds Invested: $185,000
Grant Distribution Date: December 2022
Number of Partners: 4
Total Funds Invested: $162,000
Grant Distribution Date: December 2021
Number of Partners: 24
Total Funds Invested: $22,500
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Grant Distribution Date: December 2021
Number of Partners: 13
Total Regional Invested: More than $470,000
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Grant Distribution Date: December 2020
Number of Partners: 11
Total Regional Invested: Nearly $420,000
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Grant Distribution Date: December 2020
Number of Partners: 14
Total Regional Investment: Nearly $80,000
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A Note about the Images on this Page: Unless otherwise indicated, images on this page are intended to represent work being accomplished in our communitie
