FREEPORT

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation recently announced that Wolfe’s Neck Farm Foundation last year received a $50,000 grant to support a teen agricultural program as well as nutrition programming.

The foundation recently awarded more than $2.3 million in grants to more than 900 nonprofit organizations in more than 300 communities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. More than $300,000 of the money went to Maine organizations.

The 2017 Maine Grant Recipients are as follows:

• $50,000 – Wolfe’s Neck Farm Foundation (Greater Bath and Brunswick), Teen Agriculture Program; cooking and nutrition programming

• $60,000 – St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center (Lewiston/Auburn) and Cultivating Community, Good Food Bus Mobile Farmers’ Market

• $50,000 – Cultivating Community (Portland), Expand CSA shares; cooking and nutrition classes

• $50,000 – Healthy Communities of the Capital Area (Southern Kennebec County), Expand gleaning and food processing through Restorative Community Harvest Program

• $50,000 – Maine Farmland Trust (Biddeford, Portland, Saco, South Portland and Westbrook), SNAP incentives at Farmers’ markets, CSA programs, food hubs, co-ops

• $34,744 – Healthy Aging Grants (statewide), Community gardens and cooking and nutrition classes for older adults

• $5,000 – Maine Medical Center and Maine Health, Childhood Obesity Prevention Conference

The foundation helps build healthy communities by supporting programs that provide access to fresh, healthy food; improve the health of communities impacted by health disparities; and support Harvard Pilgrim employees as they invest their time and talents across the region.

Healthy Food Fund grants included:

• $969,748 in third-year grants to 20 not-for-profit community food initiatives in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

• $190,905 in the second round of Healthy Aging grants to 23 not-for-profit initiatives in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire. The funded programs helped older adults eat better and stay connected to their communities through community garden, cooking, and nutrition programs.

• $260,250 to support five mobile farmers’ markets in Worcester and Lowell, Mass.; Hartford, Conn.; Lewiston/Auburn, Maine; and the seacoast of New Hampshire.

“Over the first two years of the Healthy Food Fund, our independent evaluation shows the amount of local produce distributed to low income families across the region has increased significantly,” said Karen Voci, president of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation. “We are thrilled to see that our small investments in very local organizations can measurably improve access to healthy food.”

In addition to the $1.57 million in Healthy Food and Healthy Aging grants, the foundation also awarded $593,250 to 775 organizations in 213 communities through Harvard Pilgrim’s employee directed Community Spirit 9/11 Mini-Grant program. This program enables each Harvard Pilgrim Health Care employee to annually award a $500 grant, completely funded by the foundation, to the charity of his or her choice.

Since the inception of this community grant program in 2002, the Foundation has contributed more than $5.7 million to thousands of organizations in the region. Areas of support have included schools, food pantries, youth development organizations, and fundraising events.

For more information, visit harvardpilgrim.org/foundation.