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SALEM - The Brightside Project has received a $10,000 neighborhood grant from Rite Aid Healthy Futures to continue advancing its important mission focused on equipping and empowering children to reach their full potential by building resiliency and giving hope.
Part of its overall Empowering Children signature initiative for Rite Aid Healthy Futures, the neighborhood grants help non-profits address the toughest health and wellness challenges facing kids today. The Brightside Project joins more than 400 other non-profits serving communities throughout the country in receiving support for work that creates healthier, more equitable neighborhoods.
The Brightside Project will use the neighborhood grant to increase accessibility to food and personal care products for children across the county through their at-home Food for Kids program and their mobile outreach through the Sunshine Bus.
"We are so thankful for Rite Aid Healthy Futures' dedication to helping children in our community. This grant allows us to reach even more children throughout Columbiana County. By meeting their basic needs and social-emotional needs, we are building resilience and giving hope which is their best tool to overcome adversity in life. Our goal is to help the kids in our community grow up caring, healthy and responsible and we couldn't do it without the support of generous like-minded people," said Lisa Wallace, co-director of The Brightside Project.
A total of 415 nonprofit organizations each will receive a $10,000 general operations neighborhood grant from Healthy Futures. Located across Rite Aid's 17-state footprint, supported non-profits address critical health needs for children, including education; mental and emotional wellness; crisis prevention and awareness; disease and disability management.
The grants are funded through the KidCents customer fundraising program, which allows Rite Aid customers to round up their purchases in-store and online to support children's health and wellness.
"During these extraordinary times, we continue to see the harsh realities of inequities and health disparities affecting children through hunger, homelessness, poverty and a growing mental health crisis," said Matt DeCamara, executive director of Rite Aid Healthy Futures. "We offer our deepest gratitude to those dedicated organizations, staff and volunteers that wake up each day to make their neighborhoods even stronger, as well as those Rite Aid customers who support their incredible work.
"Change can drive change," DeCamara continued. "Thanks to generous Rite Aid customers, more than 400 grassroots non-profits can continue their important work, all while restoring hope, resiliency and self-esteem in children. When kids are healthy, they can unlock their potential, dream big and create their own bright future."
Rite Aid Healthy Futures, formerly known as The Rite Aid Foundation, is a public charity dedicated to driving change in communities, with an emphasis on underserved neighborhoods, focusing on the areas of health, wellness, race and equity. Visit www.RiteAidHealthyFutures.org to learn more.