The Obici Healthcare Foundation this week announced about $1.7 million in grants to 20 nonprofit organizations serving Suffolk, Western Tidewater and Gates County, N.C.

“The Foundation Board of Directors and staff are excited by the quality of the programs being offered by this group of grantees committed to providing care in the Foundation’s service area,” said George Y. Birdsong, foundation chairman.

Award amounts among new and renewed grantees range from $20,000 to $250,000. The foundation works in four main priority areas — access to basic health care, insuring more people, chronic disease management and obesity prevention.

“Grants made by the Foundation continue Amedeo Obici’s legacy of improving the health status of people living in the service area,” said Gina Pitrone, foundation executive director. “Mr. Obici, the founder of Planter’s Peanuts, was successful in business and passionate about helping the people in Western Tidewater and Gates County, N.C.”

The private foundation was created in 2006 with assets established through the generosity of Obici and funds from the merger of Louise Obici Memorial Hospital and Sentara Healthcare. Since its inception, the foundation has provided more than $24 million in grant funding.

The new grantees are listed below.

• Cover 3 Foundation — $20,000 to relocate the kitchen and administration to a larger facility to enable the feeding of more children.
• Eastern Virginia Medical School — $56,250 to engage medical residents and third-year medical students in giving care to patients at the Western Tidewater Free Clinic, thereby increasing medical care access.
• Eastern Virginia Medical School — $85,748 to reduce the risk of diabetes by educating physicians, conducting screenings and implementing a telephonic care management plan for referred patients.
• Gateway Community Health Center — $135,697 to expand services that support Gates County residents who are diabetic, pre-diabetic or at high risk for developing diabetes.
• Isle of Wight Christian Outreach Program — $100,000 to help remodel a facility where low-income persons can receive health and social services.
• Isle of Wight Department of Social Services — $73,107 for a proactive outreach program to increase the number of children and families enrolled in Medicaid and FAMIS in Isle of Wight County.
• Peninsula Institute for Community Health — $250,000 to provide access to clinical intervention/primary care services for the diagnosis and management of diabetes and oral health.
• Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia — $75,000 for training of benefit counselor volunteers in an expansion of the MedCare Access program.
• Sentara Louise Obici Memorial Hospital — $102,962 for a hospital-based, universal risk screening during pregnancy or at birth that connects new parents with appropriate community resources.
• Suffolk Meals on Wheels — $38,680 for meal delivery to seniors and disabled recipients who are homebound and/or home alone in Suffolk and Isle of Wight County.
• Suffolk Partnership for a Healthy Community — $186,100 for implementation of a 10-year community wellness plan that promotes active lifestyles, access to healthy foods and neighborhood engagement.
• The Planning Council — $63,869 to prevent and address obesity among children within private childcare settings and before/after school programs across Western Tidewater.
• The Rensselaerville Institute — $75,000 to define, track, achieve, communicate and improve results over the life of the Healthy People/Healthy Suffolk initiative.
• The Up Center — $61,381 to offer a traumatic stress symptom education and referral system to community providers and to conduct traumatic stress therapy for individuals referred.
• Town of Smithfield — $25,000 to continue Smithfield’s community wellness initiative and to include incentives for SNAP households to shop at the farmers’ market for fresh produce.
• Voices for Kids CASA Program — $32,200 to expand advocacy services for children involved in Suffolk juvenile courts due to neglect and abuse.
• Western Tidewater Community Services Board — $112,500 for expanded outpatient pediatric counseling and psychiatry in Western Tidewater.
• Western Tidewater Community Services Board — $24,471 for medical care monitoring and intervention for participants with severe intellectual or physical disabilities in the Day Support programs.
• Western Tidewater Community Services Board — $48,127 to support a telemedicine link to crisis services for children, adolescents and adults to each local law enforcement agencies and hospitals.
• Western Tidewater Health District — $147,650 to implement a national model, the Nurse Family Partnership program, to help reduce undesirable birth outcomes through education and provide nurse-case management, home visitations and transportation assistance for pregnant women in Suffolk and Isle of Wight County.