Boys and Girls Club

According to Jude Wood, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, the Barton Health Foundation’s Community Grants program played a significant role in helping to keep children safe, nourished and educated throughout the pandemic and Caldor Fire evacuation.

“Thanks to the support of the Barton Foundation and many other donors in our community, the Club is incredibly proud of the role that the Boys and Girls Club has played in enabling parents to work, keeping our children on track with their education, and providing social and emotional support through two of the most difficult years our community has ever faced,” said Wood.

“In 2021, our staff supported over 600 hours of online school. Every one of our members advanced to the next grade at the end of the academic year,” added Wood. “Over 234 families were able to go to work knowing that their child had a safe place to be at the Club.”

The Boys and Girls Club, with a newly opened state-of-the-art facility, also received an AED as part of the Barton Health Foundation’s Heart Safe Community program.

Bread & Broth

As a recipient of a Barton Health Foundation Community grant, Bread & Broth was able to focus on the purchase of fresh fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. This helped to ensure their clients had access to nutritious food, which was very important to both their physical and mental health during the stressful times of the pandemic and the Caldor Fire evacuation.

Additionally, the Foundation provided Bread & Broth with hundreds of $25 food cards, redeemable at Safeway, to help their clients purchase additional groceries and essential household supplies for their families.

The grant from the Barton Health Foundation helped support our “B&B 4 Kids” program, with a specific focus on providing weekend food bags to children identified as food insecure,” said Beth Wallace, Communications Co-Chairperson at Bread & Broth. “The number of children needing these bags of weekend groceries greatly increased during the pandemic. An average of 250 kids received the bags each weekend, along with 100 preschool aged children at seven child-care centers serving low-income families.”

The Barton Health Foundation Community Grants program awards $100,000 annually to local non-profit organizations engaged in healthcare related initiatives such as access to care, substance use, and mental health. The grants are made possible through the generosity of Barton Health Foundation donors. For more information on how to make a gift to the program, contact Chris Kiser, Executive Director, Barton Health Foundation, 530-543-5612, or ckiser@bartonhealth.org.