SEMO Red Cross and St. Francis Medical Center receive MFH grants

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - St. Francis Medical Center and the Southeast Missouri chapter of the American Red Cross received grants from the Missouri Foundation for Health on Wednesday.

A two-year, $100,000 grant was given to the Red Cross to provide basic support for services and assistance to victims of disasters based on their needs, educating the public on prevention and survival, and training volunteers, according to Cheryl Klueppel, the executive director for the American Red Cross - Southeast Missouri chapter.

"We are so pleased and grateful to the Missouri Foundation for Heath for recognizing the need and recognizing the support that the American Red Cross can provide in the Southeast Misssouri area to help address and support some of the health needs in the Bootheel area. So we are very grateful," Klueppel said.

This is the second time the Red Cross chapter received the grant. The Red Cross chapter serves 11 counties from Perry County to the Bootheel.

St. Francis Medical Center's grant totalled $149,959.

Part of the grant money will be used to continue their youth programming at local schools, where they train high school students to go to elementary, middle, and high schools and talk to students about tobacco use, according to Terry Baker, the Tobacco Prevention Manager at St. Francis Medical Center, said.

“Advocating for healthier communities and to really show the students and the community that tobacco use is not a norm in our communities. Most people don’t smoke. And kind of establish that and help reduce the initiation of tobacco use among our youth,” Baker said.

It will also be used to implement Project Smokebusters in several area schools.

The local grants are part of a $7 million round of funding approved by MFH’s board.

Rachel Weatherford, KRCU

Posted in: grants,Missouri Foundation for Health,Rachel Weatherford,Red Cross,St. Francis Medical Center