CHARLOTTE ń The Duke Endowment has awarded more than $110 million in grants to enrich lives and strengthen communities across North Carolina and South Carolina.
Locally, grants went to Woodleaf United Methodist Church, $45,000 to establish a parish nurse program.
Nazareth Children’s Home received $50,000 for unrestricted operating support for maintaining national accreditation and $350,000 to begin a day treatment program for school children in a five-county area.
Based in Charlotte, and established in 1924 by N.C. industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke, The Duke Endowment is the largest private foundation in the Carolinas.
The grants include $50 million to Duke University School of Medicine to help build a medical education facility and create a “hospital within a hospital” for pediatric patients.
Gene Cochrane, the Endowment’s president, said the grants will help organizations in the Carolinas use their resources and reach their potential.
“The grants showcase innovative ways for churches to serve their neighbors and for health care providers to care for patients,” Cochrane said. “They include long-term initiatives that address widespread challenges ń and promising new approaches to persistent problems.”
Through its child care grants, the Endowment aims to serve vulnerable children, helping them reach developmental milestones and prepare for adulthood. Grants included $451,000 to the N.C. Division of Social Services and $275,000 to Children’s Home Society of North Carolina to implement Family Finding, a new way to connect relatives to children in foster care.
By supporting rural United Methodist churches and their leaders in North Carolina, the Endowment helps expand church outreach across the region.